Mennica Legacy Tower Wins ‘Green’ Design Award

This past Friday, the Mennica Legacy Tower was awarded by the Polish Green Building Council a Best Green Design of 2016 accolade. For Mennica, which is a two-building high-rise office development being constructed in Warsaw, Poland, Epstein is serving as the architect and engineer of record, as well as the design engineer for MEP and structural engineering services. Goettsch Partners is the design architect and Epstein, in addition to our design and engineering role, is also helping guide this project through Warsaw's unique governmental approval process.

Mennica will feature a 35-story tower located on the south east side of the site and a smaller 10-story building on the west side of the site, and will be located in the Central Business District of Warsaw at the intersection of Prosta and Żelazna Streets. Mennica is part of a newly-approved master plan that governs development in this area. This project consists of approximately 100,000 gross square meters, with 80,000 gross square meters of Class A office space which includes a conference and a fitness center as well as ground level retail. Four levels of underground parking and ancillary services encompass the remaining 20,000 gross square meters. Between the two structures is a large open plaza that provides ample space for outdoor seating and a variety of landscape features.

Mennica has been designed to achieve BREEAM (the European equivalent of LEED) certificate at "Excellent" level and features numerous 'green' design solutions especially with regards to the Epstein-designed sophisticated mechanical and electrical systems. Energy consumption in the building is being reduced through the installation of LED lighting throughout, the building management system is using presence monitors for the HVAC system and the fire safety systems will utilize water mist, which is more effective and will allow for more flexibility of the office interiors.

In accepting the award, Czarek Jarzabek, the CEO for Golub GetHouse, the co-developers along with Mennica Polska S.A., for the tower said, 'Long-term care for the natural environment and awareness of the increasing expectations of tenants, investors and shareholders in this respect, are the foundation of the developer strategy at Golub GetHouse. We are glad that our efforts have been noticed by the PLGBC jury.'

Construction on Mennica Legacy Tower is expected to be completed late in 2018.