Europa Centralna Retail Park

Covering nearly 64 acres of land the Europe Centralna is set to become one of the largest integrated retail parks in Central Europe. The development process is divided into several stages, the first a hypermarket, a shopping gallery and retail park will be developed with the total retail space of 70,000 sqm and a 2,000 space parking. The second stage will include developing cutting-edge offices, a technology park, a hotel and a 90,000 sqm retail space. The complex will be located in the neighbourhood of the Silesian agglomeration and next to the largest highway junction, Gliwice-Sośnica, connecting the A1 and A4 highways. Thanks to its location, the development can be reached by over 3,2 million visitors who can access the centre within approx. 60 minutes.

The Buro Happold’s team is responsible for the structural and mechanical engineering, which enabled optimising the construction costs, and at the same time ensuring adequate user comfort.

Thanks to the integrated multi-disciplinary approach, Buro Happold’s team was able to design the distribution of all the mechanical components through roof trusses, which increased the buildings’ structural height to take full advantage of the useable building space. In addition, the optimisation of pile schedule and even the shape of the roof slope contributed to a significant weight reduction and, as a result, to the reduction of the overall steel structure costs by approx. 20%.

When designing the building’s mechanical components, Buro Happold’s team was guided by the principles of sustainable design to minimise energy consumption. Our engineers designed the building’s thermal model that enabled them to determine the exact amount of energy required. As a result, the solutions prepared will enable a significant reduction of energy use. In addition, our team proposed the use of a central sprinkler system in the fire protection installations and a central air conditioning system for the shopping gallery. These solutions ensure far greater flexibility, they enable connecting all the tenants to the system, which reduces the running costs.

Buro Happold’s international experience in multi-disciplinary projects in the commercial sector allowed us to propose optimum engineering solutions adjusted to the needs of the customer, architectural concept and end-users. Thus “Europa Centralna” has a chance to become one of the most visited retail parks in Poland.

• First stage 70,000 sqm retail space
• Second stage 90,000 sqm mixed use space
• Weight reduction reduces steel structure costs by 20%

Related Disciplines

• Structural engineering
• Building services engineering