Palma’s Club de Mar-Mallorca is to finally open its doors in the summer of 2024 following Covid-related delays and a considerable increase in the cost of works which were initially budgeted at €60m. Following the works, Club de Mar will be integrated into the city of Palma in unison with the transformation of the Paseo Marítimo (seafront promenade).

In 2020, the pandemic forced the postponement of the largest privately funded nautical construction project in the whole of Spain. Despite having already secured the approval of APB (the Balearic Islands Port Authority), Club de Mar was forced to close its doors and the integral remodeling of the club was delayed.

José Luís Arrom, general director of Club de Mar, said: “The project was to start in May 2020. The pandemic arrives and the works are paralyzed. To all this we must add the current war in Ukraine which is generating an increase in costs. Initially, the budget had been set at €60m, although now we are seeing and evaluating the increases since to all this we must add the increase in the price of materials.”

Following the renewal of the concession in 2019, Club de Mar-Mallorca is carrying out the largest privately funded nautical construction in the whole of Spain, with an investment of over 60 million euros. All the old buildings will disappear to make way for a totally new and remodeled club. All the quays are also being cleaned up and renovated, together with the extension and construction of a new one for the larger super-yacht range, changes which will provide more than 70 moorings for boats between 50 and 170 meters in length.

The reconstruction of Club de Mar will impact the entire club. As planned, Phase One will affect the interior area of the port, specifically its docks and pontoons which are still in use after more than 50 years. Arrom said that “action is being taken on the docks and pontoons. Works on the new pier, the eighth, are already about to be completed and it will be able to accommodate boats from 70m-170m. We are confident that the remodelling of the pontoons will be completed between June and July next year, which is part of the marina. To all this we must add other types of actions such as electrical installations, the evacuation of grey water and others.”

Special attention has been made to the materials and elements that enhance sustainability at the club’s facilities. Here, Arrom has been exhaustive, emphasising that “for Club de Mar the sustainability of the facilities is an essential factor. That is why two types of basic actions are being carried out: firstly, and so that the boats do not throw their water a few miles from the coast, what we have done is a grey water collection system that prevents them from doing this. A second step is that we will also organise a door-to-door selective collection system, combining the days for each of the existing waste types.”

At present, Club de Mar has 543 moorings although, as Arrom emphasises, “we have many requests for moorings, especially for large boats. Although the level of construction has been lowered a little and now more boats between 50m-80m in length are made, we still have a lot of demand for moorings.”