Demolition of a 30-year-old office building in the centre of Warsaw has been completed. The seven-storey Atrium International building, owned by developer STRABAG Real Estate, was demolished ahead of schedule. Now it is time to demolish the basement and build the underground part of the Upper One complex.
The demolition of the above-ground part of the 1990s building took seven months. During this time, the investor, in cooperation with the general contractor – the construction company STRABAG – dismantled and recycled all possible finishing and construction elements, and the structure of the building was razed to the ground. Only by May this year, 388 tonnes of iron and steel had been recovered and fully recycled, equivalent to the weight of around 259 cars with an average weight of 1.5 tonnes, as well as 25 tonnes of cables and 20 tonnes of wood. 70 tonnes of insulation was also collected, of which more than 30% was recycled. Ultimately, the largest recycling stream is expected to be rubble – concrete and bricks. After the above-ground part of Atrium International was demolished, it was turned into a working platform. Once the underground construction is complete, this waste will be removed from the site and recycled. In total, 70 per cent of the materials from the demolished office building will be recycled or reused, including windows that have already been used to rebuild homes in Ukraine.
We undertook one of the largest transformation projects in the centre of Warsaw. The functionally and technically obsolete Atrium International building no longer met the challenges of the labour market. After the effective and efficient demolition of the material and the structure of the office building, it was time to continue with the demolition of the underground part and the construction of the upper underground part. Łukasz Ciesielski, Managing Director of the development company STRABAG Real Estate, explains that the new complex is intended to be a reflection of quality for years to come, both in terms of the working environment and design, as well as low-carbon construction.
STRABAG Real Estate will build an office tower and a hotel on one of Warsaw’s main arteries. The works will be carried out in parallel. The next stage of the developer’s work is the construction of the excavation casing, demolition of the remaining part of the underground and then the construction of the new underground.
The Upper One complex is expected to be completed in 2026. The project will be built during an ongoing supply shortage in Warsaw – it will be the only office building under construction in the Central Business District. It will provide the capital’s market with 35,900 sqm of state-of-the-art and sustainable workspace and approximately 11,000 sqm of hotel space. The office tower will dominate the capital’s skyline with its elegant, harmonious glass facade. Its unique design will be complemented by panoramic lifts and almost 400 sqm of terraces on the top floors of the 34-storey office building.