The company Eneas SA, a specialist in demolitions, began this Monday at noon the demolition of the buildings of the Cartagena Civil Guard barracks. Two large shovels began work on the property closest to the back of the Navy Subsistence Factory building. It is a three-story one located in the middle of two other five-story ones. After that they will continue with the central one, one that is located in the interior patio that is shaped like a three-pointed star. After them, it will be their turn to the sides that face Alfonso X El Sabio and Manuel Wsell de Guimbarda streets.
In total, there are six of the ten buildings built in 1965, which are affected by serious structural damage as a result of the characteristics of the soil that houses them, the quality of the construction materials and also the lack of maintenance. This will be the first phase.
The second will focus on the four floors attached to the administrative area, on the main façade of the facilities, which face Ángel Bruna. The objective is while the work in the first area lasts, the agents from the Command offices can continue there. These will be there until December, the date on which their transfer to the old Antonio Arévalo school is scheduled. Only the building on the corner of Ángel Bruna and Alfonso X El Sabio streets will remain standing, rebuilt after the terrorist attack that occurred on September 11, 1990 by the ETA organization.
The agents who are still in the premises complained this Monday about the noise and tremors that the demolition tasks caused in other buildings and that because of this new cracks have appeared in the administration areas, according to union sources.
In a year everything should be demolished, and then begin to build what will be the new barracks, as explained by sources close to the company. Eneas SA will also be in charge of the construction of the new buildings of the complex that will house the Benemérita. The movement of workers and machines was incessant from early in the morning. For the work, a crane specialized in these tasks loaded on a truck had to be brought in. Next to it was also a cannon that spreads water to reduce the accumulation of dust during demolitions.
The workers and machines have been preparing the tasks to demolish the entire complex for several days, specifically since last August 29. That day they already knocked down an exterior wall to make room for the shovels. Since then, they have been emptying the floors to leave them open and make demolition tasks easier.
Security measures
To ensure the work and that the agents who still work there carry out their work under the strictest security measures, the company has delimited the work areas with metal fences. It also installed containers in the interior patios for the separation of debris collected during the emptying of the floors.
The company carrying out the work has already requested permission from the Cartagena City Council to cut off traffic on Alfonso The machines will collect the debris, which will be loaded onto trucks and transferred to an authorized manager.
The 86 families who lived in the barracks were evicted throughout the month of August. They received notice that they had to abandon their homes due to structural deterioration and the need to demolish the facilities, for safety.
The construction of a new Civil Guard barracks in Cartagena initially has a budget of 31.96 million euros and an execution period of about 30 months. The machinery will be put into operation after the demolition of the old complex due to the declared ruin situation in ten of its eleven pavilions.
The new facilities will have two well-differentiated spaces. One will be the administrative one, which will house all the displaced official offices, and another will be the housing one distributed in several blocks. These will have 102 floors, a dozen more than currently, according to Francisco Jiménez. It will also have a student residence.
#demolition #buildings #Cartagena #Civil #Guard #barracks #begins