The government has launched a public tender for the construction of the superstructure of its ongoing new central library project on the site of the long-defunct Hotel Estoril.
The tender was announced in a notice published by the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday.
The project is being caried out in two phases. The first phase got off the ground in June last year, comprising the demolition of the former Hotel Estoril and putting in the new library building’s pile foundation and basement work.
The new library building’s basement work is now being carried out after the completion of its pile foundation work early this year and the demolition of the derelict Hotel Estoril on the site last year.
According to the DSOP website, the ongoing first phase is now scheduled to be completed in December this year.
After the first phase’s completion, the library project’s second phase, namely superstructure work, will start, a public tender for which was announced yesterday.
The project’s first phase is currently being carried out by Ming Shun Construction and Property Investment Limited for a price tag of 69.78 million patacas.
The bureau did not launch a public tender for the project’s first phase. Instead, the bureau launched a tender by invitation early last year when it asked seven construction companies, including Ming Shun, to bid for the library project’s first phase. All seven companies submitted their respective bids, which were unsealed by DSOP officials in March last year. Afterwards, the bureau commissioned Ming Shun, which offered the lowest price – 69.78 million patacas, to carry out the central library project’s first phase.
According to the notice gazetted yesterday, potential bidders are required to submit their quotations for the central library project’s superstructure work by October 8. The bureau will unseal the submitted bids the next day.
The winning bidder will be required to complete the superstructure within 620 working days.
The bureau also updated details of the central library project on its website yesterday.
According to the DSOP website, the site where the new central library will be located, i.e., the plot where the now-defunct Hotel Estoril once stood, covers 2,960 square metres.
The future central library, according to the updated details, will have four storeys, plus a basement area to be used for storerooms. The new building will have a gross floor area of 13,800 square metres.
The new central library will include facilities such as an auditorium, newspaper and magazine reading areas, an adults’ library, a children’s library, a youth library, and meeting rooms, according to the DSOP website.
The government decided in 2020 to redevelop the long-abandoned Hotel Estoril opposite Praça do Tap Seac into the city’s new central library. The government then invited four architectural design teams – from Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland – to submit concept designs for the project, after which the government announced in 2021 that it had chosen the concept design from the Netherlands’ Mecanoo team for the central library project.
The Dutch team’s concept design proposes to relocate the mosaic mural on the old Hotel Estoril’s façade to the future library building’s atrium, while the other three teams all proposed to keep it on the future library’s façade.
The city’s central library is currently housed in a listed building in Praça do Tap Seac, just across the square from the long-defunct Hotel Estoril.
When announcing its new central library project on the former Hotel Estoril plot in 2020, the government was aiming to complete the project in 2024 at the earliest.
The government said in 2020 that the library project was preliminarily estimated to cost 500 million patacas.
A motorcycle is driven past the construction site of the ongoing new central library project on Avenida de Sidónio Pais yesterday. – Photo: Tony Wong
This artist’s rendition released by the Public Works Bureau (DSOP) yesterday shows the future central library.
This aerial photo taken in June and downloaded from the Public Works Bureau’s (DSOP) website yesterday shows the basement work of the ongoing new central library project, which is being carried out on the site of the former Hotel Estoril.
