When developer, Olga Urbana, presented their project to Caixa Galicia in 2005 to build Europe’s tallest residential building in the Spanish city of Benidorm at 200 meters, with 47 floors and 269 apartments, they agreed to finance it to a tune of €93 million. There was little to no hesitation on the side of the bank, despite the huge sum of money required, and the fact that the developer was investing a whopping €3,100 of their own money didn’t cause them to pause for a second.
During this period Spain was going through an unprecedented building boom and banks were throwing money to anyone who wanted to build anything. It was incredibly reckless on their part, but the market was such that properties were springing up and everyone was reaping the rewards like never before.
The In Tempo residential building was destined to be a monument in the center of the city, to tower above the surrounding skyscrapers, its iconic M sign a visible beacon viewed from as far away as six miles.
Construction began in 2007 to much fanfare, and the ambitions of the constructor soared beyond the original plans as soon as the ground was broken. Their idea of increasing the height of the building was not necessarily a bad one, after all, more apartments mean more profits. If only things had gone to plan, so to speak.
The oversight was only discovered after the first 23 storeys had been constructed. It appeared that in their haste to keep the project on target for the inauguration date of 2009, and on budget, that the architects had neglected to include in the plans a way to access the upper 24 floors. There was no lift!
Adjustments were fervently undertaken to correct this “minor” mistake. Unfortunately, they were made too hastily and it came as no surprise when the newly installed lift promptly collapsed soon after, injuring 13 construction workers to varying degrees of severity.
Soon afterward, the economic crisis of 2008 fell like a hammer blow, pushing the completion date back further to 2011 as the construction boom stuttered, and fell off a cliff.
Still, the construction firm soldiered on, weathering contractual problems over wages for workers and completion was finally in sight in 2014, when the company went into bankruptcy. The next four years saw the twin-structured building laying idle, unworked, unloved.
The stalled building was eventually purchased in 2018 by an investment group called SVP Global, bringing the total investment so far to £100 million, and yet another inauguration date was set for 2021.
They managed to more or less complete the project, selling many of the completed apartments beforehand to raise additional capital and were confident that eventually, after all the headaches and setbacks, that In Tempo will be finished in due time.