The executive committee has approved the termination of the contract with Heliopol, which installed the awnings in 2025. Mayor José Luis Sanz described the system as 'a mess' and is seeking an alternative.
Seville City Council has terminated the installation and maintenance contract for the awnings on Avenida de la Constitución. The executive committee approved this Tuesday to rescind the agreement with the company Heliopol, which has held the service since 2021. The decision involves re-tendering the project with a new design, according to municipal sources.
A contract of nearly 490,000 euros that never worked
The previous local government, from the PSOE, awarded the contract to Heliopol SA in November 2021 for 489,401.21 euros (including VAT). The aim was to install awnings between Fernández and González streets and Maese Rodríguez for three consecutive summers. However, a series of administrative and technical delays prevented the awnings from being installed until the summer of 2025.
The first hurdle was the Provincial Heritage Commission of the Junta de Andalucía, which did not give its approval until January 2024. More than a year later, in July 2025, the awnings finally arrived at the avenue. But the result did not please the mayor, José Luis Sanz, who described the system as "a mess" due to the large concrete blocks on both sides.
The mayor warned: "If it's a mess, there will be no awnings"
The mayor had already warned in June 2026 that if Heritage did not approve a more aesthetic alternative, there would be no awnings that year. "The Heritage Commission gave us an alternative to the awning project on Avenida de la Constitución, it was a mess," he stated at the time. "If Heritage does not like what we have presented, gives an alternative, and it is a mess, there will be no awnings this year," he concluded.
Hours later, the Minister of Culture, Patricia del Pozo, pointed out that the new municipal project was registered on June 1, too late to process it in time. "We are going to work as quickly as we can, but evidently it was registered at the beginning of June, not in February or March," she explained.
New tender for 2027: what to expect?
Now, the City Council has decided to terminate the contract with Heliopol in order to tender a completely new system. The Urban Planning Management has already begun the process of resolving the current contract and will likely activate a new tender with the conditions of the new design. The residents of Seville will have to wait, at least, until the summer of 2027 to see shade again on Avenida de la Constitución.
The decision marks a new chapter in the troubled history of the awnings on one of the city's most emblematic streets. Meanwhile, pedestrians and merchants in the area will have to find other ways to protect themselves from the Seville sun this summer.
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