Benitachell eyesore will finally be renovated

AN ABANDONED building on a main road in Benitachell is to finally undergo a facelift.

Thanks to the Valencia regional government’s ‘Reconstruïm Pobles' (rebuilding towns) programme, the building on Calle Capelletes will be turned into council offices for administrative and tourism use.

The town hall acquired the building in 2018, but it has remained in a half-built state since that time.

Benitachell is one of 70 towns in the Valencia region that has managed to enter the programme. The aid plan will allocate €15 million towards the rehabilitation or adaptation of municipal buildings, streets, squares or recreational areas.

In total, more than 600 projects were presented from more than 300 towns in the region, and the adaptation of the Capelletes building, located on the road towards Jávea, was one of those chosen.

Currently, the council offices are scattered around various buildings, and the need to expand the space dedicated to municipal facilities has been evident for a few years. For this reason, at the end of 2018, the building was acquired with an eye towards the future, so that one day it could house the majority of the offices.

The property has the structure and façade, but inside there are no floors. This project aims to complete the building, and in addition, improvements will be made for accessibility and to make it energy efficient.

The idea is to design an open and multifunctional space in which spaces can be modified according to needs. The ground floor will be used for a new tourist office, and the upper floors for administrative departments, made up of offices, meeting rooms, work areas, etc.

During 2020 the project will be drafted with the description of the work to be carried out, and it is intended to start the works in 2021 .

“The rehabilitation of this building means a great improvement for the town,” said the councillor for urban planning, Jorge Pascual.

“On the one hand, the reconstruction of a semi-abandoned structure, which currently presents an unsightly image, will be completed and on the other, the need for new unified municipal offices is being covered, the cost of which is much less than constructing a new building from scratch,” he said.