Battles in the air

Mladen Petrov

 

Skyscrapers are no longer the exclusive symbols of big cosmopolitan cities – they are now being added to the skyline of many capitals across the CEE region, which up until now have been dominated by older architecture.
City authorities may have no problem with this, but how do the general public feel, and does modernity always have to entail high-rise buildings?

 

For many years Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius have been fighting it out for the title of ‘the most beautiful capital in the Baltics’. No matter which city you look at, you are sure
to find a beautifully preserved old town, attracting a huge number of tourists all year-round. As the Baltic tigers continue their healthy economic growth, new high-rise buildings are also being developed, accompanied with anxiety from the locals over whether such buildings can actually fit into old cities more accustomed to low-rise buildings.

Baltic vision

The Estonian capital Tallinn is the destination for a large number of foreign investors, as the office market has the potential to absorb significant development. Tallinn has many expansive plots available for development, but nevertheless high-rise buildings are popular. Buildings of a height greater than 45m could be described as ‘high-rise’ in Tallinn, and are not uncommon for the city, but no matter how fast the city is changing one thing is unalterable: the site the old town occupies is at the heart of Tallinn’s spatial development plan.

Endrik Mänd, Tallinn’s chief architect, explains that: “When determining the possible locations of high-rise buildings, the following will be considered: how to guarantee the centrality of Tallinn’s old town and its dominance on the city’s skyline; the structure of developed buildings and the suitability of buildings for areas with homogeneous housing styles; the distribution of high-rise buildings in groups; and the existence of the infrastructure needed to service high-rise buildings.”

It is therefore not the case that the city is against skyscrapers per se, but rather that it is engaged in controlling their development. In order to avoid a chaotic skyline, the city authorities have established 11 suitable areas for the construction of skyscrapers. The centres of the city’s districts, development areas (post-industrial areas) and the junctions of arterial roads, have all been recognized as having a greater development potential for high-rise buildings. However, there are a couple of conditions each project needs to meet.

Buildings in harmony

Tallinn is no different from other post-communist cities in that all kinds of architectural styles co-exist together. According to Endrik Mänd, this is no bad thing: “Tallinn has been lucky in preserving different urban layers from different historical periods. High-rise buildings are simply a part of today’s scenery and there is no reason to deny them their existence in Tallinn. Every application to develop such dominating buildings is scrutinized very carefully, with all the necessary aspects considered to achieve high-quality landmarks for the beginning of the 21st century.”

This was one of the reasons why a recent plan for a 25-storey building from the Latvian-based company Grindek was opposed by Tallinn’s urban planning department. The opposition was to the preliminary application that failed to consider the specific conditions of the Tondi area. The building was finally given planning permission, under pressure from the city council. As for other projects, the current climate of the Estonian real estate market has had an impact upon the interest in large-scale projects, which is now cooling down. Some 14 applications have been approved and 10 more are awaiting approval, while 7 applications have been declined.

Getting ready for major changes

The high-rise building projects seem to have been approved without any significant protests from the people of the Estonian capital, whereas those of the Slovenian capital Ljubljana are having more difficulties in accepting the city council’s vision of how the city should look in the future. According to an ambitious development plan, entitled ‘Ljubljana 2025’, the capital is to soon start undergoing major changes. The bottom line of the plan, containing over 90 projects, implies Ljubljana needs to modernize.

Miran Gajšek, Ljubljana’s chief architect,
is a supporter of this bold spatial planning proposal, which has been criticized by some locals and architects: “Ljubljana is a city of many faces. The new plan is looking for the missing modern face of the city. The plan does not negate the past, but we are looking to create a new identity that unites all the architectural styles.” According to the plan, the new projects are to help the city transform into
a metropolitan city, develop further some of its functions as a capital in terms of such projects as museums and art centres, and last, but not least, turn Ljubljana into an important European city. “As for the criticism we’ve been receiving, it is crucial to point out that the schemes in the city centre are not higher than 72m, which is already the height of the tallest building so far,” he argues. However, there are no height restrictions for future projects, which are to be located along the main boulevards.

