Beer to Bits: Coimbra’s Landmark Brewery Set to Become IT Powerhouse

Coimbra’s river-front skyline is set for a curious transformation: the red-brick shell where master brewers once perfected pale lagers will soon house cloud architects and space-software engineers. Present Technologies, a home-grown IT firm with global ambitions, has quietly secured the former Companhia de Cervejas de Coimbra plant on Avenida Emídio Navarro and aims to reopen the doors in late 2026—this time as a headquarters designed for 21st-century code rather than copper kettles.

A craft brewery’s second life as a code factory

The fábrica dates back more than a century, but its next chapter will be written in Java, Swift and Rust. Present Technologies’ co-founder Vítor Batista confirmed that the company has already poured "several million euros" into the purchase and architectural plans. While exact figures remain under wraps, he says the budget will be enough to both preserve the original industrial façade and embed the wiring, chilled racks and security protocols a modern software house demands. Roughly 100 engineers and designers will make the move from the Pedro Nunes Institute when the building is finished, with room to double headcount if current 25-30 % annual revenue growth holds.

Why Coimbra is courting tech talent

Lisbon and Porto normally hog the foreign press, yet Coimbra—famed for Europe’s oldest Portuguese-speaking university—has quietly become a magnet for R&D satellites, start-ups and near-shore teams. Labour costs are lower than the capital, the engineering pipeline is fed by the University of Coimbra, and city hall has rolled out a “Via Rápida para o Investimento” to slash red tape. Present Technologies’ decision echoes other landmark conversions, from Lisbon’s Hub Criativo do Beato to Porto’s old canneries, showing how municipalities are banking on heritage buildings to draw high-value jobs instead of generic glass boxes at the outskirts.

From lager to laptops: heritage architecture meets green mobility

Location was the deal-maker. Avenida Emídio Navarro is one of the arteries being revamped by the Sistema de Mobilidade do Mondego (SMM), a Bus Rapid Transit line that will link the city’s hillside campuses to the riverfront. Test rides are scheduled for August 2025, with full commercial service promised before year-end 2025. Having an electric BRT stop at the office door, Batista argues, will let recruiters pitch candidates on door-to-desk commutes under 15 minutes, even without a car. That proposition resonates with international hires weighing Portuguese salaries against Berlin or Barcelona packages.

Financing the makeover: how urban-rehab funds work

City councillors have already issued a favourable opinion, the prerequisite for tapping IFRRU 2020—Portugal’s flagship loan scheme for urban regeneration. The programme blends EU cohesion money, state guarantees and commercial-bank credit, offering below-market rates to projects that revive derelict assets, slash energy use and open ground-floor areas to the public. Present Technologies’ blueprints tick each box. The design keeps the brick arches, adds solar panels and heat-pump HVAC, and reserves the entire street level for a café-restaurant and small retail units, giving neighbours a stake in the makeover rather than fencing them out.

What this means for foreign professionals

For expats already settled in Portugal—or scanning job boards from abroad—the project signals three useful trends. First, mid-sized cities are competing aggressively for tech workers, pushing salaries north while living costs stay well below Lisbon’s. Second, public transport upgrades like the SMM will make car-free living increasingly viable outside the capital. Third, Portugal’s urban-rehabilitation drive is turning handsome but neglected properties into vibrant mixed-use hubs, which often translates into unique workspaces, lively neighbourhood cafés and stronger property values for anyone renting or buying nearby.

Looking ahead

Demolition crews begin the delicate task of stripping out obsolete brewing tanks this autumn. Structural reinforcement and façade restoration follow through 2025, with interior fit-out slated for 2026. If all goes to plan, Coimbrans will be able to toast the reopening with craft beer on the ground floor while software launches roll out upstairs—a fitting tribute to a building that has always paired production and conviviality. For global talent eyeing Portugal, the message is equally clear: the next big thing might not be in a glass tower by the Tagus, but in a century-old brewhouse overlooking the Mondego.