Palma City Council and the Consell de Mallorca deny having stopped the demolition of the Gaspar Bennàssar building.
The island institution's Heritage Department informed the promoters that the license they were using does not correspond to the guidelines of the technicians' report.
Palma City Council has not ordered the paralyzation of the complete demolition of the building on Calle del 31 de Diciembre designed by architect Gaspar Bennàssar, according to City Council sources confirmed to ARA Baleares. The Mallorca Council has not requested it either. In fact, the authority to determine this does not lie with them, but with the Cort, according to sources from the island institution.
As ARCA explained this Monday, the Council's Heritage Department informed the developers last Thursday that the license they were using did not correspond to the guidelines in the report by the same department's technicians. Therefore, sources from the association assume that it is the developer himself who has halted the works. "It's a matter of prudence because if they do so, in our opinion, criminal liability could arise."
Furthermore, on January 28th of this year, the Island Heritage Commission agreed to ask Palma City Council to include this element in its Heritage Protection Catalogue. This agreement also warns the municipal institution that it cannot completely demolish this building because its façade and other elements, such as the hydraulic paving, must be preserved. With the approval of this agreement in January, the Consell (Spanish Consell) communicated the conditions to Cort (Spanish Consell), and the island institution recently sent a further warning emphasizing this, according to sources from the Consell (Spanish Consell).
In ARCA's opinion, Cort (Spanish Consell) could also face criminal liability, as it breaches "the duties of Heritage protection that the administrations would incur if they proceeded with the demolition of a building with proven heritage values," the entity warned in a statement.
Regardless of the reason for the halting of construction on the building, the conservation organization has described it as "a small triumph." For his part, PSOE councilor Joan Ferrer expressed the socialists' satisfaction with the halting of construction. However, he considered that "it was stopped too late because the workers have already begun to dismantle the building, and it's possible that elements that the Heritage Commission ordered to be preserved have been lost."