Villanueva Health Center will have to wait a little longer

A few weeks ago, the regional government and the winning company were negotiating an extension, as reported by the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry is now speaking about expectations for completing the works during the first half of next year. According to the same source, the company pointed to serious technical problems and delayed supplies due to the war in Ukraine to justify the need for more time.

This is, however, the second extension of the deadlines set out in this work. This is because in March 2022, when the intervention was in the initial phase, problems were discovered mainly resulting from the foundations of the neighboring residential buildings which affected the provisions of the project. At that time, project management was required to conduct a modified project to take these circumstances into account.

On May 2, the amendment in question was approved, resulting in an increase in the award budget by 4.2% and a new layout that made the twenty-month implementation period go to 24, so the completion date of the health center was set in November 2023. That is, now.

The works for the new Villanueva Health Center were awarded to Aransa Construction and Civil Works on 31 August 2021 for €7,258,388. The beginning of the intervention was on November 18, 2021, although the first quarantine with the authorities was placed on December 2.

Among the peculiarities of this health center, which was designed to replace the existing one on Rodríguez Paterna Street, is the provision of two independent health departments that prevent the transmission of coronavirus and similar diseases. Ultrasound services and minor outpatient surgeries are also planned, and given its proximity to La Rioja Hospital, coordination between both centers is also expected, for example, for the treatment of subacute patients.

The environment in which this intervention was framed is also undergoing a transformation due to the works carried out by the City Council with federal funds in the perpendicular streets of Navarra Street, now, specifically, in La Brava and El Horno, a redevelopment area in which the Hospital of Viejo and Los Yeros were completed. The San Bernabé School, very close to the hospital and future outpatient clinic, is also undergoing a rehabilitation and readaptation to new uses and is designed, in principle, as a business incubator and co-working space.

Ten empty years

The operation of the health center will once again provide activity to a plot of land that had not been used for ten years, when its last tenant, the National Police, vacated it completely in 2013, after opening its police station on Ceradero Street, in the Vardachon district. The building was demolished in 2018. The barracks was opened on 19 September 1943, although at the time of its construction it was being used for forces then known as the Armed Police and Traffic Police.