This is perhaps the most ambitious and therefore controversial urban development project of recent years after Helliniko. And yet, it has not received much public debate, despite the fact that in the next decade this project will have a wider impact on the center of Athens. We are talking about moving the services of nine ministries from 127 buildings to the “government park”, which will be created at the foot of Imitos, on the site of the old PIRKAL. The study regarding the project was submitted a few days ago for public comment, offering for the first time a comprehensive look at its various aspects.

A few days ago, the Ministry of Finance (which was designated as the “Developer” of the project) submitted for consultation a special urban plan study (EPS) concerning the EAS ABEE (PYRKAL) section in the municipality of Dafni. – Imitos. The study was prepared on behalf of the Ministry by Spyros Tsagaratou’s ASPA Research Bureau, which signed well-known projects such as The Mall and Golden Hall shopping centers, the Hellinikon development plan, and a new study for Tatoi.

Let’s take a look at the main features of the state park as they emerge from the study:

• With the transfer of nine ministries to PYRKAL, it is proposed to create a “supra-local administrative ‘cluster’ with significant fiscal benefits, but also with improved quality of services offered.” An important factor is the financial benefit: as already mentioned, ministries are currently housed in 127 buildings, of which only 20 are privately owned. Annual costs (rent and maintenance) are estimated at 33.1 million euros.

• The area currently occupied by EAS is 154.8 acres and will be divided into two spatial units. The first will include buildings (preserved or new), and the second – a new common area (50% of the area). Of the 77 acres that will be urbanized, 46.5 will be built and the rest will be common parts of buildings (contribution to the land).

• To date, there are 93 objects on the PIRKAL site with a total building area of ​​88,670 sq.m. With the new proposal, the number of buildings will reach 30, of which five will be new buildings and 25 will be existing. The total construction area will be 148,704 sq.m., of which 98,000 sq.m. new buildings, 47,704 sq.m. preserved buildings and 3000 sq.m. from additions. To increase the total area, an enlarged building (more square meters in height) with a smaller coverage (area occupied by buildings on the ground) was chosen. “In this way, despite the need for an increase in new construction, a modern and modernized urban environment is provided, which provides important free unstructured urban green spaces and public spaces that highlight a particular increase in social equipment at the local, supra-local and metropolitan level,” the study says. .

• The buildings are located in two sections on either side of the park. The first block includes the existing PYRKAL high-rise office building and a new eight-story twin building next to it. And the second, in the eastern part of the site, existing industrial and new buildings (5-7 floors). A free zone is maintained 20 meters from the property boundary.

This refers solely to the area where the government “park” will be built, and not to the impact on the area from which services will be removed.

• The study estimates that due to the short distance from Daphne metro station and heavy traffic in the area, “no significant increase in traffic load and pressure on existing parking spaces in the area is expected”.

• With regard to parking, the proposed areas around the perimeter will be allocated for taxis, service buses, catering cars, bus stops. Inside, a 2,000-space car park will be set up for employees, which is being proposed “with an appropriate management scheme to cater for weekend visitors when services will be out of service and recreational use will increase.” It is proposed to establish a controlled parking zone within a radius of 400-500 meters from the object.

However, there are some points in the study that deserve attention.

• The study refers exclusively to the PIRKAL area (since it is its new urban plan) and not to the area from which the ministries will be relocated, ie the center of Athens. Thus, there is a significant gap in the study of the effects (social, economic, etc.) of the project. There is only one reference in the study: “The release of a large building potential in the center of Athens through the use of special incentives and measures can lead to the return of housing to it, which is what the General Plan of Athens envisages.”

• The Athens Regulatory Plan (2014) mentions maintaining the role of the centers of Athens and Piraeus as centers of personnel and administrative services among the main objectives. The study appears to overcome the problem of incompatibility with the underlying planning by stating that the Daphni-Imitto area is included in the spatial subdivision of Central Athens, in the “wider central metropolitan area of ​​Athens”, and therefore the relocation of the ministry to the municipality of Daphni-Imitto is not considered distance from the center of the capital.

• The project will be a public-private partnership. While there is a clear reference in the study to the financial benefit of saving on rent, there is no reference to the cost of building and operating the new building complex.

Recall that the plan concerns the redeployment of the ministries of finance, development, labor, health, environment, culture, interior, rural development and tourism, as well as three state-owned companies (Super Treasury, ETAD, TAIPED).

Austerity and fears to weaken the center

The “removal” of almost all administration from the center of Athens is not without consequences. For this reason, in the previous period, he met with sharp criticism from scientific associations of urban planners and planners of territorial development. For its part, the government contributes to obtaining significant financial benefits from the project and improving the work of the state, given that the center is not weakened, but unloaded.

“Until 2019, the Greek state knew neither its real estate nor the rent it paid. This oddity mobilized us from the first moment, and immediately after the elections, the systematic recording began,” says Minister of State Akis Skertzos, answering a question about the idea of ​​a government park. “So we found that the Greek state hosts the central services of its 19 ministries in a total of 191 buildings in the basin. Only 50 are owned and 141 are leased. The rent, together with operating and utility costs, exceeds 60 million euros per year. This is anything but a model of good financial management. We were looking for the best solution, as a result of which a state park was created on the site of the former PYRKAL. Added to the benefits, of course, are the creation of synergies in the work, coordination and productivity of the government, significant energy savings from the creation of new bioclimatic buildings, the modernization of the working environment of civil servants, improved accessibility and services provided to the citizen, as well as a spectacular modernization of the area around the government park. .

According to Mr. Shertsos, the nine ministries that were selected were the most structurally divided. “The central services of those ministries that do not move are concentrated in a building that in most cases belongs to the state,” he says.
“Obviously there is a problem of multiple divisions of some ministries and housing often in unsuitable buildings. The public sector needs serious industry research on building issues,” said Sophia Avgerinou-Kolonia, NTUA Professor Emeritus and President of the Association of Hellenic Urban Planners (SEPOH). “However, in this case, the stake is wider. The Athens Regulatory Plan’s provision for keeping state administration in the center of Athens and the Athens Organized Spatial Development Plan’s (SOAP) reference to the need to reverse the trend of removing state governments from the center are not accidental. They came about through impact research.”

“The movement does not contradict the goals of the Regulator,” Mr. Skertsos assesses, “given that the territorial unit of Central Athens, to which the municipality of Dafni-Imittos belongs, is the personnel center of the capital region and the country. However, given that five years have passed since the adoption of the Regulation, the process of its revision is already being prepared with the aim of contributing to the modern urban policy in the area.”

After all, why do scientific bodies claim that removing the ministries would be detrimental to the center? “The center of Athens has a historical character and symbolism associated with its cultural heritage and productive life, which give it character,” says Ms. Avgerinou-Kolonia. “The administration is an integral part of it. