Lorquí restores a cave house and refurbishes its Cabezos through a LIFE city adap3

The Lorquí Town Council has been working for years to halt the degradation of the area of Los Cabezos de Lorquí through actions that allow the stabilization of the same and improve the urbanization of the area.

Thus, through the Life City Adapt3 Programme, which has involved funding of almost 25,000 euros, a pilot action was launched to restore a cave house and condition the Cabezo de la Ermita and its surroundings with solutions based on nature that would allow this area to adapt to the effects of climate change. An intervention that has also been carried out thanks to public-private participation with the involvement of several companies in the municipality, through their corporate social responsibility, allowing the partial financing of the work.

The Cabezos de Lorquí are a completely differentiating and identifying element of the town due to their historical importance, their social and landscape value; also allowing the peculiarity of the existence of cave houses that are still inhabited today. However, the process of geological degradation that they have suffered in recent years, intensified by climate change, has led to the abandonment of some of these homes or a decrease in the quality of life for those who still live in them.

In this way, the project has worked to adapt the urban area of Los Cabezos de Lorquí to climate change and to slow down the erosive and degenerative process of Los Cabezos with innovative solutions and methodologies that can be replicated in other places. Likewise, the rehabilitation of a cave house and the refurbishment of the Cuesta del Catecismo street and the Cabezo de la Ermita viewpoint and its accesses have been carried out.

As for the restoration of the cave house, the traditional brick vaults have been recovered as an economical and easy to replicate structural system, lime mortar and concrete have been applied due to their lower carbon footprint and greater sustainability, and the earth extracted from the cave has been reused to improve the land above. In addition, sensors have been installed to confirm the bioclimatic advantages of this type of construction and it will be the physical headquarters of the Lorquí Sound Map.

In the Cabezo de la Ermita viewpoint and Cuesta del Catecismo street, concrete walls and blocks have been replaced with gabion walls, geogrids and geocells have been installed, as well as planting with native species, the roadway has been sealed with hot bituminous mix and new wooden furniture, shading and solar lights have been installed. Humidity and temperature sensors have also been installed.