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Work to install a gable roof at Malaga Cathedral to put an end to water leaks is on its way to completion after the brick covering applied to the outside of the roof 16 years ago was removed. The first wooden beams for the gable roof, designed by architects Juan Manuel Sánchez La Chica and Adolfo de la Torre Prieto, started to arrive in Malaga city early on Tuesday morning.
Manufactured with wood from certified forests in the Basque Country, they have been made by Basque company Egoin Wood Group, based in Vizcaya, which will also be in charge of installing them on the roof of the city's cathedral.
The company specialises in made-to-measure timber pieces for constructions. In the case of the roof for the cathedral, which occupies a surface area of 3,600 square metres, Egoin will use some 1,400 cubic metres of radiata pine wood, a material known to be extra fire-resistant.
"In the event of a fire, with this new material it won't happen like in Notre Dame, where the fire spread in minutes... Let's say that here it would take about ten hours and it could be stopped in time," the dean of Malaga Cathedral, José Manuel Ferrary, pointed out.
This change in the type of wood will result in the project's budget blowing out by almost five million euros more to a total spend of 22.5 million. With the wooden beams in Malaga, in the next few days, weather permitting, the assembly of the roof structure could begin. This will be done with a 65-metre-high crane installed in Calle Postigo de los Abades, which will have to lift laminated wooden trusses that will be 37 metres wide and more than eight metres long. The first 17-metre-long pieces, which will be used for the central part of the roof structure, arrived from Vizcaya on Tuesday morning. This was the first shipment, which will be followed by many more.
Until now, construction companies Hermanos Campano and Grupo ORP have carried out the removal of the 'brick skin' that was applied to the roof's exterior in 2008 as a result of a Junta initiative which did not give the expected result, as the roof continued to suffer from leaks. The layers of bricks that were applied at that time have been removed and the lead plates that were placed as the first base of that intervention to protect the building in the event of rainfall such as that recorded in recent days have been left in place. Once the structure and the deck of the new roof guarantee that rain will not cause deterioration in the area below, these lead plates will be removed and the vertical enclosures, cladding and roof finishes will be undertaken.
Another reason for the budget increase has been due to the introduction in the project of the completion of the main façade of the cathedral, which was designed by architect Antonio Ramos in 1784, and which fits in with the ridge of the gable roof designed by Ventura Rodríguez 20 years earlier.
So far, the diocese has raised 5.3 million euros for the project from the Junta de Andalucía; 4.5 million from Malaga city council; 3.2 million from the diputación provincial; and 1.5 million from the fundación bancaria unicaja, making a total of 14.5 million.
Central government has also sought funds from the central government. The government said the only way for it to collaborate is for the project to be eligible for the '2% cultural' grant, but it does not meet the conditions to do so.
Members of the public can donate at www.yoconmicatedral.es or with Bizum at 06397.
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