Construction of a new, upmarket but family-friendly shopping centre gets under way in Budapest
21 March 2011
The Hegyvidék Shopping Centre, scheduled to open in autumn 2012, is being constructed in a development project by WING Zrt. in the heart of Budapest's District 12. The special feature of this mall will be its focus on services, and its exclusivity, and the aim is to offer the best of everything at the highest quality.
The developer of the Hegyvidék Shopping Centre, WING, has once again pulled out all the stops to meet the genuine needs of shoppers. The Hungarian company, which has won several awards and has numerous buildings to its name in Hungary, conducted a survey on its target public to make sure it really does offer what its prospective visitors want. In line with the findings of the questionnaire-based market research survey, the new Hegyvidék Shopping Centre will offer future visitors a range of facilities for managing their day-to-day chores, and a variety of services aimed at making this a more pleasant experience. The majority of those surveyed said they would like the centre to contain a bank, an outlet for seeing to official administrative matters, a health and beauty store, a bakery, a coffee shop, a pharmacy, a supermarket and a florist. To ensure that these wishes are met, the tenants that have signed contracts so far meet these profiles. The Hegyvidék Shopping Centre will house the largest CBA Prima supermarket in the district, and one of the largest OTP Bank branches, where the full range of retail services will be available, including private banking.
There will also be no problem parking when wanting to use the services, as the two-storey underground car park will have plenty of spaces for cars. Besides being convenient for motorists, the new shopping centre is also easily approachable on foot. The area is extremely well served by public transport, with several buses and a tram stopping at Apor Vilmos tér.
When designing the centre, particular attention was paid to ensuring that the building would have an attractive exterior and would complement its surroundings. In terms of its size, the Hegyvidék Shopping Centre is among the smaller of the facilities offering a similar range of functions. Beyond this, it was a key part of the design brief that the building should be on a scale that matches that of the surrounding houses. The interior design of the centre will also be unique, with a straightforward and easily navigable layout. No-one will have to spend time searching and walking around in order to buy a bunch of flowers or a morning newspaper. A planned feature is the “vertical garden”, consisting of greenery growing upwards in the space surrounding the elevator housing, which brings the interior space closer to nature, giving it a more homely feel, while also providing a unique aesthetic experience.
Environmentally aware solutions are being incorporated into the construction of the new Hegyvidék Shopping Centre, with the aim of achieving a “Very Good” rating under the strict, internationally recognised BREEAM environmental assessment program. Rainwater is recycled for the irrigation of plants and for use in hand-wash basins and toilet cisterns. Much of the building’s hot water is provided using solar collectors. To promote environmentally friendly transport, a bicycle storage facility is being constructed in the underground car park.
The developer WING Zrt. regards it as particularly important to employ Hungarian labour in the course of designing and constructing the building, so as to create and protect Hungarian jobs and boost the performance of the economy.
About WING
WING Zrt. is one of the largest privately-owned real estate firms in Hungary, with a large project portfolio and a network of subsidiaries specialising in investment and the provision of property services. In its development activities the company specialises in office space, and in the implementation of industrial, logistics and commercial property projects. The company’s portfolio of completed projects totals 850,000 m2 in area and includes, to name but a few, the Agria Park shopping centre in Eger, the Átrium Park office building, the new campus buildings of Corvinus University, the K3 Office Centre, the Millenáris office buildings, Máriássy House, the Danubius office buildings, the Bajor Centre and Polár Centre, the East Gate Business Park and the South-Pest Business Park. Through its subsidiaries – each of which is market leader in its given field – WING offers virtually the full spectrum of property-related services. Its subsidiaries include Market Építő, the country's top construction firm, Strabag PFS, which leads the market in facility management and operation services, ESTON International, which specialises in the brokering of commercial real estate transactions and providing the related advisory services, and Aspectus Architect, which fulfils a central role in the planning of the parent company’s projects.
