The restoration works on the bell tower of the archpriest church of Sant Joan de Valls will be completed at the end of July of this year, one month later than the initial forecast. Those responsible for the action assure that the upper structure has “serious damage” as a result of water leaks that caused rust in the iron structures.

“It was a wise move to act out of urgency because there are sections of some fundamental elements that have been completely lost,” said architect Joan Carles Gavaldà. The project has a cost of 1.1 million euros and 40% will be financed through donations.

The citizen commission has once again launched a call to raise funds and they plan to cover part of the cost with a loan.

The restoration works on the Valls bell tower started six months ago and were expected to be carried out within ten months.

“The beginning of the work was very complex because we had to assess exactly how we had to approach the work, the solutions were clear to us,” explained the director of the work, Joan Carles Gavaldà.

According to the architect, the top knob of the bell tower is where the “serious” damage is found. At this point, where there is a small roof, is where the water leaks have occurred.

The architect has detailed that the “uncontrolled” water in this space also caused damage to the windows on the bell floor, which are made up of several ashlars. “This has caused the joints to open and the infiltration of water to increase and there was an explosion of the original steel, which has burst the entire area,” stated Gavaldà.

These are the “most affected” areas, according to Gavaldà, who has also said that the original protective paint, from the late 19th century, with the iron in “good condition” has been found.

“One of the surprises has been the different degrees of damage to the metal elements, from elements that were completely missing, that had lost the entire steel section, to others that there was a large explosion due to the same lamination of the steel that broke the stones. “, he highlighted.

For all these reasons, Gavaldà has assured that it was a wise move to act in an emergency given that there were “problematic” points. According to him, there were points where you could put your hand inside the holes due to the loss of rust.

The Citizen Commission for the restoration of the Valls bell tower has once again called for citizens to make donations.

So far, around 80,000 euros have been raised and they need another 170,000 to reach the figure of 250,000 euros – to cover 40% of the cost. Initially, they had anticipated that they needed to raise 270,000 euros.

“The campaign is going well, but we still have not covered all the amount we need, it is open and we hope that the people of Valls and outside the city will help us pay it,” said Jordi París, member of the commission.

He has also explained that they plan to request a loan to cover the final section of the intervention. “Today, the works are being paid for with our own resources, we will need some credits to pay more calmly,” he concluded.