Protection process scrapped for Fábrica do Inglês in Silves

Paul Rees 14 October 2018

corkmuseum The iconic Fábrica do Inglês and cork museum in Silves and the garden area within its walls, is no longer heading for ‘monument of public interest’ status.

The Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage has determined that, "the procedure to classify the buildings as a public interest monument has been terminated."

The news was published last Friday in Diário da República.

The entry also mentioned that, as part of the decision, "the respective general protection zone of 50 metres from its external limits" also is to be scrapped.

What fate now lies ahead for this important building remains to be seen.

A remodelled Fábrica do Inglês was inaugurated in 1999, based on the original 1894 cork factory. The cork museum within the walls of the Fábrica do Inglês was internationally recognised and won the, 'Best Industrial Museum of the Year' in 2001.

Silves council, under mayor Isobel Soares, ploughed millions of euros of ratepayers' money into the museum until it went bust in 2009. Suspicions remain as to how such a success could turn into a financial disaster in a short period of time.

The site has been closed ever since and lies derelict, vandalised and forlorn.

In July, 2014 Silves council wanted to buy the site from Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the bank that had ended up owning it.

Caixa Geral de Depósitos became the owner of the site at an auction in May 2014 at a transfer value of €2,239,600. The contents of the cork museum were sold to another creditor at the same auction, João Nogueira of the Nogueira Group, owner of Ali Super which later went bust.

Rumours about a deal with Aldi Supermarkets developing the site were denied by the mayor, Rosa Palma, who said the council already had discussed the site and that turning it into a supermarket, "was not an option."

In April, 2016, the derelict cork museum and Fábrica do Inglês site were submitted jointly for classification in order to protect the buildings and prevent commercialisation.

The bid for national classification was submitted by the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage and was published in Diário da República in mid-April that year.

Silves council’s held a public consultation day in February 2016 which resulted in an undertaking by the director of the Cultural Heritage Department to have the entire site classified as a precursor to renewing some form of public use.

Ditching the classification process removes the possibility of 'protected' status that is needed to ensure developers are unable to push through a planning application for commercial use.