So, after all the build-up to the holiday rentals' legislation, we remain - or rather, apartments remain - more or less where they were: in legal no man's land. One of the government's key legislative initiatives is a greater shambles than it had appeared that it would be. It was never going to be easy to cobble together satisfactory legislation, but the result is ever further from satisfaction. Apartments, as far as tourism law is concerned, only now exist in the form of an "habitual dwelling". Otherwise, technically they have been airbrushed from the real-estate landscape.
For all the talk of fines, the level of which are hardly any surprise and mirror penalties elsewhere in Spain, of the age of property eligible to be holiday lets, of the zoning of these lets, etc., the core of this legislation was apartments. While the 2012 tourism law keeps being quoted, apartments have been on the legal periphery for very much longer. The time had come for there to be a more definitive status. The time has come and all that is definite is that nothing is definite.
The government (PSOE and Més) is mightily angered. It will, as it typically does, place a political sheen over events in defending the pact with Podemos. But it has suffered a major assault and for a "stellar" piece of legislation, to boot. Podemos bared their teeth and, unlike with previous last-minute wobbles, they were prepared to be wolves. There was no pretence this time.
Podemos had always wanted to prevent the possibility of opening up holiday rentals in apartments. Their ploy of the call for "emergency housing" in Palma and Ibiza was a strategic move to disguise the real intention: the prevention of apartment touristic letting. The government's anger is made that much greater because this legislation has been so complex and so long in the making. When it came to the time to vote, Podemos cuddled up to the Partido Popular. While Podemos were citing citizen rights to housing, the PP were remembering their friends at the hoteliers' federation.
It is said that the government had attempted to persuade Podemos to stay onside by agreeing that the forthcoming housing law would complement the rentals' legislation. Podemos were having none of that, although there is obvious sense in joining up these two legislative strands. But to do so in a totally coherent fashion would demand a different legislative approach. As it is, housing is housing; tourist accommodation is tourist accommodation, even if it is housing. Toni Reus of Més pointed this out to Podemos. The rentals' legislation was neither a housing bill nor an urban planning act.
Out of the mess we nevertheless have a curious situation whereby apartments can be eligible for licensed authorisation. This is if they are owners' "habitual dwellings". This is if these dwellings are in the right zones (which will now take a year to determine). This is if residents' communities give a majority favourable vote (Podemos are still agitating for a unanimous vote). This is if these dwellings are up to the required standards. This is if they are at least five years old (and Podemos want to make this ten).
Agreement for habitual dwellings is apparently a nod in the direction of the reality of the collaborative economy at its most basic level. A family - they always refer to families in a somewhat mystical style - that needs to add some income will be able to do so. But only for a maximum of sixty days a year.
What is it with these habitual dwellings? Will families uproot themselves for the whole of July and August? Presumably they will. Or would. Where do they go? Rent out someone else's habitual dwelling? Or do they go to one of their other dwellings? How many other dwellings do they have?
The legislative process, you may or may not be surprised to learn, has not finished. There will now be "developments" of the legislative detail. Tourism minister Biel Barceló referred to these in hinting that apartments could be salvaged, i.e. be specifically subject to the same rules as other properties for holiday rental. But so long as Podemos have anything to do with the legislation, his muted optimism appears misplaced.
All this does is exacerbate the confusion and uncertainties. These developments could also entail, if Podemos get their way, the likes of properties having to be a minimum of ten years old.
Laws, one always hopes, are designed to create certainties. This legislation does not. It is a dreadful mess. Ultimately, though, the mess has only so much to do with holiday rentals. There are the politics which hover above. Podemos have claimed victory, one to be milked for all it's worth in appealing to the housing-deprived citizenry. It is a victory which finally and transparently exposes the charade of the Armengol pact.
