Developers rethink costs after Manhattan disaster

Commercial real estate developers rethink the role of high rises in planning Warsaw’s skyline.
By : Robert Wylot

    Rising high: But new safety procedures could see costs soar in high-rise office blocks.

   Warsaw will go ahead with plans to build high-rise office blocks despite the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York, city authorities said last week. But many industry analysts said the Sept. 11 collapse of the WTC would mean possible changes in building design to beef up security and streamline evacuation procedures. The knock-on effect will mean extra costs in construction and management.

   “The demand for such buildings has not disappeared, but we’ll now have to think how we can protect them,” said Piotr Kroenke, general director of building developer Globe Trade Centre (GTC).

   He said the industry will have to look at security issues that have never been considered before, such as terrorist attacks on sewage and water supplies. “If someone got into any spot along the main water supply pipe and injected a poisonous substance in it, everything would get out of our control,” Kroenke said, adding that his firm had commissioned security specialists to prepare a report on how to enhance security in GTC’s buildings.

   Other industry analysts are adamant that high-rise projects will go ahead despite the New York tragedy. “We cannot say high buildings won’t be built,” said David Mitzner, president of Apollo-Rida, a real estate developer and administrator. However, he said new measures on every level of security will have to be taken.

   “We must have tight security to make sure that people who enter buildings are checked thoroughly,” he added.

   According to Jan Milczarczyk, director of the design department at architectural company Prochem, the destruction of the WTC will have little impact on Warsaw.

   “There will be no revolution (in architecture) because you would then have to assume that such incidents will happen on a daily basis,” Milczarczyk said. “You can’t design a building to protect it against hundreds of liters of burning fuel. Nobody would be able to pay for a building that would be resistant to such a hit.”

   Warsaw’s urban development plan envisages the construction of at least four high office blocks in the city center. According to Jerzy Guz, vice mayor of Gmina Centrum, Warsaw’s largest district, the city’s plans for high-rise developments around the Palace of Culture and Science will continue.

   “We will give the approval for such buildings,” Guz said. “I don’t think developers will stop erecting tall projects in Warsaw.” He said the psychological effect (of the WTC attack) will soon slow down and business sense will prevail.

   But he said that some skyscrapers are built for prestige rather than economic reasons. “Firms will stop erecting this kind of building,” he said, adding that after a certain height costs begin to outweigh the benefits.

   Most industry analysts agree that improvements in the evacuation procedures will be worked out more thoroughly following the WTC disaster.

   “Office space owners and managers will have to review security and evacuation issues,” said Kris Litwiński, director of operations at Golub Europe L.L.C. “We may see more sophistication in the safety and evacuation aspects of office development.”

   Mitzner agreed, adding that high-rise buildings are particularly vulnerable when it comes to evacuation procedures. “People can walk down a 20-floor building in 15 minutes,” he said. “In a 60-floor building many will get stuck and die.”

   Although Milczarczyk believes the WTC collapse will not affect the design of high-rise blocks, he said evacuation will be the most sought-after area of improvement.

   “A minimum evacuation time can be established and designers can think of better evacuation logistics,” he said.

   But developers are aware that security improvements will affect the buildings’ costs. “It will, of course, be a tremendous burden on our finances,” Mitzner said. He added that mainly building service charges will become more expensive.

   Others in the industry said costs will inevitably rise after the WTC disaster. Kroenke said a main function of an office building is to offer clients easier access to other companies.

   “New security measures will restrain this access,” Kroenke said.

   The collapse of the WTC has also highlighted the problems with using metals when building high-rise blocks. The dominant material in Manhattan’s twin towers was steel.

   “Metal buildings are most dangerous,” Guz said, adding that Warsaw developers would probably now use reinforced concrete.

   Daewoo’s Warsaw Trade Tower is the only high building in Warsaw made of steel similar to the WTC. “A building of reinforced concrete would have withstood the strike better,” Milczarczyk said.

   Piotr Kroenke was sanguine about the general safety of office buildings in Warsaw. “Electricity and telecommunication systems are protected by security systems,” he said. “I don’t think any threats could come from this side.”