50 years building a safer world with you

We are celebrating our 50th anniversary. 50 years full of challenges in which we have grown alongside our customers and we have gone from being that small company dedicated to "quality control, metallurgical studies and technical advice in general" to being the large multi-service company integrated within the Apave Group that we are today.

Join us on a brief journey through these five decades.

70's. The beginnings

At that time, the Spanish nuclear program was starting up and there was a need for inspection services for equipment, supplies and during the assembly of the plants, fundamentally in NDTs such as radiology.

In our first years of activity, the bulk of Eurocontrol's activity was carried out in nuclear power plants and we had 70 technicians displaced both in Trillo and in Almaraz.

In 1979, the figure of the Collaborating Entity of the Administration (ECA) was born, a private company that replaced the State in the task of verifying the mandatory compliance with the safety conditions of industrial products and installations. Eurocontrol soon became one of the few companies in Spain qualified as ECA.

80's. The take-off.

The 80's are a decade of growth and territorial expansion to adapt to the needs of our customers, who demanded services throughout the national territory. In 1982 we started our international activity, with the signing of an agreement with Moody Tottrup Eurocontrol International (Euromoody).

In this decade, Eurocontrol began the process of exploring new market opportunities: we made our way into sectors such as civil works or quality assurance and we homologated the building quality control laboratory. Work on nuclear power plants, our initial activity, accounted for a smaller and smaller percentage of turnover, dropping from 62% in 1986 to 26% in 1987.

90's. Consolidation.

After 20 years of activity, in the 90's Eurocontrol consolidates as one of the major companies in Spain in the industrial and regulatory inspection sector. Our geographical presence reaches almost the entire national territory, while we continue with the process of introducing new fields of activity such as the implementation of quality systems and quality audits, collaboration with AENOR as a certifying body for companies and products.

In 1992 we signed an agreement in Beijing with the Chinese state inspection and regulatory control company C.C.I.C. to carry out reciprocal activities in China and Spain.

In 1997 we obtained ENAC accreditation as an authorized control body and in 1999 we were accredited as an external prevention service.

00's. Diversification.

The decade of the 2000's is marked by the opening to new and very diverse activities that complement Eurocontrol's classic portfolio and that give us access to new markets and, at the same time, allow us to expand our services to our existing clients.

Thus, we were homologated as a Technical Building Control Body (OCT) and accredited to carry out the technical inspection of ships and as a notified body for the inspection of the manufacture of recreational craft and environmental inspection entity.

We also started the new activity of radioelectric emissions control, with the control of antennas in Vodafone, Telefónica and UNI2. Within the prevention department, we were approved to teach ORP courses by the Construction Labor Foundation.

10's. Growth.

In this decade the real expansion of Eurocontrol takes place. We doubled the number of employees, started new activities and expanded existing ones. We started the activity of energy efficiency, sustainable certification and waste. We are accredited as ECAH (Collaborating Entity of the Hydraulic Administration) and as a testing laboratory for acoustics and in the environmental sector in the fields of calibration of SAM, dioxins and furans.

Other new fields of action are the ENAC accreditation as a metrological verifier of instruments in service, the Technical Inspection of Equipment for the Application of Phytosanitary Products (ITEAF) and the registration as a Quality Control Entity for Building Quality (ECCE).

In the field of NDT, we are certified to perform weld inspection by visual, radiographic, ultrasonic, magnetic particle and liquid penetrant inspection. We are certified to teach ORP courses by the Metal Foundation and for the new TELCO standard.

One of the major milestones of Eurocontrol is the accreditation in 2011 as a testing laboratory for LPG tanks by acoustic emission, making us the first laboratory in Spain to be accredited by ENAC in this technique.

20's. The change.

2020 marks a turning point in the history of Eurocontrol. In November of that year we became part of the Apave Group, a French company with 150 years of history, dedicated to risk management and with presence in more than 45 countries at that time.

While the integration within the Apave Group develops progressively, we continue to incorporate areas of work to our range of services, such as the new accreditation as an inspection entity for training centers for the DGT or the marine surveyor activity.

Our pioneering spirit has led us to be the first Spanish company to achieve two important ENAC accreditations: as an asbestos inspection entity and as a laboratory for acoustic emission tests in liquid-filled tanks.

Today, we continue to grow and work to help our clients achieve their goals and continue to be their trusted partner for a safer and more sustainable world, in the service of shared progress.