News

The official session to establish the Construction Foundation took place on July 25th, in a ceremony that took place at the Técnico Innovation Center, in Lisbon, and which was attended by the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing, Eng. º Miguel Pinto Luz.

The Construction Foundation brings together the Order of Engineers, the Order of Architects, the Order of Economists and 14 leading companies in the construction and project sector in Portugal, including Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções, represented at this event, by Engineer Gustavo Lebreiro, Member of its Board of Directors.

The initiative, unprecedented in bringing together the public, private sector and associations, aims to bring together and coordinate efforts between the main entities in the AEC sector, namely through their contribution to collective knowledge of the country’s real needs in this activity, in areas such as the design of its infrastructures and buildings, taking into account sustainable economic development and the defense of national interests and autonomy.

In his speech, the Minister of Infrastructure and Housing expressed that “it is very good when a group unites around a goal like this, even better when that goal is to create knowledge, to better serve our fellow citizens. We are absolutely aligned in this plan. I immediately said “yes, present”. On behalf of the Government, you are counting on us in this challenge of ours, and I am counting on you in this healthy, disruptive provocation to question decisions. We are deeply grateful for this initiative, we look forward to seeing these studies and the healthy provocations they have to offer us, and for them to help us on this path. Hand in hand, we are stronger. We need to strengthen this sector even further, to find new directions and build Portugal.”

Note also the perspective brought by Engineer Fernando de Almeida Santos, Chairman of the Order of Engineers in his speech, in which he highlighted that «Portugal has a lot to gain from some safeguarding of the national interest in business matters. Almost 50% of public works have been awarded to foreign companies in recent years, which is legitimate, but the opposite is not true. We have installed capacity, and there is no public contracting of Portuguese companies abroad.».

To read more about this subject, see the news published on the (RE)Portugal website.

Yesterday, July 25th, the inauguration of the new Lisbon Design Museum (MUDE) took place, after the completion of the requalification project led by Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções, starting in 2021.

In a contribution made to the book “MUDE Building – Transformations from the perspective of design” which was distributed on the occasion of the inauguration, colleague Tiago Simões Vieira, Construction Director of this project, highlighted that “the requalification of the MUDE building — Design Museum revealed It will be a great challenge and, above all, a huge privilege for everyone who collaborated in carrying out the work.».

MUDE was created in 2009, occupying a historic building in Baixa Pombalina, formerly the headquarters of Banco Nacional Ultramarino, which was in poor condition for the functional and security needs of a museum center with the ambition of being a cultural reference in Lisbon. Even so, the Museum received an average of 2,000 visitors per day and hosted more than 70 exhibitions and 300 events.

In 2015, Lisbon City Council closed the doors of MUDE to begin a comprehensive requalification project that was the subject of an international competition and was awarded to a company that went into insolvency in 2018. A new tender was opened for a 2nd contract, Teixeira Duarte was the selected company and the renovation works resumed in 2021, never stopping even during the pandemic.

According to an interview given to Observador by the Director of MUDE, Bárbara Coutinho, «having Teixeira Duarte, a century-old company, as a partner was a fundamental element (…) If we make the simple ratio between what the project cost, the architectural work and the specialties across the total area, we are talking about something that is absolutely significant in terms of the extreme savings we made here.” Statements that attest to customer satisfaction in relation to Teixeira Duarte’s efficiency and its ability to overcome the challenges inherent in the execution of a unique work of «singular construction, different from all others, with non-obvious constructive solutions, where there was an appeal constant contribution to the creativity of the various participants.», mentions Tiago Simões Vieira in the aforementioned Book. The excerpt from the Book corresponding to the chapter “The challenges of the work, from the perspective of Teixeira Duarte” can be read in full here.

MUDE opened with an exhibition dedicated to the building itself, where the transformation of the space is explained, what needed to be rethought and preserved, through texts, photos and videos, and which can be seen until October 31st.

Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções participated, on the 27th and 28th of June, in the 33rd Plenary Meeting of CEN/TC288 “Execution of Special Geotechnical Works”, which took place at the National Civil Engineering Laboratory (LNEC), in Lisbon.

CEN/TC288 is the Technical Committee responsible for developing European Standards for the Execution of Special Geotechnical Structures.

The 33rd plenary meeting took place in a hybrid format and had a broad international representation, comprising 28 members of delegations from Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Latvia, North Macedonia, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland. The Portuguese delegation, representing the Portuguese Quality Institute (IPQ), the entity responsible for preparing and disseminating standards in Portugal, was led by Eng. João Pina, from the Projects Department of Teixeira Duarte – Engenharia e Construções.

For Teixeira Duarte, contributing to the standardization of the AEC sector constitutes a means of competitive differentiation, contributing to the development of its activity in line with the rules of art and national and international standards, which is why the Company actively participates in groups work in the most diverse areas of Engineering.

Bearing in mind the news recently published by some media outlets, TEIXEIRA DUARTE – ENGENHARIA E CONSTRUÇÕES, S.A., as leader of the Group competing in the «International Public Tender IP3 Coimbra / Viseu – Section Santa Comba Dão / Viseu – Duplication / Requalification» , clarifies that, contrary to the content of the aforementioned publications, the Group in question timely delivered all the qualification documents required in the procedures leading to the formalization of the contract.

The decision to forfeit the award was due to an alleged impediment of EMBEIRAL– ENGENHARIA E CONSTRUAÇÃO, S.A., a company that is part of the Group, in being able to participate in the procedure.