The Spektrum Tower (formerly TP S.A. Tower) is a

highrise A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...

office tower A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, the capital of Poland. It is located at 14/16 Twarda Street in the Warszawa-Śródmieście central business district of the city and used to house the headquarters of its investor, the telecom operator Telekomunikacja Polska S.A. (TP S.A.), with some space being leased to other companies. The building of the tower was initially contracted to ''PIA Piasecki S.A.'' on 1 August 1997, originally due to be completed 30 June 2002. In 2002, however, the contractor was found unable to complete the structure due to strained financial standing, and the investor turned to ''PORR Polska S.A.'' (who has completed a number of other office buildings and towers in Warsaw) to finish the construction. The Tower was finally completed in December 2003. The Tower was built using the "top-down" technology, with both the over- and underground parts of the structure being constructed simultaneously. During the excavation for the

foundation Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

of the Tower, a 580 kg artillery shell from World War II was discovered 8 metres below ground level. The Tower was designed by architects from ''Apar-Projekt'' and ''Arca A&C'' bureaus, and consists of a composition of cylinders and cuboids. The structural design was the responsibility of ''TMJ Tomasz Ziętała''. The Tower has 30 overground and 5 underground floors, extending 16.5 metres below ground level and rising to 128 metres above ground. The building comprises almost 50,000 m² of space, over 41,000 of which is usable. Unique features of the building include the helipad on the roof and the external

elevator shaft An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

, sloped 14°, which connects the street level with one of the higher office floors with an elevator cabin travelling at 2.5 m/s. Apart from it, there are seven other straight-up elevator shafts in the building core. The Tower is a modern

intelligent building Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...

, fitted with

building automation Building automation (BAS), also known as building management system (BMS) or building energy management system (BEMS), is the automatic centralized control of a building's HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning), electrical, lighting, ...

systems. In July 2008 it was sold to Danish investment fund Baltic Property Trust Optima which sold it in 2012 to a London-based Europa Capital LLP fund

References

* {{Warsaw Skyscrapers Commercial buildings completed in 2003 Skyscraper office buildings in Warsaw Śródmieście Północne

See also

References