Opening today – a shopping centre like no other
Europa Centralna, one of the largest shopping centres in the region, opens today with numerous Polish and international brands, cafes, restaurants and kids’ play areas. Phase 1 of the scheme amounts to 67,000m2 of retail park and shopping centre with further phases planned for the future. Located in the heart of Upper Silesia at the junction of the A1/A4 motorways and national road Nr 44, this is the complete one-stop shopping destination. Europa Centralna has been designed from the outset as an original and practical combination of shopping mall and retail park. The concept, quite unlike any other in Poland, allows customers to do all their shopping in one convenient place – whether for house and garden, DIY, electronics or the latest fashion collections.
I believe that Europa Centralna, will from the outset, prove to be a major regional retail destination offering wonderful accessibility both to local residents and, from the motorways, for customers from further afield”, said Jonathan Tinker, board member of Helical Poland, which is developing Europa Centralna in a joint venture with clients of Standard Life Investments.
Over and above the great shopping experience offered to customers, Europa Centralna also excels on the environmental front, meeting high environmental standards. Europa Centralna was awarded a BREEAM ecological certificate for the Design Stage and will receive a BREEAM in Use certificate now that it is complete. (BREEAM is a British system that evaluates the impact of buildings on the environment (BRE Environmental Assessment Method) evaluating intelligent design not just from the perspective of technical innovation, but also from the comfort and experience of the users of the building).
“Under Polish law, new buildings must comply with certain standards for energy efficiency. Europa Centralna has decided to go further and obtain BREEAM certification. This placed significant extra demands on the project in terms of build time, project management, consideration of issues like health and shopping experience for customers and staff, water and energy use and distribution, transport, choice of building materials, waste management, use of space, ecology and waste minimization both during the build and after opening,” notes Hans van de Sanden from Grontmij, the BREEAM assessor for the Europa Centralna project.
So, today, this innovative centre welcomes its customers for the first time. The celebrations are over three days with numerous attractions. The well-known stylist, Tomasz Jacyków brings news of the latest fashions, while Rafał Brzozowski and “The Chance”, of “Voice of Poland” and “X Factor” fame, will both be performing. The first day is being broadcast live on Gliwice’s own Radio CCM. TVN presenter, Kinga Burzyńska, and CCM journalist, Rafał Chirowski, will invite special guests to join them on the “Studio Europa” sofa.
“Day two is “Taste & Style” day. Among the invited guests, Grzegorz Stasiak, the well-known Silesian actor and comedian, will tickle our taste buds and talk about Upper Silesian traditional dishes”, says Monika Magner, Director of C.H. Europa Centralna.
Among other attractions on day two there will be a “Sweet Show” for children, with demonstrations and workshops on how to make sweets and lollipops. Saturday’s events will be hosted by actress and native Silesian, Anna Guzik, famous among other things for her role in the serials “Na Wspólnej”, “Hela w opałach” and her appearance on “Taniec z gwiazdami” (the Polish edition of Dance with the Stars).
“Day three sees the creation of separate game zones for children, men & women, so everyone can play whichever game they like. Of course the games will have prizes”, reveals Monika Magner (Centre manager). “On Sunday we will also find out the identity of the lucky winner of the Europa Centralna competition for a travel voucher worth 6000 zloty”.
On Sunday, Europa Centralna will also welcome the Gliwice Musical Theatre, who will perform excerpts from the musical “Tarzan”, written and composed by Phil Collins.
The property is around 90% let to the likes of: Saturn, Castorama, Tesco Extra, Jula, Ski Team, Jysk, SMYK Megastore, New Yorker, Solar, Reserved, H&M, Cubus, Lindex, CCC, Bershka, Apart, RTV Euro AGD, TUI, Home and You, Super Pharm, Neckermann, Deichmann, City Sport, Mohito, Promod, Cortland Apple Premium Reseller, Stradivarius, Rossmann, TAKKO Fashion and Douglas. A state of the art McDonalds Drive-Thru opened on 4th February, with its GYM&FUN play area, while RTV Euro AGD, Castorama and Saturn welcomed their first customers on 27th February. Further stores will be opening over the coming weeks.
The shopping centre has a post office and automated parcel machines and offers customers wheelchairs and umbrellas for use on the site. There is parking for 2,300 cars and for those on foot, Europa Centralna provides two free bus services. Details of the route and timetable can be found on Europa Centralna’s website: www.europacentralna.eu under the link: http://europacentralna.eu/europa-centralna/plan-centrum/.
Around 100 billboards in Europa Centralna’s distinctive colour-scheme and strategically placed around Gliwice, Zabrze and access roads to the Centre, will guide customers to the shopping centre over the coming weeks. And you can follow the centre and its promotions and offers daily on Facebook and Twitter on @EuropaCentralna.
Helical Poland is a subsidiary company of Helical Bar plc and was established in 2005. Helical Bar plc is a UK based property development and investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of over £350m. To take advantage of the growth potential of the Central European markets, Helical Bar opened its first overseas office in Warsaw, Poland in January 2005. Helical Poland’s joint venture partner for the investment is Standard Life Investments, one of Europe’s major investment houses with c. £150 billion assets under management.
Helical Poland specialises in retail development projects, including existing sites, sites designated for large-scale developments and joint-venture projects. The company focuses on the development of retail parks of between 10,000m2 and 20,000m2, located close to towns with populations above 50,000 inhabitants. Good road access and visibility are important. In 2008 it opened an office in Krakow. Specialising in retail parks and shopping centre development, Helical Poland completed its first project in Wroclaw, the Park Handlowy Młyn, in December 2008; a second project, Turawa Park in Opole, a 40,000m2 shopping mall, financed by Standard Life Investments, opened in April 2011.
Standard Life Investments was launched as an investment management company in 1998. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Life Investments (Holdings) Limited, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Life plc. With assets under management of £163.4bn (30.09.12), Standard Life Investments is one of Europe’s major investment houses. It has £9.9bn (30.06.12) of property assets making it one of the larger real estate investors in Europe. Headquartered in Edinburgh, Standard Life Investments maintains offices in a number of locations around the globe including Boston, Hong Kong, London, Beijing, Montreal, Sydney, Dublin, Paris and Seoul. In addition, it has close relationships with leading domestic players in Asia, including HFDC Asset Management in India and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank in Japan.