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Upper One

Warsaw, Poland

The Upper One development will create a new landmark for the city of Warsaw – consisting of a 131 metre high tower, including 28 floors of speculatively developed Grade-A office space, alongside a hotel – both set on top of five subterranean levels of car parking.

Upper One replaces the former Atrium International complex, delivering a 34-storey modern office building.

LEED Platinum and WELL Building certifications are being targeted for the new development.

º£½ÇÊÓƵ delivered both the structural engineering and building services engineering (MEP) strategies and designs.

The design reuses the fabric of an existing two-storey underground parking lot, positively impacting the embodied carbon of the new structure.

Challenge

º£½ÇÊÓƵ worked closely with architects Medusa Group, to develop both the structural engineering and building services engineering (MEP) strategies and designs.

Located at the busy intersection of Jan Paweł II Avenue and Grzybowska Street, Upper One replaces the former Atrium International complex, delivering a modern office building. STRABAG Real Estate is also planning to build a 17-storey (11,000m²) hotel on this site.

LEED Platinum and WELL Building certifications are being targeted for the new development – the goal being to create a development that is both sustainable in its operation and fully meets the needs and comfort of the buildings’ end users. A key aspiration of the design is to retain much of the existing two-storey underground car park on the site, both to help reduce project costs, but also to deliver significant embodied carbon savings. The existing car park is used by occupants in a number of neighbouring buildings, and one of the challenges was to schedule works so that access could be maintained to this facility for as much of the demolition and redevelopment period as possible.

Solution

The development provides 35,900m² of new office space for the Warsaw market, besides a future hotel. The five floors of underground parking will provide over 200 parking spaces as well as bicycle storage.

The MEP strategy seeks to deliver efficient modern systems that will enable the development to aspire towards LEED Platinum. This includes the use of geothermal energy systems, supported by low-energy heat pumps for sustainable, self-sufficient heating and cooling – significantly lowering the operational carbon intensity of the building compared to more traditional heating and cooling systems. It is hoped that this will be a trend-setter in the local market, leading the way in terms of climate-conscious sustainability measures.

Another key element of sustainable design is the retention and recycling of materials. The design reuses the fabric of the existing two-storey underground parking lot on the site, integrating it into the plans for a more expansive five-storey subterranean facility. This retention of existing materials will not only help to reduce development costs, but will also have a significant impact on the embodied carbon value of the new structure, locking in much of the existing below-ground carbon.

Our experts worked closely with the wider design team to ensure the scheduling for construction enabled the continued use of the existing parking facilities for as long as possible during the demolition and redevelopment of the site.

HVAC systems have been designed to allow greater spatial flexibility for the ultimate tenants. We also introduced a water-mist system into the fire sprinkler design, which is more efficient and sustainable than more traditional fire safety systems.

We conducted a series of impactful studies to iterate the most efficient design for a perimeter beam within the structural grid of the tower, which will help to significantly reduce the loads of the facade.

The column-layouts in the underground structures have been designed to allow for flexibility in terms of the scheduling of construction. This allows one building to be completed ahead of the next, enabling the project to work to the current demands of the market.

Value

Our structural and building services engineering experts helped to deliver a range of impactful solutions to keep both project cost and carbon intensity down to a minimum, while delivering maximum flexibility for the development. Set to be completed in 2026, the project will replace the Atrium International complex, an iconic piece of 1990s real estate that was once considered as symbolic of Warsaw’s free market shift.

Upper One will continue the site’s history of trend-setting, aspiring towards highly sustainable, comfortable and flexible office spaces that will lead the way in a new era for the Polish capital.