"We are now reaching the final stage of the project and we will perhaps start the work this year", said the executive director of the real estate development company, Paulo Castro.

Speaking to journalists, on the sidelines of the international real estate event MIPIM, Paulo Castro said he estimated that between the second half of 2026 and January 2027 the first phase of the project, budgeted at around 200 million euros (investment shared with Farfetch), is completed.

The two remaining phases of the project, which include the creation of more offices, services and common spaces, should be completed between 2027 and 2030.

"I would really like to see the project fully built and operational by 2030," he said.

The technological innovation centre, known as 'Fuse Valley', in Leça do Balio, in the municipality of Matosinhos, in the district of Porto, will consist of 24 buildings that will house offices, housing, a hotel and various services.

A "substantial" part of the offices will be occupied by Farfetch (a luxury fashion platform), said the businessman, adding that "some negotiations" are already underway to accommodate other companies and services.


10,000 jobs


"The main objective is to have the day-to-day services and needs available to those who work there," he said, noting that, once completed, the project will create 10,000 jobs.

The hotel, which will be "anchored on a 'business' hotel concept", will have 70 rooms and occupy an area of 12,000 square meters, where various common spaces are planned, such as "rooms for events, congresses, spaces for ' coworking' and a spa".

According to Paulo Castro, the group is still "in talks with some operators", having not yet defined the business model for the hotel unit.

"We don't have the business model defined, nor the deal closed, because at this stage we haven't decided whether the hotel will start in the first phase or in a next phase [of the project]", he noted, saying he believes that within a year this issue may be resolved.

On November 11, 2022, a publication in Diário da República (DR) stated that the Matosinhos Chamber had suspended, for two years, the Municipal Master Plan (PDM) to allow the construction of the technological innovation centre.

"The proposed suspension of the plan thus proves to be essential, otherwise it will make it impossible to carry out an undertaking of great importance for the municipality", referred to the municipality, led by the socialist Luísa Salgueiro.

The "Fuse Valley" project was one of the four finalists for the 'Best New Development' category of the MIPIM awards, an event that brings together in Cannes (France) more than six thousand investors and international financial institutions and in which Greater Porto, brand created by the municipalities of Porto, Gaia and Matosinhos to attract more investment to the Atlantic Front region.