House & Building Construction in Lisboa

About our service in Lisboa

The first thing to know about a Lisbon building is how it was built, because everything else follows from that. Pombalino buildings contain the gaiola, a braced timber cage that works as a whole and cannot be dismantled piecemeal without weakening the entire structure. Early twentieth-century rental buildings have load-bearing masonry, timber floors and tabique partitions that carry nothing. Post-war blocks bring reinforced concrete and the rules change again. Before any demolition we open inspection points, and whenever the design touches the structure the engineer joins the process at the start rather than at the end. It costs a little more in design and a great deal less on site. The planning framework is the second theme. In monument protection zones, urban rehabilitation areas and listed groups there are requirements covering facades, windows, roofs and sometimes materials, with opinions from bodies that are not the council. That is not an obstacle, it is information: the earlier it enters the design, the faster the file moves. We check the constraints on the building before anything is drawn and assemble the application with the right documents, which avoids the requests for additional information that stop everything for months. We also chase the requests for additional documents, which are the single most common cause of a file sitting untouched. Finally there is logistics, which in Lisbon costs real money. Narrow streets, restricted loading, no parking, short-let neighbours sensitive to noise and buildings occupied throughout the work. We split deliveries, apply for road occupation where it is needed, protect the common parts and remove waste as it is produced. Noisy phases are agreed in advance, and we work Monday to Saturday, 9am to 8pm, with Sunday closed, which in an occupied building makes a real difference to everyone involved. In streets with shops, deliveries are arranged outside the busiest trading hours. Pavements and entrances are protected for the duration.

In Lisbon we typically handle:

Services Included

• Renovating historic buildings, timber structures included
• Deep apartment renovation with services replaced throughout
• Checking heritage constraints before the design starts
• New work and alterations in more recent concrete buildings
• Site logistics in narrow streets, with road occupation arranged

Areas We Serve

We work across the city: Baixa, Chiado, Graça, Alfama, Arroios, Estrela, Campo de Ourique, Avenidas Novas, Areeiro, Campolide, Benfica, Alvalade and Lumiar.

Work Gallery