The Atrium Promenada shopping centre has played a key role in the revitalisation of Warsaw’s Praga district, on the east bank of the river Vistula. The developer, Atrium, is well-versed in this type of development – with an extensive portfolio of malls across central and eastern Europe – and wanted a modern, sleek and energy-efficient upgrade to the 20-year-old mall.
Arup was brought in from the beginning of the retrofit, providing building design consultancy and engineering, as well as supervision of the project.
Client comfort, together with energy optimisation and cost control, informed this refurbishment project, for which Arup provided the concept, building and tender designs for the extensive retrofit. Our building design consultants and engineers have worked to create a sense of quality and comfort throughout by means of an award-nominated Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning (HVAC) solution. We also provided site supervision of all mechanical, electric and public health installations for the reconstruction and enlargement of the mall.
The refurbishment focused on visitor comfort and sustainability, for which we developed new thermal systems, fresh-air inflow and adaptable lighting. The innovative HVAC system we developed was nominated for the Pascal 2019 Awards by the Polish Ventilation Association for its sustainable, technical advances in building design. Perhaps the greatest challenge, though, was undertaking the refurbishment without ever closing the building or ceasing trade.