Loures Will Rehabilitate Adjoining Area to Lisbon Airport

24 February 2018

The construction of a Congress Centre, with an adjacent hotel, is one of the projects that is being promoted by the Loures Municipal Council to rehabilitate the area which has been a shantytown, the municipality announced on Friday.

The project is included in the Prior Velho Priority Detail Plan (PPPV) and aims to rehabilitate and reclassify the lands that were the home to the Quinta da Serra shantytown (currently demolished), which covered a total area of roughly 21 hectares.

The Mayor of Loures (a district of Lisbon), Bernardino Soares, explained that this plan also presupposes the creation of road infrastructure, green spaces and the construction of housing and areas for economic activities.

Mayor Soares said that the construction of the Congress Centre is one of the most ambitious projects of the PPPV Plan and that the intention is “to take advantage of the proximity of that location to Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport (about five minutes).”

Regarding the road network, the PPPV envisages the creation of a tunnel and a viaduct to improve the north link between the village of Prior Velho and the city of Sacavém, and the town of Portela to the south.

The creation of a “large recreational and leisure green space” is another of the projects that the plan provides foresees.

“This space will be a transitional zone between the predominantly residential housing area, organised around a large promenade, which is destined to be the attractive focal point of the area, extending through the Vasco da Gama Avenue, and a large, 21-floor tertiary services building. The new building is intended to be a benchmark for the metropolitan area for its size, architecture and functionality,” Mayor Soares explained.

The plan also foresees the construction of 935 residences, distributed in nine lots, which will also include area destined towards economic activities.

The total planned investment for the implementation of the PPPV, which will be the responsibility of private developers, is expected to be approximately 200 million euros.

The project’s developers will also be responsible for compensating or relocating the residents of the limited amount of precarious housing that continues to exist in the region.

The PPPV will be under public consultation until March 16.

Original Story: Lusa / Diário Imobiliário

Translation: Richard Turner