Former Lisbon fairground site to get 700 low-cost houses

A former central Lisbon fairground site is to have a housing estate including 700 affordable homes.

 

The 25 hectare site will have 1,000 new houses of which over one-third will be set aside for affordable and subsidised homes to counteract the desertification of Lisbon centre by young people as a consequence of soaring house prices in recent years.

The Feira Popular site at Entrecampos will also have an office mega-centre, shops and new social and cultural facilities. A total of 279 homes will be for free sale in the Lisbon City Council project which has already been behind a major state-of-the-art sports centre development in Entrecampos Park which runs parallel to the site.

While the project, called the “Entrecampos Integrated Operation” encompasses the former Feira Popular site, it also includes plots of land confined by Avenida Álvaro Pais and land next to Avenida das Forças Armadas in the 25 hectare project including 2.5 hectares of green space.

The project involves the construction of 979 homes – the majority new-build, but also some modernisation to existing properties – of which 279 will be within the confines of the former fairground and be put on the market for free sale by the developer which will buy the land.

The lion’s share of the housing (700) will be earmarked for affordable rent houses and apartments with 515 slated as council housing and 122 within a pre-existing built area in which Ministry of Employment offices will be converted into apartments.

The remaining 63 homes will be built by the charity Santa Casa da Misericórdia on plots of land it owns.