Pools, terraces and renovations in San Miguel de Salinas

What we usually build here

San Miguel sits on a hill at about 75 metres, the highest town in the Vega Baja, so most plots here are stepped. In Blue Lagoon the villas stand on 400 or 600 m² plots facing the salt lakes, and the usual brief is an 8 x 4 m concrete pool with the terrace on the view side; on the terraced houses that step down the hill it is more often a 5 x 2.5 m pool on a retained terrace. Las Comunicaciones and Villasmaria average about 500 m² per villa, enough for a 7 x 3.5 m pool with a gravel garden beside it. Lakeview Mansions plots are only 200 to 250 m² and most already have a pool, so there ORIGEN is usually asked to re-tile it, replace the coping and lay new 2 cm porcelain around it. Balcón de la Costa is 20 to 30 year old stock, often without a pool: adding one and renovating bathrooms and kitchen in the same job is the typical request. In Mirador del Mediterráneo and El Galán it is mostly terraces, pergolas and outdoor showers.

Getting it licensed in San Miguel de Salinas

Building work here goes through the Ayuntamiento de San Miguel de Salinas on Calle 19 de Abril. Its urbanismo desk handles both building licences and declaraciones responsables; which route a pool or a renovation takes is the town hall's decision, based on the scope of the work. ORIGEN draws the project, gathers the paperwork and files it, and you receive a copy of everything submitted and of the licence when it comes through. How long that takes depends on the town hall, not on us, and we do not start digging before it is granted.

Ground, wind and access on the hill

Under San Miguel the ground is Sierra Escalona sandstone, marl and caliche crust, soft here and hard there, so we check it before pricing the dig. The hill drains to the salt lakes through ramblas that flood in autumn storms; every terrace gets a fall and a drain that takes water away from the house, never onto the neighbour below. With the sea about 7 km off by road and the salt lakes below, fixings and rails are 316 stainless and pergolas are anchored against the wind. In the terraced rows of Blue Lagoon or the 200 m² plots at Lakeview Mansions a full-size digger will not fit; ORIGEN brings a mini excavator and digs the last metre by hand.

Blue Lagoon, Las Filipinas, Los Altos, town centre