Showing posts with label Apartments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Apartments. Show all posts
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Saturday, September 05, 2015
Perfect Propaganda: Holiday lets
The recent horror story in the "Majorca Daily Bulletin" of sisters Emily and Daisy Wolton and their nightmare with a holiday apartment in Palma would make perfect propaganda for the Mallorcan hoteliers and the Exceltur alliance. Prime opponents of the private accommodation sector, the story had it all: no control of standard of accommodation; misleading representation; no comeback. It would also make perfect propaganda for others, including Aptur, the association which represents owners of private accommodation for tourist rental, and Biel Barceló, the minister of tourism. If none of these organisations or individuals have seen the article, they should all be sent a copy.
For the hoteliers and for Exceltur, it was confirmation of all that they have said about the poor quality of accommodation that is on the market, about an unregulated sector that does not abide by any rules, about properties which give Mallorca a bad name. One example it may be, but one example can often be sufficient to deter other visitors, once the information enters the public domain either through established media channels or social media. The Wolton sisters made the point that they have previously had good experiences with renting accommodation, but one bad experience can be enough to make regular visitors wonder about returning.
For Aptur, the case only harms its own objective, which is to obtain a system of regulation which is more permissive in allowing the proper commercialisation of tourist accommodation. It is as against poor standard properties as the hoteliers, even if it is coming at the issue from a different angle. For Barceló, it would be likely to add to his concerns about tourist saturation, the consequence not only of Mallorca having been this summer's refuge for visitors put off by events elsewhere. The saturation is not a product of the hotels with their finite number of places, it is one of a market which, while also finite, gives an impression of growing infinitely. Mallorca and the Balearics are said to have the most private properties for tourist rental of Spain's regions, with Palma the most popular specific destination. And this despite the law. (42% of all visitors to Spain who book apartments do so in Mallorca, according to research by the Esade business school.)
The Wolton sisters wondered who they could complain to. The tourism ministry would be the first port of call. But how do they denounce what has happened? With regulated establishments there are complaints' books and information as to how complaints can be registered. Unregulated, and there is none. A review on Trip Advisor can be a response, but where on Trip Advisor? And who would take any real notice? Users look at hotel reviews, but some individual apartment in Palma? And a review doesn't, in any event, undo the damage.
We know that Barceló is looking at changing the law in order to facilitate proper commercialisation rather than there being merely the loophole (often itself abused) of the tenancy act. But he is as alarmed as anyone at the flood of accommodation being made available and at the poor quality of some of it and so the harm it does to Mallorca's image. He wants regulation in place for next year's summer season, in which case he will have to get his skates on. Even with regulation in place, though, there will still be the non-regulated supply. Catalonia, which has a system of property standards and of registration, has found that this doesn't prevent a flouting of the law. But Barceló needs to act. The supply of accommodation is out of control.
For the hoteliers and for Exceltur, it was confirmation of all that they have said about the poor quality of accommodation that is on the market, about an unregulated sector that does not abide by any rules, about properties which give Mallorca a bad name. One example it may be, but one example can often be sufficient to deter other visitors, once the information enters the public domain either through established media channels or social media. The Wolton sisters made the point that they have previously had good experiences with renting accommodation, but one bad experience can be enough to make regular visitors wonder about returning.
For Aptur, the case only harms its own objective, which is to obtain a system of regulation which is more permissive in allowing the proper commercialisation of tourist accommodation. It is as against poor standard properties as the hoteliers, even if it is coming at the issue from a different angle. For Barceló, it would be likely to add to his concerns about tourist saturation, the consequence not only of Mallorca having been this summer's refuge for visitors put off by events elsewhere. The saturation is not a product of the hotels with their finite number of places, it is one of a market which, while also finite, gives an impression of growing infinitely. Mallorca and the Balearics are said to have the most private properties for tourist rental of Spain's regions, with Palma the most popular specific destination. And this despite the law. (42% of all visitors to Spain who book apartments do so in Mallorca, according to research by the Esade business school.)
