Gdańsk/Amsterdam, 26 May 2018
Forum Gdańsk today opened its doors officially to the public and welcomed thousands of visitors. This modern urban shopping destination is situated in the inner city of Gdańsk and offers 62,000 m2GLA of retail, a multi-screen cinema, leisure facilities, restaurants and 1,100 parking spaces. Forum Gdańsk also includes a boutique hotel and the multi-functional Gdańsk Heritage Centre. The centre boasts a new public transport hub and is adjacent to the main railway station, the Old Town and key municipal buildings. Multi Poland, part of Multi Corporation, the Gdańsk municipal authorities and PKP Polish Railways cooperated on this major project. Multi developed the project and is responsible for the management of Forum Gdańsk. The total investment, including road infrastructure development, was approximately € 194 million.
“Forum Gdańsk is unique, because it combines a huge variety of retail, leisure, cultural and gastronomic amenities, all interlinked via a striking infrastructural system, with lots of green, public spaces and sport facilities. It is a masterpiece of design, engineering and water management, including a railroad tunnel platform, while the Radunia Canal has been restored to its original state.
We are proud to open Forum Gdańsk, one of Multi’s most challenging projects since its foundation in 1982. It provides a modern urban shopping destination for the 1.3 million inhabitants in its immediate catchment area, plus the 2.5 million tourists that visit Gdańsk every year,’’ said Josip Kardun, CEO Multi Corporation.
Forum Gdańsk – unique multi-purpose urban complex
Forum Gdańsk was designed to revitalise the historical areas of the former Hay and Crayfish Markets, by combining a retail scheme with high-quality public spaces and modern infrastructure. Multi added a new street running underground between the train tracks and the centre, crossings to improve throughput, plus pedestrian walkways along the Radunia Canal and the Old Town centre. It is also a transport hub for buses, trams, trains and cars and has bike and pedestrian paths and also boasts a public square designed as an attractive space to meet and relax. Visitors can enjoy comfortable seating surrounded by greenery or choose one of many cafés and restaurants with gardens.
Important part of the project is the revitalising of the banks of the Radunia Canal, adding a glass roof for all-weather enjoyment.Aż 1/3 (ponad 2 ha) powierzchni Forum Gdańsk to tereny zielone, na których posadzono 33 tysiące roślin z 80 gatunków. Forum Gdańsk offers over two hectares of green areas, which have been planted with over 33 thousand plants from 80 species, creating a unique ecosystem in the city centre that, it is hoped, will attract butterflies and songbirds.
“We had long been looking for a developer that would take up the task of creating a multi-functional public space in such demanding conditions, right in the centre of the city. Today, Gdansk residents will not only have a shopping centre but also a new space in the city centre. And this space comes complete with bicycle paths, a transportation hub, public spaces open to all, plus The Water Craft – an important cultural institution. I am confident that the residents of Gdańsk and across the region, as well as the millions of tourists who visit the city, will benefit from the development. I believe that people will simply enjoy spending time there,’’ says Paweł Adamowicz, Mayor of the City of Gdańsk.
New brands for Gdańsk and for the Tri-City area
Forum Gdańsk offers an attractive and diverse tenant mix that includes dozens of well-known Polish and international brands, aimed at a wide spectrum of consumers, from lower and mid-range to the high-end of the market. New global brands for the Tri-City metropolitan area (which includes Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia) are &Other Stories, with their second store in Poland, together with Jubirex and Okaidi. Forum Gdansk also offers a number of international brands that have opened their first stores in Gdansk, such as JOOP!, Liu Jo, Twin Set, COS, MAC, Made in G, Magnific Boutique, New Look, Paris Optique, VAN GRAAF, Max Mara by Weekend and Miss Etam. Visitors will also find old favourites like H&M, New Yorker, Piotr i Paweł, TK Maxx, Apia, City Sport, Deichmann, Diverse, Douglas, Gino Rossi, Homla, Le Coq Sportif, MANGO, Marc O’Polo, Pandora, Pierre Cardin, Rossmann, Solar, Super-Pharm, SWISS, Triumph, W.Kruk, Wólczanka, Home&You, Zara, Zara Home, Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, and Stradivarius. Forum also boasts brands from the globally growing Polish LPP group: CROPP, HOUSE, Mohito, Reserved and Sinsay. The city’s largest nine-screen cinema, Helios, and the wide variety of restaurants and cafés will provide a welcome boost to the city’s nightlife.
The Water Craft – Gdańsk Heritage Centre
A vital part of Forum Gdańsk is the Gdańsk Heritage Centre, which serves as a welcome point for guests arriving in the city. It houses a multimedia room, an exhibition hall, a theatre hall, a café, the City Culture Institute and the Gdańsk Cultural Information office.
Gdańsk
Gdańsk is the cultural and economic powerhouse of northern Poland, with 460,000 inhabitants and 2.5 million tourists a year. It is the largest city of the Tri-City metropolitan area, which includes Gdańsk, Sopot and Gdynia extending along the Bay of Gdańsk on the Baltic Coast. It has a catchment area of one million people and is one of the largest metropolitan areas in Poland.
Architecture
Multi’s in-house design studio TTDesign provided the concept design, while the Polish branch of renowned French construction designers SUD Architectes was responsible for the detailed architectural plan. BPBK of Gdańsk designed the technical and road infrastructure. Following a public competition, Studio Architektoniczne Kwadrat of Gdynia was selected to design the Heritage Centre.
“The architecture of Forum Gdańsk site is shaped by two main axes – the Królewska axis and the axis along the Radunia Canal. This division is the reason why the architecture is different on the eastern and western sides of the Radunia Canal. Buildings on the eastern side of the Radunia Canal harmonise with the buildings of the Main Town. On the west side, however, the building was designed as city frontage. Its expression adds a calm rhythm to 3 Maja street and it harmonises with the cityscape in that area,” says Michał Kotala of Sud Architectes proudly.
