The Town Hall of Vila Viçosa, in the district of Évora, will need almost one million euros to resume the rehabilitation of the Florbela Espanca Cineteatro, after the fire in July, the mayor revealed today.
Speaking to the Lusa news agency, the mayor of Vila Viçosa, Inácio Esperança, said that the expert reports on the building after the fire have now been completed and that plans are now being drawn up to remove the rubble and build a new roof.
“We have calculated a figure of 940,000 euros to restore what was destroyed” by the flames, he said, noting that the municipality hopes to obtain the necessary funding through its own, EU and emergency funds and insurance.
Inácio Esperança stressed that the safety project for the removal of the rubble that resulted from the fire is being carried out by technicians hired by the municipality, and that work on the ground is expected to begin at the beginning of September.
The project for the new roof, the mayor of Vila Viçosa pointed out, was handed over to the company that designed the work that was underway on the building when the fire broke out.
“The company hadn’t done the whole roof project because it wasn’t necessary,” because at the time it only “needed to be improved and roof tiles replaced” and now “a whole project has to be done because the timbers have burnt down,” he said.
According to the mayor, the reopening of the theater, after rehabilitation works, will no longer take place in December, as was planned before the fire, but during next year.
The fire that broke out on July 31 at the Cineteatro Florbela Espanca destroyed the roof structure, the false ceiling and the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) system.
The Judiciary Police is investigating the origin of the fire, through the Local Criminal Investigation Unit (ULIC) of Évora, which has the support of experts from the Scientific Police Laboratory (LPC).
Inaugurated on July 29, 1957, the facility, located on one of the town’s main arteries and which had been closed for more than 10 years, is considered by the municipality to be a “space of great importance” for Vila Viçosa.