The Wolton sisters wondered who they could complain to. The tourism ministry would be the first port of call. But how do they denounce what has happened? With regulated establishments there are complaints' books and information as to how complaints can be registered. Unregulated, and there is none. A review on Trip Advisor can be a response, but where on Trip Advisor? And who would take any real notice? Users look at hotel reviews, but some individual apartment in Palma? And a review doesn't, in any event, undo the damage.
We know that Barceló is looking at changing the law in order to facilitate proper commercialisation rather than there being merely the loophole (often itself abused) of the tenancy act. But he is as alarmed as anyone at the flood of accommodation being made available and at the poor quality of some of it and so the harm it does to Mallorca's image. He wants regulation in place for next year's summer season, in which case he will have to get his skates on. Even with regulation in place, though, there will still be the non-regulated supply. Catalonia, which has a system of property standards and of registration, has found that this doesn't prevent a flouting of the law. But Barceló needs to act. The supply of accommodation is out of control.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
New Holiday Let Regulation Is Imperative
Last year I was involved in a public debate about holiday rental accommodation in the Balearics which, to be perfectly honest, was a bit of a waste of time. The intention had been good but the debate, such as it was, became mired in the sterility of law and took too little account of what should be central to such a debate - tourism and tourists.
The law is of course hugely important, but it is the law - different regulations, contradictions the law permits, its lack of clarity - which is at fault. It's small wonder that any debate is reduced to dissecting points of law, because - and despite the claims of the tourism ministry and some lawyers to the contrary - the law is not well enough understood, while it is also open to wholesale abuse.
A debate held last week featured professors from the university; the vice-president of the Mallorcan hoteliers' federation, Inma de Benito; the tourism minister, Jaime Martínez; the tourism minister in Catalonia, Marian Muro; the president of Fevitur (Federación de Asociaciones de Viviendas y Apartamentos Turísticos), Pablo Zubicary. It was really no different to previous debates. Law, law, law.
It should now be obvious that laws in the Balearics which apply to holiday rental accommodation are inadequate. One of these laws, the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (often referred to as the Tenancy Act), creates as much abuse as the prohibition on apartment rental specified in the tourism law. The unreal nature of this law and of the principle of "family and friends" being able to occupy holiday accommodation (which shouldn't be defined as such) has led, as an example, to the situation in Sóller which was reported last week. Well over a thousand places (i.e. beds) are offered and taken up by visitors who are anything but family and friends.
The obfuscation that applies to holiday rentals has long been, one feels, something that has suited the regional government. Martínez, recently given a ticking-off by the Chamber of Commerce and told to make things clearer, attempted to do so (or claimed that he was), but failed. Quite deliberately, one fancies. Keep things opaque, the market will be confused, the government can act against owners if it so wishes, and the hoteliers will be happy.
At the debate last week, Martínez and de Benito were in the minority. The professors, Muro and Zubicary represented the pragmatic and common-sense side of the debate. Muro's presence was perhaps the most important, as her government in Catalonia has adopted regulations which have been acting as a type of benchmark for other regions to follow. It is permissive while at the same strict in applying standards and demanding proper registration of all types of property. Also last week, we learned that the Canaries, where there has been resistance against holiday lets of a similar level to that in the Balearics, were moving to regulate. Those islands may not adopt the same system as Catalonia, but it was revealing that Catalonia's model was referred to in despatches.
The development which more than any has made it imperative that there is some form of pragmatic regulation that is more permissive and is very much clearer is the P2P phenomenon. It has undoubtedly given rise to far more property coming onto the market via the internet, much of it unregulated and illegal. So, faced with the additional dynamic that P2P brings, what does the regional government do? Draw up a black list of all websites that may be offering unregistered properties. What it doesn't do is move towards a sensible form of regulation, thus reinforcing prohibition which leads, as all prohibition does, to an ever-expanding black market.
