Company News

On Tuesday of this week the city of Rio de Janeiro launched a new medical recruitment drive. The intention is to hire nearly 1,250 new members of staff in the upper, middle and basic levels of medicine and associated professions and the posts are expected to attract keen competition.
The vacancies include those for doctors of several specialisms, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and psychologists at the upper levels and for lab.technicians, nurse’s aides and technologists at the more ‘practical’ stage. Recruitment procedures have been re-vamped and will hopefully be both speedy and productive. It’s anticipated that the new employees will significantly boost the city’s medical facilities which everyone agrees could stand some improvement.

The British and Commonwealth Society in Rio de Janiero, Brazil celebrated the Queen’s Birthday on Saturday. The festivities were headed by Paula Walsh, the UK Consul General in the city.

The Queen's Birthday celebration is a treasured annual event both in the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth and indeed all around the world wherever expat subjects of hers gather.

We are ecstatic to be featured in the Estates Gazette, the industry's textbook giants for UK and international commercial real estate professionals.

Emily Wright, a journalist at Estate Gazette, spent a number of days following CEO of EcoHouse Group, Anthony Armstrong Emery, in Natal and Cannes, to discover more about the Englishman and his empire in Brazil.

According to CONAB ( the National Supply Company) there was some good agricultural news on Thursday of this week. Latest statistics apparently show a record grain harvest in Brazil over the past twelve months.

The total for the year is in excess of 180 million tonnes (which is the equivalent of nearly one tonne for every person in the country). This represents an eleven per cent increase over the previous year. About two thirds of the figure is accounted for by a conbination of Soya ( the largest single product) and Corn (Maize).

On the fifth of this month a new educational law was passed in Brazil. It authorises the creation of four new federally-sponsored Universities in the north and north-west of the country. These will be in the Bahia region. Altogether the institutions will allow for 145 new courses and nearly 40,000 new student places.

There was a possibility that Brazil would have a new President on the 10th of this month. Actually, that’s a not as drastic as it sounds, the popular President Dilma Rousseff hasn’t resigned or been deposed. It’s just that while she’s away on an important overseas trip with her immediate successors the country does need to have an acting president.

It did look like this person would be the president of the Federal Supreme Court but no longer. Instead the country's 'no.2' politician Eduardo Alves will step into the (temporary) breach.

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has announced a new approach to tackling crime, especially (but not exclusively) criminal cross-border activities.

The Federal government will work together even more closely with the various state and city authorities throughout the nation.

Needless to say, everyone in the football-loving nation of Brazil is keenly looking forward to 2014. That's when the World Cup will be hosted in the South American giant and preparations are well under way, to say the least !

The amount of British citizens travelling to Brazil last year - in advance of major sporting events in the coming years - increased by four per cent, according to data released by the Brazilian Ministry of Tourism.

figures show that numbers of British travellers rose from 149,564 visitors in 2011 to 155,548 in 2012. A record number of worldwide tourists as a whole was also recorded in 2012, with a total of 5,433,354 tourists travelling into the country; a 4.5 per cent growth on 2011. The news comes as Brazil gears up to host two sporting events this year, the FIFA Confederations Cup Brazil 2013 taking place in June 2013

Young children are the stars of EcoHouse’s new video - no kidding!

We decided it was time to reveal the full corporate portfolio EcoHouse is now constructing in addition to our Minha Casa, MInha Vida projects which are creating a lasting legacy for current and future generations.

Another exciting EcoHouse video - this time showing the latest Singapore investors' trip to Brazil - has been uploaded to YouTube.

The 45-minute video includes live construction footage of Casa Nova and Bosque Residential developments and interviews with EcoHouse CEO Anthony Armstrong Emery.

The first phase of construction at Bosque Residencial, near Natal, is making excellent progress - and preparations are already underway for the second stage.

The interiors at Bosque de Acacias, including ceramics, roofing etc., are currently being installed and the water and sewage systems should be completed in the next few months.

EcoHouse is taking part in a special media event for property writers in London, UK, next month.

The first Media Marketplace exhibition-style event, held on Monday 10 June by the Property4Media website,will bring together the UK's top property writers, journalists and editors with leading companies and brands.

In the last newsletter, we mentioned that the Greater Natal International Airport was set to open in April 2014. Seeing as the new São Gonçalo do Amarante airport is so important – and so close to some of our Minha Casa, Minha Vida developments - we asked new EcoHouse writer Sam Street, to find out more details about it.

The share of Brazilian commerce taking place via the internet is growing steadily.

This is of course a worldwide phenomenon but no more so than within the South American giant these days. A new law, Federal Decree 7.962/13 has come into force to protect consumers buying things on line.

We are excited to introduce two new EcoHouse Group members of staff.

We kick-off with keen football fan Sam Street, who is handling our written communications. Our second new staff member is Kevin Du Plessis, who is responsible for growth across the Asian markets.