“The structure of the Colombo Shopping Centre is completely safe, and its stability and structural performance are fully guaranteed,” the management of this shopping centre, located in the parish of Carnide and considered the largest in the country, with approximately 120,000 square metres and more than 300 stores, told Lusa.

The residents' association Vizinhos em Lisboa denounced the structural risk of the Colombo Shopping Centre building, particularly in one of the shopping centre's pillars, and demanded an urgent inspection by the City Council due to the “potential risk to public safety,” as well as the intervention of other entities, including the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE).

Author: CM Noticias;

This association presented photographs that it considers to prove the “visible structural degradation in several pillars and concrete elements” of the Colombo Shopping Centre, including “chipped areas, loss of material and the presence of improvised materials, such as adhesive tape, applied directly to the pillars”.

“At the same time, opaque coatings are being installed that may conceal critical signs of cracking or fragility. As Colombo is one of the busiest areas in the city, the situation raises serious public safety concerns,” warned the Vizinhos em Lisboa (Neighbours in Lisbon) group.

In response to the Lusa news agency, the management of the Colombo Shopping Centre stated that “the pillar whose image has been circulating in recent hours is in perfect safety condition, posing no risk to the use of the building”.

“There is no fracture, crack or damage to the concrete. The effect visible in the photographs and videos is the result of a misalignment in the pillar's coating, and its structural function is not in question,” they added, reinforcing that the structural solidity of the pillar in question has always been guaranteed by the shopping centre's technicians. Proactively, the management of Centro Colombo requested independent opinions from entities specializing in structures, highlighting “the assessment by LNEC – the National Laboratory of Civil Engineering, which confirms that no cracks or disintegration of the concrete in the pillar or slab were found, so there is no mechanical rupture of the pillar, nor risk of detachment and falling materials.”

“It concludes, therefore, that there is no danger to the circulation of people and goods,” the shopping centre’s administration stated.

Similarly, Centro Colombo requested an assessment from the engineering firm Adão da Fonseca - Engenheiros Consultores, Ltda., which also “confirms the full functional stability of the structure, emphasising, once again, that there is no risk to people and property.”

Currently, Centro Colombo is carrying out a renovation project at the shopping centre, with the sole objective of innovating its space to improve the visitor experience, and “this intervention is not related to the building's structure and does not impact it in any way.”

In this context, Colombo's management reiterated that the normal operation of the shopping mall is guaranteed "in complete safety conditions, with no risk to visitors or workers."