De Benito's presence at that debate was also important. She is likely to become the new president of the hoteliers' federation and she has been the principal source of anti-holiday rental propaganda that has been emanating from the federation. However, both she and Martínez must know that things could change. If the Partido Popular is ousted from the regional government in May, which in all likelihood it will be, the new government will be dominated by PSOE, recent converts to the pro-holiday rental lobby, and the two other parties which will matter, Més and Podemos, neither of them allies of big business and so therefore the hoteliers.
Because of this potential change in government and governmental policy, de Benito's role is now more significant than that of Martínez. She will hope to get PSOE onside, but she's battling against a tide of sensible regulation adopted elsewhere. The need for proper and clear regulation, one that establishes standards, correct registration, transparent marketing and also safeguards for owners, both those who rent out and those who don't, is indisputable. Obfuscation will no longer do, unless the government wishes to expand the black market.
The law is of course hugely important, but it is the law - different regulations, contradictions the law permits, its lack of clarity - which is at fault. It's small wonder that any debate is reduced to dissecting points of law, because - and despite the claims of the tourism ministry and some lawyers to the contrary - the law is not well enough understood, while it is also open to wholesale abuse.
A debate held last week featured professors from the university; the vice-president of the Mallorcan hoteliers' federation, Inma de Benito; the tourism minister, Jaime Martínez; the tourism minister in Catalonia, Marian Muro; the president of Fevitur (Federación de Asociaciones de Viviendas y Apartamentos Turísticos), Pablo Zubicary. It was really no different to previous debates. Law, law, law.
It should now be obvious that laws in the Balearics which apply to holiday rental accommodation are inadequate. One of these laws, the Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos (often referred to as the Tenancy Act), creates as much abuse as the prohibition on apartment rental specified in the tourism law. The unreal nature of this law and of the principle of "family and friends" being able to occupy holiday accommodation (which shouldn't be defined as such) has led, as an example, to the situation in Sóller which was reported last week. Well over a thousand places (i.e. beds) are offered and taken up by visitors who are anything but family and friends.
The obfuscation that applies to holiday rentals has long been, one feels, something that has suited the regional government. Martínez, recently given a ticking-off by the Chamber of Commerce and told to make things clearer, attempted to do so (or claimed that he was), but failed. Quite deliberately, one fancies. Keep things opaque, the market will be confused, the government can act against owners if it so wishes, and the hoteliers will be happy.
At the debate last week, Martínez and de Benito were in the minority. The professors, Muro and Zubicary represented the pragmatic and common-sense side of the debate. Muro's presence was perhaps the most important, as her government in Catalonia has adopted regulations which have been acting as a type of benchmark for other regions to follow. It is permissive while at the same strict in applying standards and demanding proper registration of all types of property. Also last week, we learned that the Canaries, where there has been resistance against holiday lets of a similar level to that in the Balearics, were moving to regulate. Those islands may not adopt the same system as Catalonia, but it was revealing that Catalonia's model was referred to in despatches.
The development which more than any has made it imperative that there is some form of pragmatic regulation that is more permissive and is very much clearer is the P2P phenomenon. It has undoubtedly given rise to far more property coming onto the market via the internet, much of it unregulated and illegal. So, faced with the additional dynamic that P2P brings, what does the regional government do? Draw up a black list of all websites that may be offering unregistered properties. What it doesn't do is move towards a sensible form of regulation, thus reinforcing prohibition which leads, as all prohibition does, to an ever-expanding black market.
De Benito's presence at that debate was also important. She is likely to become the new president of the hoteliers' federation and she has been the principal source of anti-holiday rental propaganda that has been emanating from the federation. However, both she and Martínez must know that things could change. If the Partido Popular is ousted from the regional government in May, which in all likelihood it will be, the new government will be dominated by PSOE, recent converts to the pro-holiday rental lobby, and the two other parties which will matter, Més and Podemos, neither of them allies of big business and so therefore the hoteliers.
