In five months, Largo de São Sebastião, in São Brás de Alportel, will be unrecognizable. The requalification works of what is one of the town's “business cards” started today and intend to transform the place into a space “to be lived”.
Fountains, scenic lighting, ambient music or artistic pavement alluding to the procession of flowering torches are some of the novelties for this place that Vítor Guerreiro, mayor of São Brás de Alportel, wants «looking to the future».
This will be “the first work under the PARU [Action and Urban Regeneration Plan] and has 65% financing. Largo de São Sebastião will have a completely different image, after a project that is expected to last five months and that has been long-awaited by São Brasenses», explained the mayor to journalists, on the day he took stock of the his three-year term.
This intervention, which was awarded to a company from São Brás, solves several problems in this place, which, despite being «the county's living room», has planning problems. "Those who arrive there don't really know where to cross the pedestrian crossings, where to park, and those who don't think that the statue of Bernardo Passos is a roundabout, and that doesn't dignify the development we want for the municipality."
The possibility of relocating the statue of Bernardo Passos, as part of this requalification, was on the table, but Vítor Guerreiro considers that «we did not have the freedom to touch something that was paid for by the people 50 years ago».
About Largo de São Sebastião “of the future”, the mayor reveals that it will have “green spaces, a water game with fountains, which can be turned off, so that people can circulate freely through the space. This will give a different life. There will also be scenic lighting, to enhance the existing heritage, not only the statue of Bernardo Passos, but the interesting buildings from the heritage point of view that exist there, such as the União Sambrazense or the pharmacy building».
The new Largo de São Sebastião will be futuristic, but will take into account the São Brasense roots: «the work will be done taking into account the materials of the region, such as schist and limestone. It will have the artistic sidewalk, which will extend to Avenida da Liberdade, alluding to the procession of flowering torches, it will almost be a carpet of flowers».
Vítor Guerreiro revealed that "a monument alluding to the flowering torches is also being built", which will then be installed on the site and which is part of a strategy of making São Brás de Alportel a "reference in urban art".
The redevelopment of Largo de São Sebastião will cost around 315 thousand euros, financed at 65% by CRESC Algarve 2020.
See more preview images of the project here:
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