The Long-Awaited Renovation of IES Pere María Orts i Bosch in Benidorm to Finally Begin This April

Initiated in 2009 and halted barely a year later, the renovation works of IES Pere María Orts i Bosch in Benidorm, the second school established in the city, have been a long tale of announcements and unfulfilled promises, representing a historical demand not only from the educational community but from the entire local society.

Now, at last, it seems that the end of this long journey has a date: the second half of 2026. It is then, if the planned timelines are met, that these works, set to begin at the end of this April, will conclude, providing Benidorm with a much-needed and renewed centre.

As announced today by the city's mayor, Toni Pérez, and the Councillor for Education, Maite Moreno, the Department of Education has informed the Town Hall of the tourist capital of its intention to commence the works before the end of this month.

"We are facing very good news because we have already been informed that these long-awaited works by the educational community of Pere María and the entire city of Benidorm will be underway by the end of this month," stated Toni Pérez, adding that "the message can only be one of satisfaction and confidence that we will soon be celebrating their completion."

The department led by Councillor José Antonio Rovira has already formalised the awarding of this project through public tender to the company Vialterra Infraestructuras, with a budget of 12,888,556.50 euros and an execution period of 18 months.

The awarded amount is divided into two annual payments: 8,272,008.67 euros planned for 2025 and the remaining 4,616,547.83 euros for 2026. "Yesterday we confirmed the tender for the technical management for the structural reform and improvement of accessibility and energy efficiency of the Ausiàs March school, and today, the completion works of IES Pere Maria," noted the mayor.

Pérez recalled that "from the very first moment, Councillor Rovira committed to doing everything necessary to complete IES Pere María" and that since then, "all the administrative, contractual, drafting, and tendering aspects of the project have been concretised" for this Secondary, Baccalaureate, and Vocational Training centre.

"Now, we are already with an effective contract and with a deadline to resume the works," works that "we hope will be completed before 2027 and with which we will have returned to Pere María Orts i Bosch a normality that has been too long associated with unfulfilled promises and successive announcements of start and stoppages, with the conviction that this time we will have a completely finished institute adapted to the new times," he concluded.

The renovation and expansion works of what was once the first Secondary school in the city began in 2009 and, with 85% of the work completed, were halted in 2010, suffering several more stoppages thereafter. The last of these was in 2018, without resumption despite numerous demands from the Town Hall.

The latest project approved and awarded by the Department of Education, with a budget close to 13 million euros, plans for the demolition of the old classroom building constructed in the 1970s, which shows structural damage, and the construction of a new one in its place, which will be located parallel to the one built during the 2009-2010 academic year and which will also be subject to improvement and updating.

In total, the constructed area will be 11,029 square metres, and the free spaces available to students will be 9,063 square metres. These include play areas for Secondary, gardens, sports courts, porches, and a garden.

The new building will consist of three floors above ground, a ground floor plus two levels, where teaching spaces, general services, hygienic services, administrative spaces of the centre itself, and others that contemplate complementary uses will be housed.

The centre will be composed of three volumes: two large building bodies in parallel connected by walkways and the pre-existing gymnasium. Additionally, it will have 20 classrooms for Compulsory Secondary Education, eight for Baccalaureate, two additional for Secondary Education, and eight for Vocational Training, as well as a cafeteria and a residence for the caretaker.