Growing city with growing needs

“We don’t need such buildings on every major street,” is a common reaction of the citizens of Ljubljana to the plan. Real estate analysts, however, have no doubts that Ljubljana needs these projects, as so far the city hasn’t been able to meet the growing need for modern class ‘A’ space. As Tomislav Perović, managing director of Colliers International Croatia, points out: “The Ljubljana office market hasn’t been growing for a long time and right now there is a serious need for modern office space in particular. The city has potential despite its size
– a number of organizations and companies are looking to relocate to better buildings. The pipeline of announced projects looks promising, but most probably not all of the projects will be delivered.” Projects such as Emonika and North City Gate are already on the way, changing the face of the city. Emonika, located on a site neighbouring Slovenska cesta, the capital’s main boulevard, is the largest public-private partnership project, and is being developed by TriGranit and the Slovenian Railway Company, The 190,000 sqm mixed-use project, which has an estimated value EUR 250 mln. is due to be completed by the summer of 2010. North City Gate, located not far from Emonika, will consist of two buildings 72m in height, which will have both residential and business functions. The project is to be delivered in 2010 by Immorent Ljubljana. The list of upcoming projects also includes the Kolizej mixed-use project and Tobaćna city, which will revitalize a former tobacco factory.

To build or not to build (in Sofia)?

Compared to Ljubljana, the Bulgarian capital has seen more development activity of modern office space. Foreign investors have been acquiring plots in downtown Sofia, and even paying as much as EUR 3,000 per sqm. With such high land prices, skyscrapers seem to be the only reasonable project to develop. Those looking to develop tall buildings, however, might soon be in for an unpleasant surprise. The city council is hoping to have the capital’s entire downtown area included in
UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites, which, if all the requirements are met, will result in a total ban on construction activities in the capital’s historic centre.

In the meantime, work on two skyscraper projects in Sofia will soon get underway. Spanish-based Riofisa is developing the 130m tall mixed-use Civis Center (280,000 sqm) in the vicinity of the central railway station. The cost of this investment is estimated at EUR 270 mln, with the complex being scheduled for delivery in 2010. Another foreign investor, ECE Projektmanagement, is to deliver the tallest building in the capital – the 180m Europe Tower in the Serdika district, close to the city centre. The 40-storey building will form part of the multi-functional Europe Park Sofia complex, which will contain office, retail and residential sections at a cost of around EUR 500 mln. 

So far, around ten skyscraper projects have been announced in the city, but according to the chief architect of Sofia, Petar Dikov, not all of them will be completed. The reason for this, according to Mr Dikov, is mainly due to the high cost of such projects. The chief architect believes however, that in a city with an ancient history there is room for modern high-rise buildings, but on only one condition – they shouldn’t be taller than 150m.

Old or new?

As yet only few voices of opposition have been raised against the proposed projects, but as Vesselina Troeva of the urban planning department of the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy in Sofia points out: “There is room for skyscrapers in an old city like Sofia without the character of the city being dramatically changed. The key to this is the right location. The biggest problem for this kind of project is not the neighbouring area, but the traffic – a skyscraper requires lots of space for it to function properly, and with the current state of the road traffic it has become more difficult to carry out such large scale projects.”

The CBD in Sofia is seeing the smallest number of new office developments, but this is also subject to change, as a few streets in the area have already been excluded from the ban on the construction of tall buildings. Todor Aleksandrov boulevard is one example of an area in which the city regulations no longer apply, and is where a couple of high-rise buildings are already being planned. Despite these difficulties, investor interest is by no means being deterred.

Bright future

As high-rise buildings start to dominate the skylines of CEE old cities, and with the general support of chief architects and city councils, one wonders if this is necessarily a bad thing? The chief architects of the three CEE capitals mentioned above believe there is room for the old and the new and it is just a matter of careful urban planning. “We have several attractive plots and we are waiting only for interesting proposals,” concludes Ljubljana’s chief architect Miran Gajšek.

Tallinn’s chief architect Endrik Mänd is also positive that the city is not going to be affected by the skyscrapers. In fact, in his view it can only benefit: “The Tallinn of the future will have more high-quality public areas. We want to bring our more than 30 km stretch of coast, which has been used for military and industrial purposes into active use. We also have many former industrial areas that are awaiting fresh ideas. Tallinn will be an even more beautiful seaside city than it is today.”

 

The success of these development plans in Sofia, Tallinn or Ljubljana will be able to be gauged in the next couple of years – and perhaps the best way to do this would be to take in the transformed panorama from the top of one of the new skyscrapers in these three cities. ν