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15 years of arkadian bliss

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Arkadia, the largest shopping centre in Warsaw, celebrates its fifteenth birthday this year. The anniversary coincides with the introduction to continental Europe of the Westfield brand by the centre’s owner Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield. On September 25th, the mall started operating under the Westfield name.

Arkadia has just become part of the large, global family of shopping centres trading under the Westfield brand. “We are one of ten major shopping centres in continental Europe that have been added to the brand. As well as seven centres in France, three other malls are in different countries, with one each in Sweden, the Czech Republic and Poland. Arkadia is the only Polish shopping centre so far to become part of the Westfield brand. Westfield is known for providing its guests with a unique shopping experience and that is what its main focus is. These are not just shopping centres; a Westfield centre has everything a modern consumer needs – from a very wide range of brands and high-quality services to concerts and events. Because customers increasingly expect a unique experience when visiting a modern shopping centre, the flagship centres of Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, the owner of the brand, are aimed at fulfilling this very need in a special way,” says Emilia Załuska, the new director of the Westfield Arkadia shopping centre in Warsaw.

Westfield centres already exist in the UK and the US, but now the reach of the brand has been extended to seven centres in France, including six in the Paris region: Westfield Les Quatre Temps, Westfield Forum des Halles, Westfield Vélizy 2, Westfield Parly 2, Westfield Carré Sénart and Westfield Rosny 2, and also in Lille, where Westfield Euralille has been rebranded. The Westfield Arkadia centre in Warsaw is also joined by the Westfield Mall of Scandinavia near Stockholm and the Westfield Chodov mall in Prague. The brand is to be extended to even more centres next year. Since the first days of its operations, Arkadia has had an average daily footfall of 100,000 people and on its opening day it was visited by 150,000 shoppers, with the number of visitors topping 1 mln in the first month. To date around 300 mln have visited the mall and its annual footfall comes to around 20 mln. Arkadia’s architectural design is modern and timeless while also being easy to navigate. It is a fusion of an American mall with traditional European retail alleys. French, American and Polish architects worked together on the project and the design pays homage to Polish history and customs as well as to the city of Warsaw itself. The design is a combination of local culture, traditions and retail.

“Our centre has just completed its first 15 years of operations in Warsaw and has maintained its leading position among the capital’s shopping centres from the very outset. We have continued to invest in it down the years, as we have succeeded in creating a place not only for going shopping but also for holding meetings, having a meal together and making new discoveries, as well as being a great place for entertainment and fun. A year ago, we opened a state-of-the-art, open-air play area with a great variety of attractions for children of all ages,” adds the centre’s manager, Emilia Załuska.

Sustainable innovation

Westfield Arkadia includes a number of environmentally sustainable features including a unique green roof, a city park in front of the building and a professional system for recovering and sorting recyclable materials. The green roof absorbs dust and air pollutants, while acting as both a sound barrier and as a layer of insulation on top of the building. It has been laid with soil and planted with species that were selected to be able to withstand harsh conditions (intense sunshine and large temperature changes over each 24-hour cycle). Many of the plants that would have grown in the area before the construction of the centre have also been included. The roof is equipped with an automatic irrigation system and humidity sensors. Around 27,000 sqm is covered with plants and the roof can absorb up to 5,610 cubic metres of rain-water. In recent years, the electricity consumption of Westfield Arkadia has been significantly reduced through the replacement of conventional light sources with LEDs. Elevators and other electrical systems have also been replaced to reduce energy requirements; and since January 2018, Arkadia has obtained its electricity from renewable sources. Five wooden bee-hives have been installed on the roof and new trees have been planted around the newly created playground in front of the centre. Some of the centre’s electricity is even generated by solar panels on the roof.

Arkadia keeps on investing

Investment in Poland’s largest shopping centre has never ceased. In recent years, Arkadia’s restaurant zone has been completely transformed and enlarged, and many of the tenants have expanded and transformed their units into flagship stores including Empik, Zara and H&M – which has opened its largest store in Poland on three floors. Arkadia has introduced a modern and elegant food court that caters to the needs of families with children. It features high chairs and even microwave ovens for heating up baby food. The state-of-the-art outdoor playground, which opened last year, also includes green spaces as well as swings and climbing frames suitable for children of all ages. A new area called the Grand Kitchen has also been opened in the building, where food from all around the world is served. Celebrity chef Grzegorz Łapanowski has hosted a number of cooking events and organised a series of healthy cooking workshops for youngsters. More than 2,500 children have taken part in these over a period of 18 months. In the last five years, over PLN 150 mln has been invested in Westfield Arkadia and a range of special customer services have been introduced, including consultations with personal stylists, wardrobe reviews at the customer’s home, free access to wi-fi, parcel collection and drop off points, as well as gift and loyalty card schemes.

The management of Arkadia has been involved in a number of charity events and has given back to the local community. The centre works closely with local schools and supports local employment through its ‘URW for jobs’ programme. It also organises educational events on safety by working with such institution as the police and the fire brigade. Additionally the mall promotes various green issues through regular events promoting social responsibility and sustainability.

The development of Arkadia has revived the area where Warsaw’s Śródmieście, Wola and Żoliborz districts meet and made it more attractive. With its construction, an important part of the city has been redeveloped and land reclaimed (a storage and warehouse area for the Polish National Railways [PKP] previously stood on the site). Prior to the shopping centre’s construction, the adjacent roundabout was 7m higher than the surrounding land. This complex project involved levelling the two areas and reclaiming several hectares of land. Three roundabouts and 1.8 km of roads were also built to integrate the shopping centre into the city and its transport system.

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