The City Council awards the energy rehabilitation of the San Esteban Colony, the last of the works in the Neighborhoods program

The Local Governing Board of the Torrevieja City Council approved this morning the awarding of the energy rehabilitation of Colonia San Esteban, the last pending award of the works of the Neighborhoods Program, which aims to improve the energy efficiency of between 45%-60% of the selected buildings in Torresal, Portalicos and Colonia San Esteban, as well as the redevelopment of the latter area, financed with Next Generation-EU Funds.

The project, which has been awarded to Doalco SL for 2,515,673.96 euros, after a 4.78% reduction, has an execution period of 3 and a half months and will work on 9 blocks (15 communities of owners, for a total of 252 homes and 56 premises on the ground floor), where in addition to solving the structural problems detected in the building assessment reports with reinforcement and cleaning of reinforced concrete pillars and beams with corrosion due to the presence of capillary moisture; structural reinforcement of the existing pitched roof to prepare it to receive the planned installation of solar panels as well as reinforcement of slab edges on balconies with detachments.

Regarding the improvement of energy efficiency, solar panels will be installed on the already rehabilitated roof and access to the exterior of the roof will be improved (or created), thus facilitating the maintenance of the panels and/or repair of the roof; 100mm XPS thermal insulation will be placed to improve the thermal performance of the building; and current DHW heaters will be replaced by Aerothermal heaters in each dwelling of the building to be rehabilitated.

NEIGHBORHOODS PROGRAM

In this long journey of the Barrios program, which was undertaken by the European Funds Unit in conjunction with the Department of Works and Services when it was entrusted with it in November 2024, the rehabilitation office has been awarded to the company La Erreria - whose work assisting the residents with the subsidy also includes the drafting of projects and technical direction - the drafting of the previous Energy Efficiency Certificates, Building Books and Building Assessment Reports for Portalicos, Torresal and Colonia San Esteban, the projects for the intervention of each of the three areas as well as the included redevelopment and the awarding of the works for each of them, today being the last one that remained to be awarded.

TORRESAL

The first construction contract awarded was for Torresal, and the winning bidder, Nerco, has already begun internal work. This project, which was tendered for €501,480.68, was awarded for €485,881 and has a completion time of four months and two weeks. It involves, on the one hand, structural rehabilitation with reinforcement of the building's structure, which shows signs of settling, by injecting resins to compact the ground and reinforcing load-bearing walls that have cracks; structural reinforcement of the existing flat roof to prepare it for the planned installation of solar panels; and reinforcement of the edges of cantilevered slabs that show signs of detachment and/or cracks near the reinforcement bars. and, on the other hand, energy efficiency with the installation of solar panels on the already rehabilitated flat roof, placement of 100mm XPS thermal insulation to improve the thermal performance of the building and replacement of current DHW heaters with 100L air heaters in each dwelling of the building to be rehabilitated.

In addition, small improvement works are carried out on facilities that require urgent improvements such as the connection of the water evacuation network to the municipal network collector and new branching of downpipes and the construction of a new rainwater evacuation network.

PORTALICOS

The second project awarded, Portalicos, went to Gruexma for €1,621,976.10 (VAT included), based on a starting bid price of €2,001,804.53. During the four and a half months of work, the project will include roof reinforcement, energy efficiency upgrades such as roof insulation, installation of photovoltaic panels, and replacement of existing water heaters with air-source heat pumps.

SAN ESTEBAN COLONY

The penultimate project to be awarded was the redevelopment of Colonia San Esteban, planned in three phases. It was tendered for €903,446.06 and awarded to Mediterráneo Obras y Asfaltados SA (MOA) for €882,020.03, with a four-month execution period. This project aims to transform the urban area bounded by Caballero de Rodas, Antonio Machado, Moriones, and del Mar streets into a pedestrian-priority zone focused on sustainable mobility and local businesses. The works will be carried out in three phases: the first phase covers the streets between Antonio Machado and Vicente Blasco Ibáñez streets; the second phase covers the streets between Vicente Blasco Ibáñez and Concordia streets; and the third phase covers the streets between Concordia and Caballero de Rodas streets.

Thus, pedestrianization measures will be implemented, along with the expansion and improvement of public space. Access streets to homes will be reconfigured as multi-purpose areas, sidewalks will be widened, street furniture will be added, and existing lights will be replaced with LED streetlights, in addition to the installation of new lighting points. Regarding universal accessibility, sidewalks will be widened, accessible routes will be created, reserved parking spaces will be established, and accessible signage and street furniture will be installed. Furthermore, deciduous trees will be planted, low-maintenance, low-water-consumption native vegetation will be added to flowerbeds, vegetation will be planted in the urban park, and fountains will be installed.

All these actions are included in the Barrios program, framed within Royal Decree 853/2021, of October 5, which regulates the aid programs in the area of residential rehabilitation and social housing of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, specifically in the call for subsidies of the Valencian Government of the Program of aid to rehabilitation actions at the neighborhood level of the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan 2021-2026, being framed in C2.I1 (component 2 «Housing rehabilitation and urban regeneration plan, through investment 1 «Rehabilitation programs for economic and social recovery in residential environments»).

This program received €7,498,986.05 in funding from the Ministry of Housing and the Valencian Regional Government . In addition, the City Council contributed €1,416,291.78 for building rehabilitation, comprised of €767,212.52 from its commitment to participate in the project and €649,079.26 from the residents' share. This makes it one of only two Valencian municipalities receiving this subsidy that have designed the project with zero cost to residents.

Therefore, the budget corresponding to the ERRP Torrevieja was a total of 8,915,277.83 euros, in which the contribution assumed by the Torrevieja City Council is added to the subsidies mentioned above and which includes the work of the Rehabilitation Office, the Urban Regeneration of Colonia San Esteban and the Building Rehabilitation of the areas of Colonia San Esteban, Torresal and Portalicos.

Both the lower bids submitted by the tenderers and the fact that some property owners in both Colonia San Esteban and Portalicos, despite not having to contribute a single euro, failed to demonstrate their commitment to participating in the project by ensuring the promised energy efficiency improvements—the only way to obtain the subsidy—have reduced the costs of the interventions. Therefore, the subsidy will be reduced—as will the municipal contribution—since the expenses have not yet been incurred.