Torrevieja greenlights €1.5M San Roque civic centre design

Today's essentials (4 key points)

• Santa Pola has banned swimming at its Gran Playa beach over water quality concerns, according to the Olive Press.
• The whole Costa Blanca faces a hot, mostly clear Saturday, with highs around 34°C and no rain in the forecast, according to Open-Meteo.
• Spain has reactivated border controls at Alicante-Elche airport for flights arriving from Italy, according to TodoAlicante.
• La Cañada del Fenollar is moving closer to its new CEIP school, with Abala Infraestructuras in line to build it for 5.6 million euros.

Today's essentials

Torrevieja greenlights €1.5M San Roque civic centre design. Torrevieja's town hall has awarded the contract to design and supervise the future San Roque civic centre to local architect Francisco Juárez Pozuelo for 157,948.19 euros including VAT, according to the Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja and El Periódico.

The award, made at the local government board's session on 7 August 2026, came in 8% below the 171,682 euro starting price set when the contract went out to tender in June 2026, according to El Periódico and figures published by the Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja.

The centre itself will cover around 700 square metres across two floors, with an adjoining plot of roughly 1,900 square metres redeveloped alongside it. The town hall puts the total construction budget at 1,517,079.82 euros, 60% of it cofinanced by the European Union through the FEDER regional development fund, under Torrevieja's integrated urban plans (PAI and EDIL).

For now, only the paperwork is moving. The architect has 18 weeks, roughly four and a half months, to draft the project and get it approved; only then will the council be able to put the construction work itself out to tender. No firm calendar date for the start of building has been published.

What it means for you: if you live in or around San Roque, this is the first concrete step toward a neighbourhood hub for social, cultural and community activities, plus a facelift for the surrounding streets, but nothing opens soon. The design phase is expected to wrap up around December 2026, according to the Ayuntamiento de Torrevieja and El Periódico, after which the slower construction tender begins.

Weather today

A hot, clear Saturday near 34°C. Expect a hot, mostly clear Saturday across the Costa Blanca, with highs around 34°C and no rain in the forecast, according to Open-Meteo.

In Alicante city, temperatures run from a low of 23°C to a high of 34°C under light cloud, with winds up to 13 km/h and a 0% chance of rain. Inland around Ibi it is much the same, 24°C to 34°C with slightly stronger breezes reaching 21 km/h, while the southern coast at Torrevieja sits between 23°C and 33°C, starting the morning with patches of fog before clearing. With highs at or above 34°C, keep water on you and stay out of direct sun through the early afternoon.

Transport & traffic

• Alicante-Elche, one of the coast's biggest gateways. Alicante-Elche airport remains one of the Costa Blanca's main gateways, having passed the milestone of its twelve-millionth annual passenger back in 2016, according to AlicanteOut. That long-running traffic is a big part of why the airport stays central to how residents and visitors reach the coast: heavy passenger volumes keep routes and connections plentiful, which matters whether you are flying family in for the summer or planning your own trips out of the province.
• Border checks are back for Italian flights. TodoAlicante reports that Spain has reactivated border controls at Alicante-Elche airport for flights arriving from Italy. In practice, if you are flying in from an Italian airport, allow extra time for document checks on arrival: the measure adds a step to routes that had been moving passengers through without it, so build in a buffer before any onward connection or pickup.

What's changing for you

• New CEIP school for La Cañada del Fenollar. La Cañada del Fenollar is a step closer to its new school: TodoAlicante says Abala Infraestructuras is in line to build the CEIP for 5.6 million euros. For families in this Alicante district, it signals that a long-awaited primary school is finally advancing through the procurement stage. The contract still has to be formalised, so this is progress rather than a firm opening date, but it moves the project off the drawing board and toward construction.

Local news to know

• Benidorm row over a contested tender. Benidorm's governing team has accused the local PSOE of trying to 'paralyse' municipal management after the Socialists appealed a tender that had cleared every technical report, according to elperiodic Alicante.
• Xàbia's Petit Ars choir widens its age range. Xàbia's children's choir Petit Ars is widening its age range to cover children from 4 to 16 and has opened pre-registration for the new term until 15 September, according to La Marina Plaza.
• Where you can sail to from Alicante. Living in Alicante means the wider Mediterranean is within reach by boat, and AlicanteOut has rounded up some of the best destinations you can sail to from the city.
• Benidorm's busy summer weekends. Life in Benidorm's weekend roundup underlines the town's packed summer calendar, from the Costa Blanca Cup futsal tournament to open-air music and family plans, according to Life in Benidorm.

Tonight and tomorrow, the Costa Blanca

• A full weekend agenda in Benidorm. Benidorm keeps up its usual full summer weekend agenda of concerts, parties, comedy and family activities, according to Life in Benidorm's regular roundup.
• Swimming banned at Santa Pola's Gran Playa. Santa Pola has banned swimming at its Gran Playa, one of the municipality's main beaches, over water quality concerns, according to the Olive Press. The ban followed tests by the regional water authority; if you were planning a dip there this weekend, check whether the restriction has been lifted before getting in, and line up an alternative beach in the meantime.

See the full agenda, tonight and tomorrow