Because of this potential change in government and governmental policy, de Benito's role is now more significant than that of Martínez. She will hope to get PSOE onside, but she's battling against a tide of sensible regulation adopted elsewhere. The need for proper and clear regulation, one that establishes standards, correct registration, transparent marketing and also safeguards for owners, both those who rent out and those who don't, is indisputable. Obfuscation will no longer do, unless the government wishes to expand the black market.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
An Obsolete Law: Hotel conversion
The new tourism law, widely being referred to as the "hotels' law" because it is said to concentrate almost exclusively on hotels' needs, might not be quite as accommodating as the hotels had hoped. They might, for example, not have been expecting to have pay for conversion of obsolete hotel stock over and above what they will pay for the work to be carried out. But the new law has a catch. Two in fact.
The catches apply to hotel buildings that would be converted into apartments for sale. One is that not all the building can be converted for this purpose; 10% would have to be set aside for other purposes, such as shops or restaurants. The other is that a 5% tax will have to be paid on the value of the building, money that would find its way into upgrading the tourist area in which it is located.
Designating a part of the building for other purposes is in line with what happens with the construction of apartment blocks. But it is a regulation that has not been without its critics. It reduces the return on investment on building or conversion and it simply adds to a stock of units that are hard enough to fill as it is. Paying a tax might seem reasonable enough, but whether it would really be allocated for local modernisation, who's to say.
The obsolete stock that the law has in mind covers two types of current accommodation, one of them being rather vague as it applies to old hotels in "mature tourist areas", the other being one and two-star/key hotels and apartments. As far as the latter are concerned, there are various possibilities, but they are all aimed at elimination. They can be converted to residential use, upgraded to a minimum of four-star rating or be closed down.
An issue with all of this is just how many hotels might be affected. A further issue is whether conversion to residential use is in fact viable, either because of the cost to the hotel or to a potential market which is in the doldrums as it is.
Hotels, you might think, aren't short of a bob or two. Many aren't, but, and as I reported on 12 July this year ("For Sale: Hotel, Needs Work"), there are plenty of hotels that owners would gladly see the back of, if they could sell them, and plenty of hotels for which the cost of conversion would be prohibitive. The solution would be to sell the hotels to developers, but in the current market climate, how likely would this be?
One doesn't know the number of "obsolete" hotels, but were it to be a significant number and were they actually to be converted and not simply abandoned (thus creating eyesores), to what extent would the overall number of hotel places fall, and especially in the "mature tourist areas"?
There is an argument that a reduction in the number of places would be no bad thing. Indeed the government wants to avoid an "over offer" of hotels, even if a decline in the number of places would be potentially bad PR for governments which love to be able to declare statistics of ever-growing numbers of tourists.
Let's suppose, however, that these hotels were to be converted. What do potential owners of apartments that these buildings would comprise want from their investment? Not all of them would want to live in them. The alternative is that they want to make a return, and that means renting them out. You can probably see where this is going.
Potentially releasing a whole load of privately-owned apartments in tourist areas smacks of the government not thinking things through. Buyers could rent them out - for residential use. But not for tourism use. Not as holiday lets, because they wouldn't be legal. Or would they?
The other type of conversion that hotels will be permitted to undertake is to provide condos. But they, too, are subject to market demand. Owners would at least be able to make a return through the apartments being also part of a hotel's offer; indeed they would think it essential, as they would personally be limited to only two months use a year.
There are, therefore, a number of unknowns lurking in the provisions of the new law. It is a bold law in that it sets out an agenda for modernisation, but in issuing a tourism law that is a law for the hotels, the government needs to be sure that its objectives can be met. The closer you look at the law, the more the questions arise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The catches apply to hotel buildings that would be converted into apartments for sale. One is that not all the building can be converted for this purpose; 10% would have to be set aside for other purposes, such as shops or restaurants. The other is that a 5% tax will have to be paid on the value of the building, money that would find its way into upgrading the tourist area in which it is located.
