Twenty-three days after the devastating fire that broke out on May 25th, the partial demolition of the Hotel Ibis, located at number 3 on Pasillo de Guimbarda in Málaga, has commenced. Although the fire inside is "controlled and practically extinguished," according to the Málaga City Council, the Municipal Urban Planning Department has required precautionary measures from the property owner to remove sections of the roof affected by the flames.
The objective of these actions is to facilitate firefighting efforts and allow firefighters to directly tackle still-active areas. For this purpose, construction equipment with a 29-meter arm, equipped with claws and shears, will be used to work on the roof. It is estimated that these tasks, which will extend across the entire roof under the supervision of firefighters, will take approximately one week.
The demolition of the current hotel opens the door to a new project in the heart of the city. The mayor, Francisco de la Torre, has expressed the council's willingness to see a "new hotel building without wooden joists" constructed, considering the possibility of a four or five-star establishment. This initiative aligns with the municipal strategy to enhance the high-category hotel sector.
The mayor clarified that, at present, there is no information regarding the plans of the hotel's owner or managers. However, he emphasized that any new project must meet the required quality standards and, crucially, must not include wooden joists in its structure, a lesson learned from the incident.
During the firefighting operations, and with the collaboration of the Málaga Firefighters, air conditioning systems on the roof were already removed to prevent detachment. Previously, following an inspection on May 27th, external safety measures were implemented, including perimeter fencing, boarded-up facade openings, and structural shoring.
The fire originated in the early hours of May 25th at the Le Grand Café establishment, located in the same building. The rapid spread, fueled by the cafe's wooden finishes, severely affected the Hotel Ibis, forcing the evacuation of over a hundred guests who could not retrieve their belongings. Persistent re-ignitions of the fire and unsuccessful cooling efforts led to the decision to carry out partial demolitions for its definitive extinguishment.
It is worth noting that the Hotel Ibis, now slated for demolition, had a project for a three-story expansion. This initiative, which had not yet obtained a building permit or favorable environmental assessment from the Junta de Andalucía as of September 2025, had received a favorable opinion from the Provincial Commission of Historical Heritage last July, along with other establishments of the Accor group. A report from the Department of Culture considered that the building was not located within a protected area of Málaga's Historic Center, thus its expansion would not have a significant visual impact.
