During a public meeting of the municipal executive, Mayor Sérgio Galvão stated that the loan is intended to finance the first phase of the property’s redevelopment.

The mayor explained that the loan would not count against the municipality’s borrowing capacity in the Lisbon district, as it has secured €2 million in EU funding and is awaiting “significantly more value.”

The mayor noted that the redevelopment project for the former sanatorium is estimated at €60 million, with the municipality expected to contribute approximately €17 million.

Sérgio Galvão said the project would also be funded by private companies, from which he expects “€2 million in support soon.”

The “Medicina ULisboa – Torres Vedras Campus Association” was established for the project, with the municipality and the University of Lisbon Faculty of Medicine as founding members.

The association’s mission is to develop, implement, and promote healthcare services, teaching, research, and training in the health sector, with a primary focus on primary healthcare.

The Campus will feature a Healthcare Hub, including an Academic Family Health Unit and an interdisciplinary unit covering cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and neuroscience areas, as well as an academic hub (with clinical and technological research centres), a humanitarian, emergency, and disaster medicine hub, and a residential hub.

Spanning approximately 13,000 square meters, the campus is expected to employ around 400 people, including healthcare professionals and service providers.

The building has been vacant since 2013, the year the hospital services previously located there were relocated.

The property belonged to the Ministry of Health, but in 2021, the State transferred it to the Torres Vedras Municipality under a 50-year gratuitous loan agreement.

During the municipal executive’s public meeting, approval was also granted to take out a €2.7 million loan to acquire a 4.5-hectare plot of land next to the Pousada de Santa Cruz; the site is intended for the construction of a building containing 133 apartments designated for purchase at controlled costs or for affordable rent.

According to the mayor, the municipality expects to secure €3 million in EU funding to increase the area’s housing supply.