Renovations in the Part Alta, Tarragona
Flats and stone buildings inside the Roman walls: we renovate them from within without betraying what makes them unique, keeping the logistics of the pedestrian streets under control.
Walk up Cavallers and the street narrows until you can almost touch both façades at once, and behind a stone doorway there’s a flat that’s been crying out for a renovation for decades. That’s where we work.
The Part Alta isn’t just another Tarragona neighbourhood: it’s the old town within the Roman city walls, home to buildings that have seen centuries go by, and heritage rules that decide what can be touched and what can’t. Renovating here has little to do with doing up a recent flat in the Eixample. You renovate with your mind in two places at once: the comfort you want today, and the character that mustn’t be lost. Rubble-stone walls, the odd brick vault, exposed timber beams, ceilings with history behind them. All of that stays. What gets renewed from top to bottom is what you don’t see.
A stone building has a manual of its own
When we open up a wall in the Part Alta, we rarely find what we expected. So before we promise anything, we test the structure and plan for what usually turns up:
- Stone and solid-brick walls hiding surprises: rubble infill, bricked-up openings, tired beams that need treating or reinforcing.
- Wiring, plumbing and drainage from another era, which we redo completely and route through the inside without scarring the stone.
- Rising damp in ground-floor rooms and party walls, which we treat at the source, not paper over with paint.
- Elements worth their weight in gold that need protecting during the work: the vault, the arch, the exposed beam, the old floor that can still be saved.
A good renovation in this neighbourhood is one you can’t tell has happened: the flat works like a new one, but it still smells of the Part Alta.
How we run a job where the lorry can’t get in
Logistics aren’t a footnote in the Part Alta: they’re half the project. Here’s how we organise it.
Access and rubble
We study the entrance, the stairwell and the street. Big bags, pulleys, hoists and a street-occupation permit when needed. Your neighbours’ street suffers as little as possible.
Heritage and licences
We check what’s listed and take the proposal to the heritage office under the Part Alta’s Special Plan. We manage the licence and the documentation for you.
Structure, no surprises
We treat walls and beams, reinforce what needs it, and leave stone and timber exposed when the project wants them centre stage.
The invisible parts, made new
Twenty-first-century wiring, insulation and comfort, hidden inside a centuries-old shell. That’s the trick behind a renovation done properly.
You’ve got a flat inside the walls and don’t know where to start. We do.
Modernising without erasing the history
Our craft here is balance. We bring the whole home up to date — a genuine full renovation, from the wiring to the finishes — while looking after the part that gives it character with an interior design eye: the light that comes in mid-afternoon, the texture of the stone, the proportions of a room with a high ceiling. We’re a local, Tarragona-based company, and we walk the Part Alta every day. If you like, we can show you similar work around the old town, and in El Serrallo too, where the challenge is different but the way we work is the same.
Frequently asked questions
Can you touch the façade if the building is listed?
Inside, you have plenty of scope; outside, not everything. In the Part Alta, the façades, exposed stonework, joinery and eaves are usually listed, so they get restored respecting the original material, colour and stone pattern — not swapped out to personal taste. Before we design anything, we check what is protected on your building and take it to the council heritage office so the proposal is approved first time.
How do materials get in — and rubble out — through pedestrian streets?
It is the part that worries people most, and the one we have best sorted. Streets like Cavallers, Merceria or la Nau cannot fit a lorry or a fixed skip, so we work with big bags, a mini-skip under a one-off street-occupation permit, materials hoisted up by pulley or lift, and agreed loading and unloading times. We keep site storage to a minimum so we don't block the entrance or your neighbours' street.
What licences are needed, and do you handle them?
Yes, we manage the whole thing. Besides the standard council building licence, if any listed features are affected, a heritage report is required under the Part Alta's Special Plan, plus the technical documentation and waste management. We take care of the paperwork and the conversations with the offices — you only hear about the timelines, not the counters.
Let’s talk about your renovation.
Leave us four details and we’ll call you to arrange the visit. No pressure, with clear guidance from the very first moment.
Or call us 977 27 92 72