Leiria, Portugal, June 15, 2026 (Lusa) - Construction of the student residence at the former Convent of Santo Estêvão in Leiria has been partially suspended following the discovery of archaeological finds, Carlos Rabadão, president of the Politécnico de Leiria (IPL), told the Lusa news agency.
“The work is partially suspended. It is not suspended; it is still ongoing, but proceeding at a slower pace,” said Carlos Rabadão, acknowledging that the project to create 101 beds will not be completed by 31 August, the deadline for the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), which is funding the work.
Noting that “some archaeological challenges” had been encountered, such as “human remains”, in an area where “it is not the first time that remains have been discovered”, he explained that an archaeologist is monitoring the works full-time, with the “completion date being a little later” than 31 August.
The deadline was originally set for the first quarter of this year, but has now been extended to 31 December.
In addition to the student residence in Leiria, where the Polytechnic has three of its five higher education schools — Education and Social Sciences, Health, and Technology and Management (ESTG) — the renovation of the Mestre António Duarte student residence in Caldas da Rainha, the city where the School of Arts and Design (ESAD) is based, will also not be ready by the RRP deadline.
Initially scheduled for completion in the last quarter of 2025, the renovation contract for this hall of residence saw an initial tender go unclaimed, after which “structural problems were found in the building that necessitated a structural redesign of the works”.
The expected completion date is 31 December, after which the hall of residence will have 104 beds.
“In the context of Kristin [depression] and also when analysing the building’s structure, we realised that it has structural problems and, therefore, additional work is required, and we are also dealing with that,” said the president of the IPL.
When asked about a possible penalty for failing to meet the RRP deadline, Carlos Rabadão said that the IPL had referred “these situations to the funding body several months ago”.
“It has been reported and, therefore, we are trying to find a solution for these two specific cases (…), to ensure that these works will be completed with the funding we have,” he added.
The IPL has 14 RRP-funded projects. Of these, the refurbishment of the Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro student residence (117 beds) and the refurbishment of an educational building at ESAD, both in Caldas da Rainha, have been completed.
Also completed are the refurbishment of the Health Innovation Hub building and the refurbishment and extension of Building C at ESTG, in Leiria.
This month, work is expected to be completed on improving the energy efficiency of Building D at ESTG and the José Saramago Library, as well as the energy refurbishment of the Health Innovation Hub.
By 31 July, the new student residence (68 beds) in Caldas da Rainha will be ready.
Scheduled for completion on 31 August are the renovation works on the halls of residence complex (458 beds) and the construction of the Nova Leiria halls of residence (165 beds), next to the Central Services Building in the district capital.
By the same date, it is expected that the construction of the new student accommodation complex (88 beds) and the refurbishment of the existing hall of residence (58 beds) in Peniche – the city home to the Higher School of Tourism and Marine Technology – and the student accommodation in Pombal (42 beds), where the IPL has a training centre, will be completed.
With these investments in renovation and construction, the IPL, the future Universidade de Leiria e do Oeste, will almost double the number of student beds.
The president of the Politécnico de Leiria added that the impact of Storm Kristin on 28 January forced the rescheduling of some works.
“The storm, in a way, caused delays of two or three months in most of the projects,” he noted, pointing out that it was not “just the direct impact it had on the [IPL] buildings; it is also the issue of human resources, with companies having to redeploy their workforce to repair the damage”, in order to return to normality.
The total investment in the works carried out under the RRP is €48 million (excluding VAT), with the Politécnico de Leiria's direct investment amounting to €11.5 million. This latter figure includes the increased costs associated with inflation and Storm Kristin.
SR/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
