The Aranjuez City Hall declared the situation of imminent ruin of the building located at numbers 2 and 4 of Cáceres Street, located in the Montaña neighborhood, next to the enormous sinkhole that suddenly opened several months ago. The municipal government makes this decision based on the technical criteria of the report from the company Intemac, a company specializing in structural pathology.
The technical report highlights the “need to proceed with the total demolition of the building, because given the precarious security conditions it presents, it is not possible to guarantee security through precautionary measures such as the felling of the building, given the difficulties posed by the hole under the structure and foundations, the uncertainty regarding its extension and the impossibility of guaranteeing the safety of operators.
In view of this expeditious report, the Municipal Council issued an order requiring the owners of the building to begin, “within 10 days, the procedures to carry out its controlled demolition”, indicate municipal sources in a press release.
Currently, add the same sources, “deep underground studies are underway which, in turn, will allow geophysical tests to be carried out in order to verify the structural safety of the building located at 6-8 Cáceres Street”, neighboring the now declared ruin.
In the absence of definitive results, the municipality indicates that the tests carried out to date “guarantee that their implementation does not affect the safety of the building and its occupants, confirming the initial forecast based on the technical reports of specialized personnel of the company that advises the Aranjuez City Council.
The town planning delegate of the Aranjuez City Hall, Ignacio Díaz Toribio, signed a decree declaring the situation of imminent ruin of the building on streets 2 and 4 of Cáceres, made up of two residential portals, which has already should have been released in November 2023, based on technical criteria.
The Intemac company explains in its report that “since the end of June 2024, a sharp decrease has been observed at a rate of 1 mm/month, as well as a shift exceeding horizontal movements by 2 mm. The report assesses the safety of the building, highlighting that there is a high risk of building failure, both due to the collapse of foundations left exposed and due to structural failures due to their movement.
The sinkhole appeared at the Val de Loire roundabout on November 18, 2023. The mayor at the time, María José Martínez de la Fuente, with other authorities, the head of the technical urban planning services and the fire brigade have gone there.
Two days later, on November 20, the School of Civil Engineers of the Polytechnic University of Madrid was contacted and a first visit and evaluation took place “advising us on the advisability of carrying out an urgent evacuation of the building located at 2, Cáceres Street”. “4”, indicate the municipalities. This eviction was ordered immediately and affected all 24 homes affected by the sinkhole on this property.
In the following days, an agreement was signed with the Agustín de Betancourt Foundation, dependent on the said engineering school, to determine the origin of the sinkhole. Microgravimetry tests, surveys and drone flights were carried out.
Between the end of January and mid-February, the chasm was filled with mortar, “according to the instructions of the technicians who advised both the Town Hall and the owners of the building”, in an attempt to prevent the evolution of the enormous hole. The owner of the building was also responsible for monitoring the facades, the structural study, the proposal for action to return it to its optimal structural situation and habitability conditions, as well as the study of the basement under the building .
Requirements for which, assures the Town Hall, “the property has declined any responsibility linked to the basement of its buildings, which is why the Town Hall has carried out studies by subsidiary execution in order to know the extent of the anomalies”.
At the end of April, the sinkhole was widened, and there was also a descent and rotation of the filling carried out, “highlighting cavities under the building, which left its foundations exposed”. This has led, they insist, to “the current situation with irreversible damage and imminent ruin, supported by technical reports from Intemac.”
Currently, deep underground surveys are underway “which, in turn, will allow geophysical tests to be carried out in order to verify the structural safety of the building located at 6-8 Cáceres Street”. So far, the municipality concludes, these tests “have concluded without any notable development in the surveys on the west facade of the building and the remaining surveys on the east facade of the building are about to begin.”
In Aranjuez, a commission was created to monitor the sinkhole in the La Montaña neighborhood, which includes spokespeople for the various politicians and representatives of the La Montaña Neighborhood Association itself.