Designating a part of the building for other purposes is in line with what happens with the construction of apartment blocks. But it is a regulation that has not been without its critics. It reduces the return on investment on building or conversion and it simply adds to a stock of units that are hard enough to fill as it is. Paying a tax might seem reasonable enough, but whether it would really be allocated for local modernisation, who's to say.
The obsolete stock that the law has in mind covers two types of current accommodation, one of them being rather vague as it applies to old hotels in "mature tourist areas", the other being one and two-star/key hotels and apartments. As far as the latter are concerned, there are various possibilities, but they are all aimed at elimination. They can be converted to residential use, upgraded to a minimum of four-star rating or be closed down.
An issue with all of this is just how many hotels might be affected. A further issue is whether conversion to residential use is in fact viable, either because of the cost to the hotel or to a potential market which is in the doldrums as it is.
Hotels, you might think, aren't short of a bob or two. Many aren't, but, and as I reported on 12 July this year ("For Sale: Hotel, Needs Work"), there are plenty of hotels that owners would gladly see the back of, if they could sell them, and plenty of hotels for which the cost of conversion would be prohibitive. The solution would be to sell the hotels to developers, but in the current market climate, how likely would this be?
One doesn't know the number of "obsolete" hotels, but were it to be a significant number and were they actually to be converted and not simply abandoned (thus creating eyesores), to what extent would the overall number of hotel places fall, and especially in the "mature tourist areas"?
There is an argument that a reduction in the number of places would be no bad thing. Indeed the government wants to avoid an "over offer" of hotels, even if a decline in the number of places would be potentially bad PR for governments which love to be able to declare statistics of ever-growing numbers of tourists.
Let's suppose, however, that these hotels were to be converted. What do potential owners of apartments that these buildings would comprise want from their investment? Not all of them would want to live in them. The alternative is that they want to make a return, and that means renting them out. You can probably see where this is going.
Potentially releasing a whole load of privately-owned apartments in tourist areas smacks of the government not thinking things through. Buyers could rent them out - for residential use. But not for tourism use. Not as holiday lets, because they wouldn't be legal. Or would they?
The other type of conversion that hotels will be permitted to undertake is to provide condos. But they, too, are subject to market demand. Owners would at least be able to make a return through the apartments being also part of a hotel's offer; indeed they would think it essential, as they would personally be limited to only two months use a year.
There are, therefore, a number of unknowns lurking in the provisions of the new law. It is a bold law in that it sets out an agenda for modernisation, but in issuing a tourism law that is a law for the hotels, the government needs to be sure that its objectives can be met. The closer you look at the law, the more the questions arise.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Sis Pins New Owners
The Sis Pins hotel in Puerto Pollensa, which will re-open on 12 June following its closure after the collapse of Globespan, is under the ownership of Britons Peter Buckley and Geoff Hopkins. The owners will also be taking on the Alexia Apartments and La Singala which will open on 11 June. Staff have also been retained.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Appearing From My View
I might have mentioned A.A.Gill in the past. In fact I know I have. It was in connection with a piece he wrote about Vienna. I can't remember now how I managed to make the leap of imagination from that to something about Mallorca, but presumably I did. Gill, some of you may be aware, does the telly review in "The Sunday Times". There is no need to have watched any of the programmes; Gill does a more than adequate job in describing them and usually explaining how dreadful they are. He was writing yesterday about Nicholas Crane's Britannia, rubbishing it indeed. There was much in the review, though, that struck a chord. Here is a flavour: "a sort of sentimental fascism about (series of elegiac rambles across England), an overromanticised geological jingoism, (an) England (that) doesn't contain any suburbs or tower blocks; no motorways, airports, no industry, no trading estates, no you and me." As with so much that is "travel" documentary or literature, the default setting is beauteous landscape and the selling of what amounts to almost mythical status, often with the assistance of dollops of hyperbole - the brochure talk of which I am so wary. Gill may be speaking of the perpetuation of a "bogus" representation of England, but this could just as well apply to Mallorca, in the sense that what is often presented is solely as some sort of KGB-censoring promotional unit would want it. Not because there is any such attempt to keep the image of Mallorca unsullied and only beauteous, but because there is so much unthinking writing about the island; unthinking in that it doesn't attempt to go beyond the superlatives of land and seascape.
