Know-how and technical expertise

It was in 1979 that the final aspects of the project for the new Coimbra Central Hospital (today called Coimbra University Hospital) were completed. For Teixeira Duarte, this project was the first of its size under a design/build contract and also involved the provision of hospital and medical-surgical equipment.

With the contract awarded in 1975, there were several years of studies and projects which led to the signing of the contract on 26 August 1978 and its revision during 1979.

The work, carried out in consortium with OPCA and HUARTE, brought enormous added value in the sharing of knowledge and would begin in 1980, revealing itself not only as very important for the projection of the Company, but also for the know-how acquired for the many more hospitals subsequently built and which mean that, even today, Teixeira Duarte is an unavoidable reference in this area of hospital construction.

Also in 1979, serious slips occurred on the slope of Portas do Sol, in Santarém, and Teixeira Duarte was called in to solve a complex problem that was affecting, with increasing concern, the north railway line located between the Tagus River and the slope. Although there are reports of slips in that area since 1862 and that already in 1965 Teixeira Duarte had been awarded the contract for the execution of the limestone coating of the top of the hillside, it was only after these events of 1979 that Teixeira Duarte designed and executed the consolidation of the hillside, in a multi-year contract full of singularities and in which technical and creative value, as well as persistence and commitment were essential for its success.

In this year, Teixeira Duarte carried out outstanding contracts, such as the "Gemini" Buildings, in Lisbon and Atlântico, in Figueira da Foz (civil construction), industrial structures for Quimigal (industrial construction), as well as Specialty works such as the consolidation of the slope in Casal Ventoso, in Lisbon, the foundations for the Figueira da Foz bridge and the repair of the slab in the basement of the so-called "edifício das colónias", on Avenida 24 de Julho, in Lisbon.

Additionally highlighting the Foundations for the Vila Nova de Mil Fontes Bridge, which set a world record for many years.