The developer behind Europe's tallest residential towers has attacked "fake and insidious" press coverage of the project, after claims that the 47-storey skyscraper has been built without elevators went viral.
Rafael Ballesta, sales manager for the Edificio Intempo residential towers, described the media storm as "ridiculous" and said: "We are constructing the highest residential skyscraper in Europe so how is it possible to build without elevators?"
Dezeen was one of several publications to feature the story, which was originally reported by Spanish newspaper El Pais.
"The journalist from El Pais issued some fake news and everyone else just copy-and-pasted it," Ballesta told Dezeen. "People must not believe this fake news".
A Twitter account dedicated to the Edificio Intempo building, which is nearing completion in the Benidorm beach resort on Spain's Mediterranean coast, has responded to some of the publications who reported the news by tweeting that it is false and its elevators are working.
Another tweet links to a document published by engineers Florentino Regalado & Asociados showing section views of the building, including elevator shafts.
Ballesta says the towers feature six "latest generation" elevators, with three installed in each of the twin towers.
A Spanish journalist who has visited the building posted on her website that she had ascended as far as the building's 45th floor using its elevators and included a photo that claims to show the elevator's unfinished operating panel.
The project's website also features photos of lift doors within the building.
In its story on 20 July, El Pais reported that the building was originally designed with 20 storeys, but developers later decided to extend it to 47 storeys and neglected to allow the extra room required by a lift ascending over twice as far. This meant that the top half of the building would be inaccessible by elevator.
The twin 200 metre-tall building, designed by Roberto Perez Guerras Architects, claims to be Europe's tallest residential building and is scheduled for completion in December 2013. Consisting of two slender towers joined at the top by an inverted conical structure, Edificio Intempo contains 269 luxury apartments, which are being marketed primarily to Russian buyers.
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