Vieira de Almeida & Associados organised an Information Morning for its clients regarding “Recent legislative alterations in the area of the Management of National Territory and Town Planning – What are the opportunities?”.
The initiative, emanating from the company policy at Vieira de Almeida & Associados to divulge details of recent changes in a variety of practice areas to its clients, was hosted by the Real Estate, Planning & Environment department, which has this year been named by the most reputable international directory – Chambers & Partners – as “tier 1” quality with direct entry to their ranking.

After the opening presided over by Pedro Ferreirinha, partner responsible for this practice area, Sofia Galvão, VdA Of-Counsel, addressed a packed and highly attentive auditorium with a presentation named “A ‘new’ plan for the territory?” in which she looked at the alterations to the legal regime covering the instruments of management of the territory, as set out by decree-law no. 316/2007, of 19^th September. Following on from this presentation, Pedro Amaral e Almeida, senior associate, developed the theme “More (or less) simple Licences?” taking into consideration the changes made to the legal regime for Urbanisation and Building Development, as set down by Law n.º 60/2007, of 4^th September. The session also enjoyed the participation of the architect Manuel Salgado, who is responsible for Urban Development at Lisbon Municipal Council, and climaxed with a discussion between speakers and audience.

Above all the event was designed to tackle the following matters: in the eyes of the lawyer, who advises promoters and investors, what are the latest developments, what are the strong and weak areas of the legislative changes, as well as the principal opportunities presented by them. With the express intention of shedding light on the perspective of those who make the decisions, VdA invited Manuel Salgado, who gave his opinions on the application of the afore-mentioned alterations, this time from the viewpoint of the administrative decision-maker, informing the audience of new additions by the CML (Lisbon Town Hall) as far as planning and urban development and licensing of projects are concerned. Before closing, the top table and participants were invited to take part in an exchange of ideas and information on the subject, which proved extremely useful for all concerned.

This event will be repeated in Porto on 17th June 2008.