At first it seemed like just a few cracks, but as it gradually subsided, and movement became apparent in the building’s foundations, much larger fractures appeared in multiple walls throughout the entire structure, indeed in ten years of community use it was never awarded a ‘Certificate of Occupation.”
Now, the surveyor engaged by the Orihuela Council has said that if a decision is taken to make the Ramón de Campoamor civic centre safe for future use, it would cost around 300,000 euros to carry out the necessary repairs.
The closure of the building meant the expulsion of Orihuela Costa Community Care, and many other local community groups. In some cases groups were forced to close down, as the decision coincided with the beginnings of the pandemic. Today the building remains a ghost structure that has left the coastal residents with only a single meeting point, the centre in Alameda del Mar.
The construction of the Ramón de Campoamor centre was awarded in 2010 for 650,159.29 euros to Mettas SL. The work was completed in November 2011 and the story of its ruin began at the beginning of 2019. On January 9 of that year, council technicians detected subsidence in the exterior grounds, but it was not until December that users were finally evicted.
The council architect then called for urgent action but six months later nothing had been done. Although the guarantee had expired, a provision in the law saw Emilio Bascuñana’s executive open a denuncia in February 2021 insisting that Mettas correct the defects, but with no success.
Three years down the line the PP-Vox council has yet to express its intentions.
Meanwhile, the PSOE has asked the government team to explain why the denuncia that was notified to the company has not been resolved, with Carolina Gracia adding that she believes the company can still be required to resolve the building’s problems.
