Entrecampos – A statement about the future of Lisbon

It is amazing to consider that Lisbon, along with Athens and Rome, is one of three capital cities in Europe that have been continuously populated since antiquity.

This fact was driven home while surveying a maquette of Lisbon’s latest grass roots urban regeneration project in November at the Fidelidade Suite on the capital’s Avenida 5 de Outubro, opposite the vast site where the city’s newest and most exciting development will materialise within just under three years – a project that will undoubtedly change the face of the capital.

The site was once a Roman necropolis just outside the city walls, although pottery has been unearthed that takes it back to its times as a Phoenician trading outpost with local Celtic tribes. Later it became the city’s cattle market and by the latter party of the 20th century a popular fairground.

Entrecampos, so-called because it was literally the place between two 18th century fields – one a military training ground, Campo Pequeno, and the other, Campo Grande, where fairs and military ceremonies were held – is now the hottest parcel of real estate in Lisbon.

Here will rise a new and futuristic neighbourhood with offices, apartments, shops, restaurants, cafés, and leisure amenities all flowing seamlessly to sculptured green areas and inter-linked squares with dancing water features.

The site will also be home to Fidelidade’s new Lisbon HQ with the insurer said to be seeking a sale and leaseback deal for the new building which will also promise to help solve Lisbon’s chronic lack of modern, state-of-the-art office premises that today’s ESG conscious corporates demand as a relocation prerequisite.

According to Portuguese news sources Negócios and ECO, Fidelidade is asking just over €200 million for the building which will be completed and ready for move-in at some time in 2025.

I am approached by Englishman who strikes up a conversation. Pointing to the model he says flippantly: “Of course, this is a small scale project in a country like China”, introducing himself as Michael Purefoy, Head of Asset Management for Fosun Iberia.

Having spent over 15 years in China, he has seen some pretty large urban development projects spring up that make Lisbon’s Entrecampos Project look like plans for a village community centre and post office. Nevertheless, plans for the 42,000 square metre group of plots and 15,000m2 green areas constitute the single largest city centre mega development project for Lisbon since Parque das Nações was developed for the Expo in 1998.

And it is a comforting education that serves to remind that cities never really disappear. Empires might fall, but their cities morph into something else and this part of Lisbon is to be reborn again like a phoenix from the ashes, as it has so many times over 3,000 years of architectural history.

Purefoy works for Fosun, a large Chinese conglomerate which has corporate and property interests all over Europe.

At various times over the past 10 years it has held a 20% stake in bank BCP, 15% in State bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos, and 85% in the capital of Portuguese insurer Fidelidade which it purchased in 2014 for €1.1Bn.

And it is through Fidelidade that Fosun controls 99.86% of the capital of private hospital group Luz Saúde, as well as 5.3% of REN – Redes Energéticas Nacionais, an electricity distribution network, its share in which is worth €75.8 million.

I was there at the invite of the American Club of Lisbon whose members had gathered to learn more about the project which on completion will have involved an investment of anywhere between €650 million to €800 million depending on who you spoke to on the night.

All told, there will be 900 new homes of which 279 will be for free sale and the rest (603) built for affordable rent controlled by a Lisbon City Council housing association. The new corporate community will also employ around 15,000.

It was in December 2018 that Fidelidade Property purchased all of the plots of land at the fairground site that Lisbon Municipal Council, which owned the plots, had auctioned off along with a separate plot on Avenida Álvaro Pais for a total of €274 million.

Talking to the assembled ACL guests at the presentation, Miguel França Santana, Board Member at Fidelidade Property SA recalled that as one of the main bidders at the auction his hand went up so many times (375!) he got arm ache by the time the auction was over and Fidelidade had secured all of the building plots.

In fact, the city council had expected to bring in €188.4 million from the auction but ended up raking in €85.5 million more than had been envisaged.

The project planners are at pains to stress that this neighbourhood will not be a luxury development, although an artist’s impression of one spacious apartment with panoramic views of the city certainly looked like the future ‘des res’ of a Russian oligarch.

And we learn that balancing the temperaments of the two Portuguese architects responsible for this new neighbourhood was not easy, but then you wouldn’t expect anything else with the sensibilities of giants like Álvaro Siza Vieira and Eduardo Souto Moura.

Presenting the ambitious €650 million Lisbon redevelopment project formally for the first time, Miguel França Santana explained how the project was more than just a real estate development, but a imagining of what Lisbon can become with its potential to transform the city’s landscape, economy and community.

And he says that despite six years, two auctions and problems in getting the master plan approved since December 2018 – a long time in development – and the quantity of teams of lawyers, architects, and planners involved, the project is going well and on schedule.

Excavation began on the site in December 2023, and since them some 400,000 cubic metres of earth and rubble have been removed, retaining walls were built, and thousands of trucks arrived and left the site without creating one complaint from the local residents and businesses surrounding it.

As for the new HQ of Fidelidade, Mr. França Santana said the entire company would move into its new building next year.

As for the building works at Entrecampos for the residential units, work will begin in 2025 with completion for some buildings slated for 2027.

Miguel Paiva Couceiro, Development Director for Fidelidade Property Europe, outlined the Fidelidade HQ building project which has seven floors of office space with floor plates varying from 4-5,000m2.

He said they aimed to create the smartest, most modern and energy efficient building using sensor technology to monitor and control light, energy and water consumption while setting an ambition to have LEED Platinum certification which is awarded for only the healthiest, most highly efficient and cost-saving green buildings which offer environmental, social and governance benefits. The Fidelidade HQ will be one of the first buildings in Lisbon to have this certification.

The event was beautifully orchestrated by Fidelidade and made possible not only by the American Club of Lisbon and its staff and directors, but also the generous sponsorship of partners Deloitte and Eastbanc Portugal.

Text: Chris Graeme Photos: Joaquim Morgado (ACL)

Photo: L-R: Miguel Couceiro (Fidelidade), Tiago Eiró (Eastbanc), Téresa Vitoria (ACL Board), Miguel França, Santana (Fidelidade), Ricardo Reis (Deloitte) and Michael Purefoy (Fosun Iberia).