The Lionesa Business Hub (LBH), located in Leça do Balio, Matosinhos, is more than just an office space. “Over more than two decades, the campus has gradually become an ecosystem where global companies, international talent, emerging projects, culture, well-being and the surrounding territory coexist organically,” the executive director of LBH tells idealista/news. For Eduarda Pinto, the office is no longer a place one goes to every day out of obligation, but rather a place one goes to when it is important to be together. And she leaves a message: “Thinking about offices is, above all, thinking about relationships.”
Eduarda Pinto also believes that the strength of flexible models does not lie solely in contractual flexibility. “It lies in the mix. In the positive friction between different people. In the creation of informal networks that do not appear on organisational charts, but are often decisive for innovation and growth.” In this sense, she states that what these environments offer is something that traditional office models have “rarely managed to achieve: a living relational context.”
LBH is home to leading companies such as FedEx, Oracle and Vestas, and promotes daily collaboration among more than 7,000 professionals from 47 nationalities. It also enjoys a privileged location—just a few minutes from Porto city centre, with excellent road access and public transport connections. “The campus has never been treated as something closed off. It has always been thought of as a living organism, constantly adapting. That coherence explains its longevity and relevance,” says the manager.
Offices of the future
Lionesa Business Hub
Credits: Lionesa Business Hub
Some players in the office segment speak of a kind of “hotelisation” of offices. What is at stake here? Do you agree with this view?
I see this concept more as a symptom than as a solution. What is truly at stake is not bringing nice sofas or friendly services into offices. It is recognising that no one wants to spend a significant part of their life in an indifferent space.
The hospitality industry understood long ago that people do not return because of the building, but because of how they felt inside it. Offices are only now reaching that conclusion.
The labour market has changed significantly in the post-pandemic period, with hybrid working gaining ground. Will traditional offices, as we knew them, cease to exist?
Offices will not disappear, but their role has changed in a profound and measurable way. During the pandemic, several international studies showed that while individual productivity remained relatively stable in many roles, collaboration declined significantly. One of the most frequently cited studies shows that in fully remote environments, the time devoted to synchronous collaboration and informal exchanges fell by between 20% and 30%, while more formal and hierarchical interactions increased, such as scheduled meetings and written communication.
(...) It is in this context that the office takes on a new meaning. It is no longer the place one goes to every day out of obligation, but the place one goes to when it is important to be together. To collaborate, to create, to decide, to strengthen relationships and identity.
What was lost was not the work itself, but what happens between work: spontaneous conversations, informal knowledge sharing, collective creativity and more fluid decision-making. These moments are difficult to replicate remotely and are critical for innovation, alignment and organisational culture.
It is in this context that the office takes on a new meaning. It is no longer the place one goes to every day out of obligation, but the place one goes to when it is important to be together. To collaborate, to create, to decide, to strengthen relationships and identity.
Labour flexibility
Lionesa Business Hub
Credits: Lionesa Business Hub
Traditional offices, designed solely for individual and repetitive work, will tend to lose relevance. But spaces that clearly embrace their role as platforms for collaboration, meeting and culture-building continue to be fundamental. The hybrid model did not weaken the office. It made it more demanding and more strategic.
At LBH, this change was not a reaction, but a confirmation. Over the years, the campus has been designed to foster exactly what was most missed during the remote period: informal encounters, the crossing of people and contexts, and a campus life that encourages spontaneous collaboration. That is why, even in a hybrid context, we continue to see very active use of shared spaces and strong engagement from companies in moments of purposeful physical presence.
What are the advantages of flexible work and/or coworking? What do workers and employers gain?
The strength of flexible models does not lie only in contractual flexibility. It lies in the mix. In the positive friction between different people. In the creation of informal networks that do not appear on organisational charts, but are often decisive for innovation and growth.
What these environments offer is something that traditional models have rarely managed to provide: a living relational context.
Without engaging in futurology, is it possible to anticipate what offices of the future will be like? What will distinguish them from current models?
What has always interested us was not the space itself, but what happens between people when they share a place. Informal conversations, unlikely encounters, the energy that is created when there is diversity, curiosity and freedom. For Lionesa, the office was never the centre of the equation. It was always the support.
“What has always interested us was not the space, but what happens between people when they share a place. Informal conversations, unlikely encounters, the energy that is created when there is diversity, curiosity and freedom. The office, for Lionesa, was never the centre of the equation. It was always the support.”
When it is said today that the debate is no longer just about square metres, this does not represent a rupture. It represents a delayed alignment of the market with something that has always been evident: work is human before it is spatial.
The office that makes sense today is not one that tries to predict everything. It is one that accepts the complexity of work and trusts the people who inhabit it. It is not about anticipating models, but about understanding principles. The central principle is simple: to create conditions for people to work better together. Everything else comes afterwards.
Offices in Porto
Lionesa Business Hub
Credits: Lionesa Business Hub
Tell us a little about LBH. What kind of space is it? Who is the target audience?
It was from this way of thinking that LBH grew. Not as a closed plan, nor as a concept designed all at once. It grew as a natural consequence of putting people at the centre and accepting that spaces must evolve with those who use them.
Over more than two decades, the campus has become an ecosystem where global companies, international talent, emerging projects, culture, well-being and territory coexist organically.
The audience is diverse and increasingly international, but with one thing in common: the search for work contexts that make sense.
Modern offices in Portugal
Lionesa Business Hub
Credits: Lionesa Business Hub
What sets LBH apart from other spaces or developments in the country operating under a flexible working model?
It was never about offering more. It was always about creating conditions for things to happen. For people to want to stay. For companies to grow without losing their identity. For work not to be separate from life, but integrated into it.
The campus has never been treated as something closed. It has always been thought of as a living organism, constantly adapting. That coherence explains its longevity and relevance.
“Thinking about offices is, above all, thinking about relationships. The way we work influences how we live, how we relate to one another and how we grow. Designing workspaces is also designing behaviours, cultures and forms of collaboration. It is not an aesthetic issue. It is a matter of responsibility.”
Thinking about offices is, above all, thinking about relationships. The way we work influences how we live, how we relate to one another and how we grow. Designing workspaces is also designing behaviours, cultures and forms of collaboration. It is not an aesthetic issue. It is a matter of responsibility.
Projects that have always started from people now have a clear advantage. Not because they followed trends, but because they never needed them to justify their decisions. Perhaps that is why we continue to believe, as mentioned, that thinking about offices is, above all, thinking about relationships. Everything else comes afterwards.
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