Ghelamco Group announces construction start of its prestigious Senator project in Warsaw
Ypres, 28 April 2010 – International real estate developer Ghelamco Group announces that it is about to start the construction of its Senator project in Warsaw. Aimed at the Polish capital’s top corporate world, the prestigious 25,000 m² class A office and retail building will offer a contemporary version of the former Polish National Bank building. Senator should open its doors to tenants in 2012.
From as early as the reign of king Augustus Poniatowski in the 18th Century, the Senator site at Warsaw’s Bielanska Street and Solidarnosci Avenue has been associated with Poland’s state finance, as it accommodated the State Mint, the Russian State Bank and the Polish National Bank successively. In an effort to preserve the site’s rich heritage, Ghelamco Group commissioned detailed on-site excavations even before the project’s design phase started. Historians and archaeologists from the Scientific Association of Polish Archaeologists recovered more than 9,800 artefacts, which were handed to the National Archaeological Museum and the Warsaw Uprising Museum.
The Senator site’s extraordinary historic and architectural significance was a key component of the brief given to the project’s architects, the renowned Belgian Jaspers-Eyers & Partners studio and their Polish colleagues AB-Project and Architraw GB. With the cooperation of the municipal monument conservation office, they produced a contemporary yet stunning version of one of Warsaw’s most prominent buildings. The facade will retain its monumental features, such as horizontal divider lines between individual floor levels. The front of the two lower floors will be glazed to resemble the historical building from 1907. Part of the atrium on ground floor level will be glazed to offer visitors an open view onto the old foundations of the 18th Century State Mint. The ground floor level will be dedicated to high end retail. With nearly 25,000 m² of net class A space over six floors, Senator is bound to appeal to the capital’s top corporate world. Access to the offices (23,600 m²) is provided via two entrances leading to three reception desks and elevator foyers. The building’s interior design will include all the modern features that are to be expected in a high level, prestigious project, such as elevated floors, suspended ceilings and central heating and air-conditioning systems with humidity control and zoning. The entire building will be fitted with a BMS system and structural cabling. As with other recent Ghelamco Group office buildings, Senator will have tilting windows. Large floor areas of up to 4,000 m² will offer Senator’s tenants almost unlimited flexibility to have office space adapted to their individual requirements and work flow. The building will have an underground parking garage for 339 cars.
“The Senator building has already drawn considerable interest in Warsaw, including the population at large, banks, consulting companies and legal firms,” says Jeroen van der Toolen, Ghelamco Group’s Managing Director Central & Eastern Europe. “We are convinced that all retail and office space in this prestigious building will be taken well ahead of 2012, when construction will be completed.”