In a sense, I suppose, part of the point of this blog has been to address this; to take a different view and to also look at different things. It's why, for example, there have been - in the past - the likes of features on streets and their names, on toilets, on the apparent absence of planning when it comes to architecture and on the curious - such as the Poblat GESA as one goes into Alcanada. Looking at things differently might, I guess, be a sort of sub-heading for the blog. And so ... On Friday, I became aware, for the first time (and in keeping with a theme of "rubbish") of the municipal dump in Alcúdia. The "Punt Verd" (green point). I was watching from the road as some chap moved white goods around on a large skip-style container. I knew the dump was there, but I had never been or indeed stopped to have a look - until Friday. I was hanging around because the car was having a new belt fitted at Arbona. This might let you be able to locate where the dump is, if you don't know. Arbona is on the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa, but right by the roundabout as you come into Alcúdia. Around the back of it, there is and has been much apartment building. There was one block. It was quite nice in a Taylor Woodrow grey and white way. Plenty of signs for sale and one or two to rent. There seemed little evidence of much occupancy. But despite these apartments looking quite pleasant, there was one major drawback: they overlook that rubbish tip. Who is going to buy a place with that sort of a view and with the noise of the carts that goes with it? It may not be a tip with all the everyday household garbage (it is essentially a recycling tip), but it is still a dump.
There is another block of apartments that is a work in progress close by. It has a huge sign as you drive past on the main road heading off to Palma. "Venta de pisos." Like there wasn't much evidence of sales at one block, there was equally little evidence of work happening with this other one. This area has been earmarked for development. Nothing wrong with that, but it can be to no-one's advantage if you build nice, fairly expensive apartments slap bang next to the council dump. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense, and of course there is another possibility - which is that the train extension may well mean a line just over the main road, if the terminal is to be sited near the auditorium. A tip and railway line. I can just hear the beauteous language of the apartments' sales literature.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Monkees. The alternate title was "Randy Scouse Git". Today's title - from a song by a new romantic act; think squawks on, or indeed above, the beach.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In a sense, I suppose, part of the point of this blog has been to address this; to take a different view and to also look at different things. It's why, for example, there have been - in the past - the likes of features on streets and their names, on toilets, on the apparent absence of planning when it comes to architecture and on the curious - such as the Poblat GESA as one goes into Alcanada. Looking at things differently might, I guess, be a sort of sub-heading for the blog. And so ... On Friday, I became aware, for the first time (and in keeping with a theme of "rubbish") of the municipal dump in Alcúdia. The "Punt Verd" (green point). I was watching from the road as some chap moved white goods around on a large skip-style container. I knew the dump was there, but I had never been or indeed stopped to have a look - until Friday. I was hanging around because the car was having a new belt fitted at Arbona. This might let you be able to locate where the dump is, if you don't know. Arbona is on the coast road between Alcúdia and Puerto Pollensa, but right by the roundabout as you come into Alcúdia. Around the back of it, there is and has been much apartment building. There was one block. It was quite nice in a Taylor Woodrow grey and white way. Plenty of signs for sale and one or two to rent. There seemed little evidence of much occupancy. But despite these apartments looking quite pleasant, there was one major drawback: they overlook that rubbish tip. Who is going to buy a place with that sort of a view and with the noise of the carts that goes with it? It may not be a tip with all the everyday household garbage (it is essentially a recycling tip), but it is still a dump.
