Inaugurated on March 5, this work included the installation of escalators and elevators linking the riverfront to the Castle square. The intervention also included the rehabilitation of the public space, the rehabilitation and transformation of a single-family housing building into two units to be placed in the affordable rental program and the rehabilitation of the washhouse building and community changing rooms.
«This is one of those projects that makes sense. There are works that are imposing, important, and there are works that, as well as being important, make a lot of sense for people's day-to-day lives», said the mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia, Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, at the inauguration.
«When we talk about connecting the lower elevation to the upper elevation and vice versa, we're not just talking about Serra do Pilar. We're talking about all spaces, and this is one of them, where it makes a lot of sense for people who live at low levels to have access to the metro line in five minutes. Because this intervention will allow them to reach the Rubi metro station in five minutes and reduce distances that would otherwise be more painful», he added.
The Castelo area is classified as a building of public interest and is within the boundaries of the Historic Center area and also within the boundaries of the Special Protection Zone (SPA) of the "Historic Center of Porto, Luís I Bridge and Serra do Pilar Monastery" - classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its value lies, above all, in the fact that it is the place where the first traces of concentrated human occupation appeared in Vila Nova de Gaia.
The "Castelo de Gaia Integrated Intervention" was the result of a total investment of 3.5 million euros, co-financed by EU funds under PEDU, Norte 2020 and Feder, with an 85% contribution rate.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
