It has been half a year since the revitalization works at the former Buch Brothers and T. Werner Norblin Factory started. The project is located in the heart of the Warsaw’s Wola district, between Prosta, Łucka and Żelazna streets. During this phase, such works as securing the historical buildings and machines, were completed. Currently, one of the factory buildings of conservation concern is being prepared to be moved to another place. In April, the main contractor – Warbud – took over the management of the construction process.
Within the past six months, 44 machines and appliances listed as movable historical objects, belonging to the main manufacturing line of the former Norblin factory, have been dismantled and transported for renovation. Moreover, the investor, Capital Park, has secured around 350 elements of factory equipment that are not objects of conservatory concern, but are important for preserving the history of the place and will be incorporated to a revitalized project as elements of its interior. Among these objects are such appliances as ceramic insulators, current rails, various lamps, fans, heaters, window frame woodwork and joinery, as well as 200 pallets of undamaged bricks, which will be used for restoration of some of the buildings. The company Monument Service, specializing in renovation and conservation of historical objects, has been supervising these works.
In addition to the above, a number of protection measures were taken to preserve the existing historical buildings, such as fastening cracks in their walls with steel bars and placing aprons around the buildings made of steel buckles and stop logs. Numerous wooden construction buttresses were mounted to support the buildings’ walls, together with reinforced concrete bands put on the foundation level around the walls of the buildings. At the same time, one of the historical buildings is being prepared to be moved to another location. In order to perform this, special protective measures and rails are being mounted. Also the existing fencing walls were demolished, as well as the buildings and its parts which were not listed as the historical objects. The company DAMPAK is in charge of this scope of works. Construction of diaphragm walls, which will secure excavation works of the underground parking lot, is on the advanced stage. The company Soletanche, responsible for these works, is also carrying our works supporting the walls of the buildings by means of high-pressure injections of cement paste into the soil, known as jet-grouting, aimed to prevent the buildings from collapsing or damaging.
“The scale of the works related to securing the historical buildings is very large. This undertaking is extremely time consuming and requires the utmost precision. We aimed to preserve as much as we could from the former factory’s equipment and we managed to secure a lot of interesting objects, which will be exposed in reconstructed buildings – says Sylwia Filewicz, Head of Development & Construction, Capital Park Group.
ArtN will be a 9-storeyed complex, with additional 4 underground storeys. The renovated site, on the plot with an area of 2 ha, will accommodate over 64,000 sqm of usable area, including 40,000 sqm of office space and 24,000 sqm of space designed for leisure, services, retail and culture. Within this space, customers will find such operators as a modern theatre, a cinema and BioBazar – the first and the only Polish certified food market with organic food and eco products. The main attraction of the project, directly related to the heritage of the place, will be the Open Museum of the Former Norblin Factory, which will hold such exhibitions as unique collections of plated goods or renovated historical machines.
Capital Park Group is the investor and initiator of revitalization of the former Norblin factory. The project is financed from the investor’s own resources and from the bank credit granted by Pekao SA. The company PRC Architekci (under the guidance of Igor Galas) is responsible for comprehensive preparation of the detailed design. The buildings within the ArtN complex will be equipped with a number of eco-friendly solutions – owing to which, in the design phase, they were pre-certified with BREEAM “Very Good” rating.