This is the third delay in finishing the restoration work on the Levante breakwater’s cantilevered promenade and its long-awaited reopening, which is set for this Sunday, November 1st, after the Torrevieja City Council gave the contractor a second extension.
Sandra Sánchez, the Councillor for Public Works and Services, informed INFORMACIÓN that some parts of the initial railings that were put up last July started to rust rapidly after they were put up. Because of certain temperature and humidity circumstances, this was most obvious on the rails that faced west, towards the pier. The rust went away when the handrails were cleaned on the outside, then it came back.
Tests and trials
The technicians couldn’t figure out what was wrong because the stainless steel had just been delivered and was a new variety that was better than what was promised in the contract. During site supervision, a number of tests were done, mostly to make sure that the materials met the contract requirements. The steel was exactly what was asked for, and it was of the best quality.
After weeks of not knowing what was wrong, the experts at the AIDIMME Technological Institute, a top research and innovation centre for metal industry materials in Valencia, eventually located the answer after doing a number of tests. They had already had an idea of what the problem might be. It was bacterial corrosion caused by contamination that came through the plastic wrapping film that the parts came in. This formed a distinctive circular pattern on the material.
The wrapping made it possible for a film to form between the plastic and the material, which made the environment more likely to cause corrosion to spread. Bacteria don’t “eat” stainless steel, but they can live on dry surfaces in some maritime settings, like the breakwater that faces east adjacent to the sea.
It can be repaired. But not right away. The pieces that are already in place need to be polished. If this form of microbial corrosion happens again, this treatment, which must also be used on the weld joints, stops it from getting into the material. This doesn’t change how it looks on the outside. It actually makes it shine even more.
By accident
Sánchez said that the delay is completely unintentional and not the fault of either the City Council or the contractor, CHM. This will be in the report that will let the project deadline be pushed back by the administration in the next several days. He said that Metalistería Barceló, the company that made the stainless steel handrails and railings for this project, is responsible for paying for the extra cost of polishing the 400 linear metres that have already been put up. They also have to bring in the new material and take away about 800 metres of the material that is currently on site and in stock.
Pergolas: The same issue that has harmed the railings is also affecting the columns of the pergola on the promenade viewpoint areas. They don’t need to be replaced; they just need to be polished. However, their final installation had to wait till the reports came in, which was very clear in the last few weeks.
The new schedule for the phased reopening of the popular cantilevered promenade, which is part of the ongoing renovation of the waterfront, is not set in stone yet. However, it is meant to be finished by December 23rd, just in time for Christmas. This will be the section between the start of the breakwater, which is not affected by other work like the footbridge to the leisure centre, and the Bella Lola sculpture, where the seawall curves. A further 500 meters might be opened in February, and the whole promenade up to the eastern lighthouse could be accessible in March. This is simply a first draft.
New dashboard, lights, benches, and LED lights
The Mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, and other members of the government team last visited the construction site in June. Since then, the project has continued to make progress in other areas, such as replacing all the light fixtures along the nearly 1,250 linear meters of repair work. The LED and tourist lighting is also up and running. Most importantly, the special composite wood decking with a fibreglass mesh base, which replaces the wooden planks, is done, as is the continuous concrete bench, which is one of the most noticeable parts of the renovation.
The first building phase, which started in November 2024 and ended in July, lasted nine months. The first extension to August was confirmed during a site visit in June. In August, a second extension was asked for, which pushed the due date back to November 1st. The weather made it impossible to clean and prime the cantilevered promenade structure on time, and there weren’t enough supplies, especially prefabricated benches, street furniture, and the tourist lighting system, which is paid for by European funds for this project.
CHM won the contract for the repairs and renovations to the promenade following a long process of writing the project and awarding the contract that took more than three years. The work will cost €6,543,733 (including VAT). It doesn’t change how it looks very much. But it does totally update most of its essential parts, which will make upkeep considerably less expensive than it has been for the last 25 years. This cantilevered promenade opened in 1999.
Author: Derek Appleton
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