Palácio dos Correios wins award for best office refurbishment in Portugal

Built in the 40s, and emblematic house of the Portuguese Post Office in Porto, Palácio dos Correios was refurbished to welcome offices and stores. The refurbishment and reconstruction work was distinguished on the third edition of Real Estate Awards, promoted by Expresso and Sic Notícias.

Promoted by Grupo Ferreira, the intervention, that won in the category Office - Refurbishment and Reconstruction, included the creation of 20 thousand square meters of commercial spaces and offices, in addition to the modernization of the building and its surrounding area. Ginestal Machado, APEL, was responsible for the architecture project, while Pedro Freitas oversaw the engineering.

In the building, an original work by architect Carlos Ramos, an outstanding icon of Porto’s modern architecture, work companies such as Critical Techworks, Bold or the inter-municipal organization Área Metropolitana do Porto. The lobby was recently named after the sculptor José Rodrigues, displaying, at the entry "Salomé", a female bust in bronze.

At the end of July, the CTT returned home and opened a completely renovated store “based on an innovative approach to customer relations”.

36 projects competed in this edition of the Real Estate Awards, “an initiative aimed at rewarding the best works in this sector for the year 2020”, in the categories of best development in the areas of housing, tourism and office space; rehabilitation and reconstruction in the areas of housing, office space, commerce, tourism and public space or cultural heritage; interior design in the areas of housing, offices and tourism; sustainability in sustainable construction/architecture, brokerage innovation and the new category of public space in the areas of green space and urbanism.

The competition jury also awarded an honourable mention to the intervention in the Emporium housing building, a property in Rua de Sá da Bandeira, dated 1948.