There is another block of apartments that is a work in progress close by. It has a huge sign as you drive past on the main road heading off to Palma. "Venta de pisos." Like there wasn't much evidence of sales at one block, there was equally little evidence of work happening with this other one. This area has been earmarked for development. Nothing wrong with that, but it can be to no-one's advantage if you build nice, fairly expensive apartments slap bang next to the council dump. It doesn't make a huge amount of sense, and of course there is another possibility - which is that the train extension may well mean a line just over the main road, if the terminal is to be sited near the auditorium. A tip and railway line. I can just hear the beauteous language of the apartments' sales literature.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - The Monkees. The alternate title was "Randy Scouse Git". Today's title - from a song by a new romantic act; think squawks on, or indeed above, the beach.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Yellow Is The Colour
We build in Spain since 1958. This is still one of my favourite pieces of grammatical deconstruction. And what do we, or they, build in Spain? They build the Taylor Woodrow “Pollentia”, a curious title of Roman allusion separated from its actual site and town by some seven kilometres and from all historical context by its symmetrical quadratic apartment shapes formed from a colour that shifts with the sunlight and clouds from grey to silver to white. In isolation, it is not unattractive – that part of it close to completion that is. Placed in a futuristic or now contemporary Metropolis, it would be just one apartment block of steel and non-colorific neutrality. In Puerto Pollensa, it is a further clash of competing shouts of modernity that are being echoed around the town and most notably along one street – Metge Llopis. The street itself is becoming a cluttered selection of flat-living, a set of galleries for advanced-architecture showrooms determined to strip out the soul and demonstrate how most to deal with limited space and advance the balances of developers.
Take one street, and it is an advert for towns such as Puerto Pollensa as now conceived. This advert is, in part, a function of architectural updating, the shiny new beast of we build in Spain conflicting with the utilitarian drabness of apartment facades opposite. In part, it is a counterpoint to the realities of economic life separate from the cupidity of the construction industry: the emptiness of the old Golo Golo aka Valnou store, the conversion of the one-time Olivers Restaurant from what was Lee’s grandiosity and Mick’s improbability into some sort of centre for old people. And then further down the road, the locked-up Jack Frost British supermarket for rent for months, or is it years, the never-worked Kudos aka La Bara up for sale, and on a corner another expression of newness, yet more apartments without colour.
Underlying this is the inevitable organic change of any community – of failure and bright new optimism. Yet the optimistic lack of colour, shielding the new anonymity of residential life, is suffused with its very absence of vibrancy, both ocular and atmospheric. It is habitation-chic without the charm that one has come to associate with Puerto Pollensa. The white and silver fascism is the new grey, or maybe it is also grey, it just depends how the light falls. But wherever on the neutral end of the spectrum, absent are the yellows, oranges or terracottas that hold the warmth of sunlight and can be found elsewhere. New Pollentia, Puerto Pollensa New Town.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Unit Four Plus Two. Today’s title – who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Take one street, and it is an advert for towns such as Puerto Pollensa as now conceived. This advert is, in part, a function of architectural updating, the shiny new beast of we build in Spain conflicting with the utilitarian drabness of apartment facades opposite. In part, it is a counterpoint to the realities of economic life separate from the cupidity of the construction industry: the emptiness of the old Golo Golo aka Valnou store, the conversion of the one-time Olivers Restaurant from what was Lee’s grandiosity and Mick’s improbability into some sort of centre for old people. And then further down the road, the locked-up Jack Frost British supermarket for rent for months, or is it years, the never-worked Kudos aka La Bara up for sale, and on a corner another expression of newness, yet more apartments without colour.
Underlying this is the inevitable organic change of any community – of failure and bright new optimism. Yet the optimistic lack of colour, shielding the new anonymity of residential life, is suffused with its very absence of vibrancy, both ocular and atmospheric. It is habitation-chic without the charm that one has come to associate with Puerto Pollensa. The white and silver fascism is the new grey, or maybe it is also grey, it just depends how the light falls. But wherever on the neutral end of the spectrum, absent are the yellows, oranges or terracottas that hold the warmth of sunlight and can be found elsewhere. New Pollentia, Puerto Pollensa New Town.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Unit Four Plus Two. Today’s title – who?
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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