Lisbon City Council has approved the Matinha Execution Unit and the draft of the respective Urbanisation Contract. VIC Properties now has the green light to proceed with the redevelopment of this land, one of the largest residential and mixed-use property projects ever in the country.
The Execution Unit in question, which has now been approved, provides for the construction of approximately 2,000 new homes, 120,000 sqm of green spaces and leisure facilities, 65,000 sqm of services and retail, as well as a new school and various entertainment venues.
The grounds of the former Matinha Gas Factory will be decontaminated, completing a process whose first of three phases has already been finalised by VIC Properties in 2021. According to the developer, the recovery of this large-scale industrial area will enable the creation of an energy-efficient community, where sustainability, accessibility and convenience will truly embrace the ‘City of 15 Minutes’ urbanisation model.
The Matinha site was acquired by VIC Properties in 2019, with an estimated gross global development value of around 2,000 million euros (all capital will be private). The project is expected to create 3,000 direct jobs during the construction phase.
This former industrial area from the 1940s is located on the first line of the 'Tejo' River, between Parque das Nações and Marvila. It was abandoned for more than 25 years, interrupting the connection between the eastern riverside area and the city centre. Today, it is the last available plot of land on the city's waterfront, which can be reinvented in an integrated way, creating a dynamic, modern and people-centred area, ‘in an effective return of this part of Lisbon to the city and its population’.
The Matinha project reinforces the redevelopment activity in this part of the city that VIC Properties has been carrying out in recent years, namely with the construction of the neighbouring Prata Riverside Village, a 13-hectare project with 830 homes and commercial and leisure spaces, scheduled for completion in 2026.
João Cabaça, co-founder and CEO of VIC Properties comments in a press release that ‘together with Prata Riverside Village, the Matinha project will complete the largest and most impactful urban requalification carried out by private capital after Expo 1998 in Lisbon. We are extremely proud to be the driving force behind the transformation of this prime area of the capital, realising a large part of the regeneration of these challenging and forgotten industrial sites, introducing a whole new neighbourhood to Lisbon, while reconnecting this area to the Tejo River.’
