Old Civil Government building restored and housing companies

Aging building in downtown ancient Porto is restored and transformed into a business centre. The former Civil Government Building is now a shared workspace located in Porto city centre.

District Offices and Lifestyle was officially inaugurated today by Rui Moreira, Mayor of Porto, and promoter Endutex, an industrial company from the North.

What was once a derelict building is now a modern and state of the art workspace that houses companies from Technology and communication sectors to catering, fashion designers and hairdressers.

"This is an ecosystem within an ecosystem ... this will make the city work," said Rui Moreira.

The rehabilitation works amounted to two million euros, and the District Offices and Lifestyle is currently providing office space to 55 companies, and able to house 66.

"It is a great demonstration of the vitality of the city," businessmen and entrepreneurs "realized that this is an ocean of opportunities since the ecosystem is the link towards collaborative working environments and thus they can grow their business, develop the economy of the city. It creates visibility, it creates critical mass, which is what the cities needs", the Mayor affirmed.

These restoration and rehabilitation works were also possible in such a relatively short period of time, less than 3 years, because although there was no public investment, the municipality provided flexible licence agreements.

In the same area of the city, the Health Centre of Batalha is under construction, and these works will also rehabilitate an old building, and the municipality is launching the reopening of former Cinema Batalha, an iconic building to the city of Porto.

The city is transforming itself but "above all what is important to realize is that this shows that the city is optimistic about its future", the Mayor, Rui Moreira concluded.