The opening, which had been postponed by ten days, finally took place on May 26th. The centre has 62,000 sqm gla of retail, a Helios multiplex, leisure facilities, restaurants and 1,100 parking spaces. Forum Gdańsk also includes a boutique hotel and the Gdańsk Heritage Centre. The total investment, including the road infrastructure development, came to around EUR 194 mln.
“We are proud to be opening the Forum Gdańsk centre, one of Multi’s most challenging projects since its foundation in 1982. It provides a modern urban shopping destination for the 1.3 mln residents in its immediate catchment area, plus the 2.5 mln tourists that visit Gdańsk every year,’’ said Josip Kardun, the CEO of Multi Corporation. Forum Gdańsk was designed to revitalise the historic Targ Sienny i Rakowy market sites. It combines retail and public space with modern infrastructure. Multi added a new street running underground between the train tracks and the centre, as well as pedestrian walkways along the Radunia Canal and the Old Town centre. The centre has also become a transport hub for buses, trams, trains and cars and has bike and pedestrian paths as well as a public square.
An important part of the project is the revitalisation of the banks of the Radunia Canal, which now includes a glass roof. Forum Gdańsk has over two hectares of green areas, which have over 33,000 plantings with 80 species, creating an ecosystem in the city centre that is intended to attract butterflies and songbirds. The Gdańsk Heritage Centre was also created in the development and includes a multimedia room, an exhibition hall, a theatre hall, a café, the City Culture Institute and the Gdańsk Cultural Information office.
“We had long been looking for a developer that would take on the task of creating a public space under such demanding conditions, right in the centre of the city. Today, Gdansk’s residents will not only have a shopping centre but also a new space in the city centre,’’ says Paweł Adamowicz, the mayor of Gdańsk.
The concept is by Multi subsidiary TTDesign and SUD Architectes was responsible for the detailed architectural design. The infrastructure was by BPBK of Gdańsk and Studio Architektoniczne Kwadrat of Gdynia was selected in a public competition to design the Heritage Centre. The centre was developed as a PPP project through the collaboration of Multi, the city of Gdańsk and PKP Polish Railways. Multi is responsible for the centre management.
Source: www.english.eurobuildcee.com