Alicante allows adding more floors to protected buildings if the original facade is respected

The Alicante City Council will allow adding more floors to protected buildings up to the maximum height allowed by current urban planning regulations. The Urban Planning Department only sets one condition: to respect the original facade of the building on which construction is to take place. This interpretation criterion is part of a set of measures "whose purpose is the protection of the architectural and artistic heritage of the city of Alicante," according to the proposal approved this Tuesday by the Local Government Board, "always respecting the interests of individuals who develop their urban rights."

This protection of the facade, including rehabilitation, implies the obligation to maintain the openings and dimensions of the elevation of the old construction.

The Alicante City Council makes this decision to prevent elements and buildings pending cataloging and protection from disappearing. The interest of developers is to achieve the maximum number of possible homes according to regulations, which leads to raising buildings to the maximum. They understand that it is easier to demolish a building and erect another to the maximum than to rehabilitate one with conditions, especially with a ceiling height that ultimately reduces the number of floors compared to a new construction. Therefore, they understand that "the drift to comply with an urban regulation can lead to the loss of a protected element that is intended to be preserved."

Currently, there are building files in process in the Discipline Service of the Urban Planning Department, in which the developer could be entitled to request the granting of a demolition license and, once authorized, "proceed with the demolition of an architectural asset that not only does the City Council want to protect but also the citizens, as evidenced by the objections submitted in the files."

In legal terms, "the reduction of building rights granted by planning by limiting their right to build by requiring a reduction in the number of floors due to protection established by the catalog can lead to patrimonial responsibility for this administration."

The properties to which this would apply are extended to non-cataloged properties or those not pending cataloging located in any protection environment. Likewise, this measure will also apply to non-cataloged properties or those not pending cataloging, even if they are not in a protection environment, as long as these properties have special historical value.

In both cases, it will be necessary for the owner or developer to have expressed their willingness to respect the facade and submit a building project that maintains its composition, arrangement and size of openings, protruding elements, as well as materials and textures used.