Benidorm is preparing a new landmark on the Mediterranean. The Valencian regional government has planned a seafront promenade—with an investment of nearly 50 million euro—to complete the coastline, create a continuous pedestrian route, and find a solution to the Gemelos 28 conflict without resorting to demolishing the two skyscrapers.
The project aims to remove one of the last remaining obstacles preventing continuous access along the Benidorm coastline. The intervention will connect the remaining sections and allow progress towards a large seaside promenade that will strengthen the connection between the town centre, the landscape, and the beaches.
To decide what this space will look like, the Ministry of the Environment, Infrastructure, and Territory will launch an international design competition with a budget of 3.8 million euro. Architects, urban planners, and landscape architects will be able to submit proposals that combine design, accessibility, sustainability, environmental integration, and technical feasibility.
The project will focus on the Gemelos 28, the two towers located on the beachfront that have been at the centre of a complex urban planning, legal and environmental dispute for more than twenty years.
The proposal put forward by the Generalitat involves preserving the buildings and integrating them into the transformation of the waterfront. The third vice president of the Consell, Vicente Martínez Mus, has stated that the aim is to offer a “definitive solution” with legal certainty, urban quality, and respect for the environment.
Martínez Mus has advocated a policy based on reconciling coastal protection with public use and existing rights. “In contrast to the culture of demolition, we support projects that make coastal protection, public use, and legal certainty compatible,” he stated.
However, the solution still needs to go through several steps. The Catalan government submitted its proposal to the Ministry last March and says that, five months later, it still hasn’t received a response.
The Generalitat plans to launch the competition before the end of 2026. Interested teams will have approximately three months to prepare their proposals, and the winning design could be announced during the first quarter of 2027.
The selected team will be responsible for drafting the construction project, preparing the environmental impact study, and overseeing the construction work. The second and third place winners will receive prizes of 30,000 euro and 20,000 euro, respectively.
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