The rafter festival was celebrated yesterday at the new six-floor annex of the Origo shopping centre. The first three floors are to have modern and convenient retail, food & beverage and service provider spaces, while the upper three floors will have A-class offices known as Origo One. This development will expand the shopping centre more than two times over. The new building will be opened next spring.
“We are very thankful that the work is proceeding quickly and that we will complete the construction in the beginning of the next year,” says Linstow Centre Management Chairman of the Board Frode Grønvold. “I want to thank the builders and designers for the excellent work that they have done. Right now we have celebrated the rafter festival, and we are excited about the future. There will be an additional 16 200 square metres of new and modern retail facilities, as well as 10 900 square metres of A-class offices in the Origo One business centre. That will allow us to offer broader shopping and entertainment experiences in the centre of Rīga, as well as new office space in the location best connected to public transportation. This follows a global trend of connecting business activities and transportation in a sustainable way.”
Linstow Centre Management plans to invest EUR 72 million in this major project, which is being designed and built as a high-quality and energy efficient building according to the BREEAM (the British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) standards, which is the world’s most popular certification for sustainable buildings. The high requirements apply not just to building standards, but also the transparency of design and construction processes, the choice of long-lasting materials, the quality of the interior climate, the accessibility of the object, as well as other factors.
“The rafter festival is one of the most beautiful points of reference during the entire building process,” says the council chairman of the Skonto Būve construction company, Guntis Rāvis. “I welcome the fact that we have done a substantial amount of work in terms of teaching the highest point of the building, and that means that we can already look at the overall project and its planned size. I wish to thank the Skonto Būve team and project director Jānis Kreicburgs, as well as all of our partners for the high quality of the work that they have done. Expansion of the Origo shopping centre and the establishment of the Origo One business centre is proceeding in accordance with plans, and this autumn we will be able to appreciate the new annex that will be six floors high.”
The new Origo One business centre is an innovative development project which follows Linstow strategy of realizing complex urban mix used developments similar to such projects in Norway. Grønvold: “One of the main advantages of the new Origo One centre will undeniably be its location. This territory already serves as the main public transport hub in Riga, but when we think about the Rail Baltica project, we see that the importance of the location will soon be at the international level. What’s more, the new offices will have state-of-the-art technological solutions which will be flexible, mobile and functional. Expanded green zones as part of Origo One will create unique urban space for people to enjoy.” As has been reported, the Origo shopping centre is being expanded by Linstow Centre Management by erecting a new building on land that is alongside the centre at Satekles iela 2b. As a result the gross building volume will expand to 81 500 square metres, but the total leasable space, including the offices, will increase to 43 300 square metres. The underground car park is to be expanded so as to ensure room for 250 vehicles, as well as a large, safe and easily accessible place to park as many as 124 bicycles. As the plans develop, the dangerous crossing of Elizabetes and Satekles streets will be reconstructed with regulated pedestrian crossings and a bike lane along Elizabetes Street that will cross Satekles Street. Future work will involve a renovation of the existing Origo shopping centre building.
