Lisbon council is looking to imminently contract a company to carry out repair works at the São Pedro de Alcântara viewpoint, to “stabilise the platform and ensure the safety of people and belongings,” after cracks appeared at the locale.
A proposal for the purpose was due to be discussed in a council meeting on Thursday.
According to the document, seen by Lusa News Agency, the council is prepared to spend €5.5 milion on the intervention, which “is intended to carry out definitive geotechnical engineering works” in order to “remedy the current instability situation and correct the damage already identified in existing structures, restoring the adequate structural conditions of this centennial and historic viewpoint.”
The document, signed off by Lisbon councillor for Urbanism, Manuel Salgado, elaborated the work will “reduce”, to the highest possible degree, the possibility of future damage at the spot “caused by unavoidable natural agents to which it is subjected, such as rainwater, internal circulation and earthquakes, which can quickly lead to new situations of instability.”
Made up of three platforms, each supported by a stone wall, the 250-year-old viewpoint is one of the Portuguese capital’s most famous landmarks.
Early signs of fissures were first noted in 2006, and have been regularly monitored since.
The upcoming intervention is expected to last five months and is seen as “urgent, due to the exceptional nature of the situation that has been verified.”
Work, once it begins, could condition traffic circulation along adjacent streets in the area.
Going into more detail, a recent statement from Lisbon council explained “curtains and buttresses, moulded piles and locking beams” will be inserted to rehabilitate the existing walls, in conjunction with a “controlled removal of a layer of earth and implementation of a plan to measure eventual horizontal and vertical displacements of the slope.”
“Work will commence shortly, because it is the season of the year that is most favourable for it to be carried out, for climatic reasons”, the statement continued, adding: “access to the garden on the upper part will not be conditioned during the work, with the exception of access to the upper platform.”