The giant concrete blocks – some weighing around ten tons – are built and prepared in a factory in Montijo, on the south bank of Lisbon, and transported by truck to Benfica, in the heart of the capital. There, on André de Resende Street, perpendicular to the busy Avenida Gomes Pereira, a six-storey building with 18 apartments (and a garage) is being constructed piece by piece, as if it were made of Lego, and will come onto the market under an affordable rental scheme.

This modular construction project, brought to life in record time by the Parish Council of Benfica, was funded 100% by the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), with an investment of just over three million euros. The short construction time of this type of project “makes it possible to meet PRR deadlines”, thereby making “the entire operation cheaper”, parish president Ricardo Marques told idealista/news.

Speed in the construction process and less need for labor. These are some of the arguments specialists point to when discussing modular construction projects, which make it possible to bring homes to the market more quickly and at lower cost, thereby contributing to addressing the housing crisis – or lack of access to housing – currently being experienced in Portugal, especially at the local level, namely in Controlled-Cost Housing (HCC) projects and/or affordable rental programs.

Modular construction takes flight in Lisbon
In Benfica, one of these projects is taking shape. And at lightning speed: “There are 18 apartments, twelve one-bedrooms and six two-bedrooms, which will be ready soon,” reveals Luís Pinheiro, site manager, to idealista/news – the modules are produced by Global Engineering (GE), whose factory is located in Montijo. “The construction work began – the excavation and foundation work – in August or September of this year, and we intend to complete the project in January or February of next year,” he adds.

“The construction work began – the excavation and foundation work – in August or September of this year, and we intend to complete the project in January or February of next year.”
Luís Pinheiro, site manager

“While on site we carry out excavation and foundation work, in parallel the factory team is already working on infrastructure design and the entire manufacturing process. Later, we move into the production phase, and we’re usually able to make between two and four modules per day. These modules already include infrastructure, come with windows installed, and in this case, with drying racks. It’s a process done entirely in the factory, parallel to the construction happening on site,” explains the civil engineer, who also directs other projects that use GE’s technology.

According to Luís Pinheiro, this is a building that can be completed within six to nine months, requiring far fewer workers on site compared to a traditional construction project. “Even though we have a crane and lifting platforms here, we avoid scaffolding and shoring. There’s a reduction of that kind of work on-site and a big gain in safety. And we have greater control in the factory,” he notes.

“In conventional construction, concrete must gain strength before it can be removed from its formwork. In the factory, we use high-strength concrete, and in addition, since it is manufactured in modules, we don’t have the restriction of waiting at least two weeks for the concrete to reach the minimum strength required for formwork removal. It’s an optimization of the solution,” he emphasizes.

And this is how homes are built: piece by piece, from the factory to the site
Before visiting the construction site of the building rising in Benfica, idealista/news went to visit GE’s factory – a company that develops high-tech solutions and products applied to civil engineering – on the south bank of the Tagus River. It is there, in Montijo, that everything happens: the modules are produced, piece by piece, and then assembled on site.

“Our 3D modular system is a partnership between us and the project management company DDN, which managed the process with us and the civil engineering team from Instituto Superior Técnico,” explains Liam O’Donnell, the company’s General Director.

The project on André de Resende Street is the third that the company is developing for the Parish Council of Benfica using modular construction. The first to come to life was the Calhariz de Benfica University Residence, inaugurated in September 2024. And very close to that building, another residential block with 50 apartments intended for affordable rent will also be built on land provided by the Lisbon City Council — unlike the André de Resende Street project, visited by idealista/news, which was purchased by the parish council from a private entity.

“We managed with this project to produce bathroom interiors and infrastructures in the factory, as well as the façades, which are sent to the site almost finished, with windows, shutters, and clothes-drying racks. It almost looks like a dollhouse being assembled, with many parts already completed. What we want for upcoming projects is to maximize the amount of finishing work we can do here in the factory,” explains Liam O’Donnell during the factory visit.

Other projects “signed” by GE using modular construction and backed by municipal investment include, for example, an office building in Vila Franca de Xira and an HCC building in Alcácer do Sal. But the company also works with private investors, particularly in the construction of luxury homes: in this case through ModuLar, a company within the GE group.

