In Lisboa the structure is usually made of wood.
A pombalino building is held up by a timber cage built into the masonry after the 1755 earthquake. It is the reason the building is still standing, it is invisible under six coats of paint, and it is what an unprepared contractor cuts through on the first morning.
7Years working in Lisboa
13People, studio on Rua da Boavista
1Engineer, on retainer not on call
5Years structural guarantee, statutory
IMPIC alvará 91744 · seguro de responsabilidade civil · statutory five-year structural guarantee on every job.
What goes wrong, by building type
Pombalino, 1755-1860
The gaiola is a timber frame built into the walls, and it is the earthquake structure. Members get notched for pipework by people who do not know what they are looking at, usually somewhere after 1950. We bring a structural engineer to the survey, remove paint in test patches to read the frame, and splice rather than replace, because a spliced member keeps working and a replaced one changes how the whole cage behaves.
Gaioleiro, 1870-1930
Built fast and tall during the city's expansion, often with thinner walls and weaker floors than the pombalino stock they imitate. Floor deflection is the recurring finding, and it decides whether a large-format tile or a stone counter is even possible.
Prédio, 1940-1975
Concrete frames with no thermal separation at the slab edge, single glazing and a stack that has been weeping quietly for thirty years. These are the apartments where an energy certificate can move two bands almost as a side effect of doing the services properly.
Cascais villa, 1960-1990
Sea air, ungrounded circuits and windows that were specified for a climate nobody was measuring. Test every circuit before quoting a kitchen: we have twice turned a kitchen project into a house project on the first morning, and both owners were glad we did.
Working with the câmara
The approval is a schedule item with its own timescale, and in a historic overlay it can take longer than the precedent for the street. We consult before design so the scope is written to what will be accepted, and we publish the delay when it happens — the Alfama project on this site ran two weeks late for exactly this reason.
Four Lisboa projects, with their numbers.
Prices in euros, areas in square metres, and the defect the survey found on each one.
All projects
Where we work
Lisboa
- 01Príncipe Real
- 02Estrela
- 03Alfama
- 04Graça
- 05Campo de Ourique
- 06Alcântara
Cascais line
- 01Cascais
- 02Estoril
- 03Oeiras
- 04Sintra
- 05Almada
survey, Lisboa
- Engineer at the surveyOn every pombalino and gaioleiro building, before the scope is written rather than after a wall is opened.
- Câmara consulted firstTheir position governs the openings and the facade, so it is established before design.
- Lime, not gypsumRepairs are made in the binder the building was built with, because the wall has to keep breathing.
- Five-year structural guaranteeStatutory in Portugal, and we do not ask you to sign anything that narrows it.
Rua da Boavista 84, segundo andar.
The studio is five minutes from Cais do Sodré and the engineer we work with is in it twice a week. +351 210 555 019, segunda a sexta. Ask for Ana — she works in Portuguese and English.