PL

Setting the bar higher

Editorial
“The sky’s the limit” was what the Slovaks representing HB Reavis were told by Warsaw’s local authorities when they asked about the maximum possible height of the tallest floor of a skyscraper they were planning on a plot in the heart of the capital city.

This was an answer that fuelled their imaginations to design something bigger and taller than anything in this part of Europe or even in Western Europe. A 310m tower (including the spire) is to be developed next to Central Station. We will be able to gaze down at the world from a terrace 230m above the ground. Today it is possible to go up to the viewing terrace on the thirtieth floor of the Palace of Culture and Science (114m above-ground), just a couple of hundred metres away from the building site. The panorama is impressive, particularly if you work in a tenement building every day, as I do, rather than on the top floor of an office tower. It is mostly visited by tourists and parents with their children so they can take in a bird’s eye view of the city, and sometimes by... me. Perhaps out of sentiment, perhaps to take a break from everyday life, and perhaps because in this lofty place it is easier to believe that the sky really is the limit. Am I the only one who does this? I don’t think so. From interviewing the partners of this special supplement on the office market, it is clear that there are no limits for them either (perhaps because they are looking down at the world from above so often?). They plan, design, build, lease and sell – a highly efficient and flawlessly effective machine. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that things will stay like this as long as possible.

I wish you a pleasant read,

Ewa Andrzejewska


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