More speed, lower costs, more homes on the market
Returning to the building going up on André de Resende Street, Liam O’Donnell says it is “a very significant project in Benfica, because it helps solve the large deficit of HCC available for affordable rent.” “The project owner, the Parish Council of Benfica, has been very committed to this, and we have been very excited to be involved. It’s another development being launched in Benfica to offer more housing to those who need it most,” he says.

The benefits of modular construction, he argues, are clear: “In the factory we’re able to finish façades, install windows and walls, and even assemble the drying racks this time, to reduce the amount of work at height, namely work requiring scaffolding. So on site, all that’s left is finishing the exterior painting and the work that will be done inside the building and the apartments.”

Speed and shorter timelines are undoubtedly, the GE General Director says, major advantages of modular construction. While foundations and excavation are being carried out on site, module construction begins in the factory. Then it’s just a matter of transporting them. “This is the biggest difference. This ensures that, on average, we can assemble a building of this nature in half the time of conventional construction.” The idealista/news team observed this firsthand, with one of the modules leaving the factory in the morning and being installed on site in the afternoon using a crane.

Liam O’Donnell compares it to another project also underway in Benfica [Garridas 1867], which will take much longer to complete. “This is one of the biggest differences. It’s not just the price and construction cost, it’s the timeframe,” he concludes.

Modular construction meets the PRR’s tight deadlines
For the Parish Council of Benfica, investing in modular construction to bring more homes to the market is certainly one of the paths forward to address the housing crisis – or lack of access to housing – affecting the neighborhood and, more broadly, the entire city of Lisbon and the country.

“This project of 18 apartments had a very reasonable land acquisition cost for what land normally sells for in Lisbon, around 500,000 to 530,000 euros. With modular construction, although construction costs are slightly higher than masonry, the final numbers end up 20% to 30% lower. Why? Because there are far fewer workers and human resources on site, far less waste, and far less time spent in construction. Therefore, there is a rational gain with standardized factory production that ultimately reduces the total construction cost of the project,” explains Ricardo Marques.

Regarding the public tender — won by GE — the land was purchased from a private entity, the company Obragoito. According to the president of the Parish Council of Benfica, this type of hybrid construction shortens the “construction period”, which “makes it possible to meet PRR deadlines”, thus making the “entire operation cheaper”.

“In fact, those who have responded to the Parish Council of Benfica’s design-build tenders have been companies linked to modular construction, because the deadlines are very tight. And we realized that PRR timing makes traditional masonry construction much less feasible,” notes the mayor.

In summary, Ricardo Marques highlights the three municipal projects already developed or underway by the Parish Council of Benfica using modular construction: “There are 68 apartments: the 50 in Calhariz — we are now dismantling the hill so the building can be constructed — and these 18 apartments behind Avenida Gomes Pereira. All 68 use modular construction. And the student residence for 120 students was completed in record time, 11 months. It’s full and now in its second year of operation.”

Who can access the homes?
According to Ricardo Marques, the parish lost around 2,800 residents in the last eight years, but with the residential projects planned — around 270 apartments — the council hopes to “bring back” part of the population that left.

But who, exactly, will be able to live in these 18 homes being built near Avenida Gomes Pereira? There are a few limitations, the mayor warns: “It is housing that requires families to keep their effort rate at 30%. The calculation is based on the family’s income, and that is how the rent is determined within the minimum and maximum limits: the minimum is 12,000 euros and the maximum, in the case of Benfica’s housing programs, is 28,000 euros. In other words, a person with per-capita income between 12,000 and 28,000 euros is eligible. They cannot, however, own a home in their name within 50 kilometers of Lisbon — that’s another requirement,” explains Ricardo Marques.

Housing allocation through the lottery may also include displaced professionals, such as teachers. “It is very important to consider that the city cannot function without a diverse range of professions and without those who make it ‘work’: mechanics, police officers, people working in cafés, restaurants, and hotels. What we feel is that it is increasingly difficult for the middle class to live in the city, which is being pushed out of Lisbon. We are finding it harder and harder to meet the city’s own needs,” he concludes.