Varso Tower

Varso is a neomodern office building complex, currently under construction in Warsaw, Poland. It was designed by Foster and Partners and developed by HB Reavis.. Once built, it will become the tallest building in Poland and in the European Union. Varso Tower is estimated to be completed by 2020.

Design and construction

The Varso complex is located in Wola district, in the corner of Chmielna Street and John Paul II Avenue. Construction takes place on a plot of 1.72 ha, purchased in 2011 from PKP (Polish State Railways) by the Slovak company HB Reavis for ca. 171 mln PLN. The estimated cost of the construction is at around 500 mln EUR. Initially the project was named Chmielna Business Center and was later changed to Varso, which references latin name for Warsaw - Varsovia.

Project

Original plan was to build a 130 m tall skyscraper. Project was later revised and total height of Varso Tower was increased to 310 m.

Varso Place is a complex of three buildings: a 310 m main tower (roof height reaching 230 m with 80 m spire on top) and two buildings with a height of 81 m and 90 m called respectively Varso 1 & Varso 2. The total area of the Varso Place is 140000 m² with 10 300 m² dedicated to commercial services. British based architecture studio Foster and Partners designed the main tower and HRA Architekci was resposnible for designing the remaining Varso 1 and Varso 2 buildings.

At a height of 230 meters, Vista Terrace will become a public observation deck offering panoramic views of the city (current tallest observation deck in the city of Warsaw is located on 30th floor of Palace of Culture and Science at a height of 114 m). A restaurant and a bar called Skytop Restaurant & Bar will occupy 46th and 48th floors. All three buildings will be connected to each other on the ground floor level and the entire complex will be connected to Warsaw Central station. A four storey underground car park will accommodate approximately 1100 cars, 80 motorbikes and 750 bicycles. Modernising surrounding Chmielna Street is a part of the investment and it will include new pavements, street lamps, benches, bike stands and signage as well as planting shrubs and trees.

Construction timeline

The general contractor is HB Reavis Construction - a company from the HB Reavis Group. The building permit for Varso was obtained in December 2016 with construction work commencing the same month.

In October 2017, at a depth of 10 m, a 60 ton glacial erratic was excavated at the construction site. It was pulled out using a specialized crane and then transported to Pole Mokotowskie, where it stood next to the National Library. In the future, it will be moved back and displayed next to the entrance of Varso Tower.

Varso 1 (81 m) will be the first to open in February 2020, with a two-level fitness club (Zdrofit) and a clinic. A four-star NYX hotel offering 331 rooms will open in May.

Varso 2 (90 m) will open in May including the Cambridge Innovation Center and BGK bank.

A passage along the first floors of all VARSO buildings will be gradually opened throughout the year. Varso Gallery will include restaurants, bars and many services including Nutrimind Group, Menya Musashi, Karmello, Salad Story, Vincent, Wrap Me, table and Ox and Quattro Formaggi as well as beauty salon Nail Spa, travel agency Sun Way Travel and currency exchange.

Autumn 2020 - Varso Tower will reach a height of 236 m (surpassing the roof height of the Palace of Culture and Science).

December 2020/ January 2021 - The 80 m spire will be installed taking the total height to 310 m.

End 2021 - End of the construction.

2022 - companies will start occupying Varso Tower, Skytop Restaurant & Bar and Vista Terrace will open.

Text imported from Wikipedia article "Varso" and modified on June 26, 2020 according to the CC-BY-SA 4.0 International license.