What does the collapse mean for visitors and residents?
Visitors are not affected: La Paterna is a purely residential district, and these reports do not touch travel plans. The district is on Gran Canaria, not Tenerife, where many holidaymakers stay in the south.
On Wednesday 11 November 2026, the aluminium frame of a lift shaft came away from a block of flats in La Paterna. The Ayuntamiento (city council) of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria says the building’s structure is not affected.
Reports say the building could still be entered via Calle Ruperto Chapí. Residents of any of the 23 blocks should ask their building manager or the city council.
The reports name no contact point for those affected. No source mentions deadlines or applications.
What happened in Calle Federico Chueca on 11 November?
No working lift fell: the structure was the aluminium shaft of an exterior lift not yet installed. It came down on Wednesday 11 November 2026, around 17:00, in Calle Federico Chueca.
The frame landed on a green strip and a dragon tree. One witness said it fell “like a fridge’s cardboard box”.
On Thursday 12 November, councillor Mauricio Roque said all materials from the tower had already been removed. The causes of the collapse are being assessed.
Roque added that the aim now is to resume work and repair the damage. The city had given no date for this by Friday.
Was it the storm or poor fixing?
What brought the tower down is unclear, and reports disagree. One links the collapse to Storm “Charles”, when the city’s PEMULPA emergency plan was active under a wind warning.
Another report says no wind was blowing in the district at that moment. No figures on wind strength or warning level are available.
Residents complained in writing on 28 September about how the lift towers beside their homes are fixed. Reports say they have complained for about a year, since the previous year’s rain.
Residents also report rust stains on new towers and a recently built wall that is giving way. Whether the storm or poor fixing caused the collapse is not proven.
What is the renovation programme in La Paterna about?
The ERRP programme renovates 23 blocks with 819 homes and 13 commercial units, according to the programme details. It costs 19.2 million euros in total, with around 5 million euros going on the exterior lifts.
The buildings date from the 1970s. Each lift is built for 8 people and hangs outside the block as a tower.
Photovoltaic panels and insulation are part of the programme alongside the lifts. Residents are meant to save 400 to 600 euros a year on electricity, according to the programme details.
According to these details, around 70% of the money comes from the EU recovery funds NextGenerationEU, and the city pays the rest. No source says who will pay for the damage from the collapse.
Lift building began in Calle Ruperto Chapí with five lifts. Whether the Calle Federico Chueca building belongs to particular tenders is not proven.
What happens next, and what does the opposition demand?
Gustavo Sánchez, a councillor for the opposition Partido Popular (PP), wants every lift shaft already installed to be checked, saying “the whole project must be reviewed”. He took the neighbours’ anger to the committee for Urbanismo, Vivienda, Desarrollo Sostenible y Movilidad (urban planning, housing, sustainable development and mobility).
Sánchez expects the project to be declared complete at the end of 2026. By then, he says, no lift will be running.
The city had not replied to this in the reports read. Whether it will agree to a full review is not settled.
The project is behind the announced schedule, reports say. By Friday the city had named no new completion date, no building firm and no cost of the damage.