Ghelamco Presents The Bridge, Its Latest Project at Plac Europejski

Ghelamco has started preparations for the construction of The Bridge skyscraper. The building will stand at the intersection of Towarowa and Grzybowska streets, next to Plac Europejski (European Square). It will offer first-class office space.

The Bridge is Ghelamco’s latest project. The 174-metre high skyscraper will be located next to the former headquarters of the Bellona publishing house. Both buildings will be connected by a common lobby creating an unprecedented composition on the Polish market. The architectural concept of the skyscraper was developed by the Dutch UNStudio in cooperation with Projekt Polsko-Belgijska Pracownia Architektury. UNStudio is an internationally recognized architectural firm founded over 30 years ago in Amsterdam. It has designed a number of buildings that have been recognized in international contests. These include icons such as the Mercedes-Benz Museum in Stuttgart, the metro network in Doha, Qatar, and the Erasmusbrug suspension bridge in Rotterdam. The Projekt studio, on the other hand, is co-designer of the Warsaw Spire skyscraper and designer of Warsaw UNIT.

“For UNStudio to design a new high-rise development means addressing the issue on how new building developments can perform in a new urban context – creating a framework for a sustainable future. Our design does exactly this: With its spatial organization, it strategically bridges the public spaces around it; but most importantly, it re-invents the city’s connection to its heritage by blending the historic Bellona building into a single composition with the new tower,”

– says Arjan Dingste, Director and Senior Architect at UNStudio.

The Bridge will offer 47,000 sqm of top-class office space. The 40-storey building will provide approximately 280 parking spaces as well as bicycle facilities (147 seats, lockers and showers provided). It will also be equipped with state-of-the-art technical and environmentally friendly solutions. The building will include chargers for electric cars and a special parking lot for electric bicycles and electric scooters with 20 places for charging them. The Bridge will also have an operating system (developed and implemented by Ghelamco), which will allow for efficient access control management and solutions increasing its safety in case of an epidemic (among others, virucidal UV lamps which will be placed in lifts and air intakes). The building will be BREEAM and WELL-certified – as well as Green Building Standard. It will also be named “Object with no barriers”.

„We are excited to present another very distinctive project to our clients. Designed by an internationally recognized design studio, The Bridge will combine the future with the past, offering tenants a unique atmosphere, a climate that cannot be found in any skyscraper in Warsaw,”

– says Jarosław Zagórski, sales and development director of Ghelamco Poland.

Importantly, the Bellona building – whose facade was painstakingly restored by Ghelamco in 2016 – will be preserved and connected to the tower. This will create a symbolic bridge between the old architecture and the modern building. The result of this combination will be a remarkable lobby that ties the two buildings together.

 Plac Europejski will gain new functions

For the duration of the skyscraper construction, part of Plac Europejski will be shut down. However, popular restaurants and a cafe will still operate here, together with the children’s favorite fountain.

In the future, a mini park will be created on the side of Grzybowska Street, in the place where a parking lot used to be. In this way, the entrance to The Bridge will lead through a green square, and Plac Europejski itself will get closer to Towarowa Street and Grzybowska Street, where through the lobby of the skyscraper you will be able to get to its main part. An additional entrance to the square will also lead through the gate of the residence at 73 Grzybowska Street, which will soon undergo a thorough renovation.

In the first floor of the skyscraper, on the side of Plac Europejski, there will be a place for a café. Additionally, on the top floor of the former Bellona publishing house there will be space for a restaurant with a terrace.

“We feel great responsibility for this place. We want Plac Europejski to return to the map of Warsaw in an even more appealing form and address expectations of all Warsaw residents,”

– says Jarosław Zagórski.

The square itself will be planted with new greenery once construction is complete, but the basic shape of the square – designed by the renowned Belgian firm Wirtz International – will not change.

The estimated completion date for The Bridge is late 2024.

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