Some Polish cities, such as Warsaw and Lodz, have in recent years eagerly taken advantage of the housing spec law, which gives the possibility to change the provisions of the local plan. However, there is a group of localities that approaches this subject much more cautiously - until recently, Wrocław was one of them, where only six applications have been submitted so far. In the near future, this narrow group may be joined by Archicom's proposal, which the investor, together with the BBGK Architekci office, is planning for the Gądów Mały estate.
Wrocław's Gądów Mały, known by its residents as Osiedle Kosmonautów (due to Mirosław Hermaszewski's activities at the local aeroclub) is a well-located place, with plenty of greenery and full service facilities. The project to build a large residential complex, implemented since the 1970s and later supplemented after the political transformation, resulted in the development of almost all the available space in its area. One of the last unoccupied plots in the eastern, closer to the center of the complex has been lying fallow for almost 20 years. However, it looks like this state of affairs may soon change, as one of Poland's largest developers has an idea to use the area. What will be built in Gądów Mały?
New Gądów from Archicom
proj.: BBGK Architekci © Archicom | press materials
Gądów Mały with design by BBGK Architekci.
Archicom plans to erect two multi-family residential buildings, with BBGK Architekci studio responsible for the design. The first of them, located next to the Astra shopping center, will be a cascading structure with a height of 4 to 8 stories. The next one, located on Na Ostatnim Groszu Street, will rise from 5 to 8 stories in its basic part , and in its western part there will be an 11-story tower, which will be the dominant feature of the whole establishment. The layout of the buildings will allow for the creation of internal courtyards, while a green, publicly accessible space has been planned between the two blocks. The openness of the designed estate is its important feature for transport reasons - one of the shortest pedestrian routes, connecting the center of Gądów Mały with the Popowice housing estate, will run right through it.
New Gądów from Archicom
design: BBGK Architekci © Archicom | press materials.
In addition to its residential function (the developer reports 795 units of varying square meters and number of rooms), the estate will include space for retail and services. A circular pavilion will be built inside the city square, created between the buildings, and commercial premises will also be located in the first floors of the planned buildings. As one can read from the presented visualizations, there will be greenery-covered arcades above them, and vegetation will also be placed on the roofs of the new buildings.
New Gądów from Archicom
design: BBGK Architekci © Archicom | press materials
what in exchange for a change of plan?
According to the provisions of the housing spec, along with the new development, so-called accompanying investments can be created, which complement the functionality of the new neighborhood. In the case of Gądów Mały, the developer announces two such investments - the first will be the expansion of the nearby Jerzy Kukuczka Elementary School No. 38. Jerzy Kukuczka elementary school. According to the investor, the school is to gain a new 3-story wing with 6 fully equipped classrooms. In addition to additional school seats, more greenery is also to appear in the area. New plantings (and among them trees, shrubs and melliferous plants) will be located between the planned facilities, along Horbachevsky Street and in the areas near Ikara Square.
Cosmonauts estate in Wroclaw
Photo: Dariusz Łach © CC BY-SA 3.0 | Wikimedia Commons
estate with aviation history
The blocks under construction by Archicom are to be built in Gądów Mały - a housing estate located on the western outskirts of Wrocław, just outside Popowice, between Nowy Dwór and Kozanow. Until the 1970s, there was a civilian sports airfield here , where Pablo Picasso landed during his visit in 1948. In turn, Miroslaw Hermaszewski honed his skills at the local aeroclub. In 1973, the city held a competition to design a housing development for about 40,000 residents, which would be located on the airport site - the winning concept was by Kazimierz Bieńkowski, Andrzej Chachaj, Zbigniew Malinowski and Daniela Przyłęcka, with whom Wacław Hryniewicz collaborated (P. Górewicz, Osiedle Gądów Mały - past, present, future. Opportunities and Threats, 2024). The project was implemented from 1976 until the 1990s, but it was never completed in the form planned by the architects. Estates interspersed with streets recalling the site's aviation history (Aviators, Balloon Street, Icarus Street) offered plenty of greenery, and in 1985 the Astra shopping and service center was built on the site.
plans were different
At the site where Archicom is planning new construction, a marketplace operated until 2006. After it was closed, hypermarkets were to be built on the plot on Na Ostatnim Groszu Street, followed by the Idylla shopping mall with futuristic architecture, referring in its form to the blob aesthetic. In the face of the changes that were taking place in the immediate vicinity (the construction of the Magnolia shopping mall in Popowice and the expansion of the Astra center), the plans were abandoned, and the plot passed into the hands of successive investors. A remnant of the unrealized Idylla mall is a pedestrian footbridge that was thrown over the busy Na Ostatnim Groszu street.
New Gądów from Archicom
design: BBGK Architekci © Archicom | press materials
lex developer in wroclaw
Archicom's new housing estate is to be built thanks to the use of a housing speculative law, commonly known as lex deweloper, allowing changes to the provisions of the local spatial development plan, which in the case of the plots in question provides for commercial development.
In October last year, Wrocław took advantage of the possibility to make the provisions of the housing speculative law more specific, by adding so-called local urban planning standards. In its basic version, the developer's lex allows the construction of buildings up to 14 stories high, providing 1.5 parking spaces per apartment, and located within 1,500 meters of an elementary school capable of accepting new students equal to at least 7% of the anticipated population of the new development.As a result of the enactment of local urban planning standards for Wroclaw, these numbers have changed from 14 to 7 stories, and from 7 to 10%. Importantly, if there are buildings taller than 7 stories within 250 meters of the planned construction, they set the maximum height of the development.
During the vote, which took place on October 17 in the City Council of the City of Wroclaw, many of the councilors opposed the introduction of local urban planning standards, pointing out the pointlessness of such a measure in the face of the uncertain future of the housing speculative law, which, although still introduced in 2018, will be in force in its current form only until the end of this year. Investors don't have to rush too much, because with the expiration of the housing specs law, opportunities to bypass the provisions of local plans will not disappear - more and more cities are preparing to adapt a similar law, namely Integrated Investment Plans.