The president of the Cabildo of Tenerife, Rosa Davila, revealed this Wednesday that the repair work on the Tenerife Auditorium will be divided equally between the architect Santiago Calatrava and the contractor responsible for the project.
In an interview with Canarian Television conducted by EFE, Dávila stated that there is “a disagreement” between both parties “concerning whether the project was poorly designed or inadequately executed.”
She further elaborated: “We have managed to get them to take joint responsibility for the work and for the architect to oversee the restoration and repair of the structure.”
Sources from the island’s corporation consulted by EFE reminded that there has been an ongoing legal process since 2019, during which the Cabildo has been in discussions with the architect and contractors to seek “the most favourable solution.”
Dávila’s statement follows a day after the president of the Socialist group within the Tenerife Cabildo, Pedro Martín, called for architect Santiago Calatrava to cover the expenses of repairing this infrastructure, which amount to over 24 million euros and are attributed to “concealed defects within the building.”
The PSOE leader pointed out that the infrastructure originally cost 74 million euros, despite being initially budgeted at 26.7 million, and was delivered with “significant damage due to deficiencies in both its design and construction”, all of which occurred “under the administrations of the Canary Coalition in the Cabildo de Tenerife.”
In May 2022, the government group led by Martín agreed to compel the architect to prepare the repair project, in addition to assuming the associated costs, giving him a timeframe of 19 months, until January 2024.
“However, without sufficient justification for such a decision, the government coalition (CC and PP, with external backing from Vox) chose in November 2023 to grant Santiago Calatrava additional time to draft the repair project,” a choice that was subsequently contested by Calatrava, which was lost according to the PSOE’s statements made on Tuesday.
As a result, the Council would bear the costs of the supplementary management and the works on a subsidiary basis.
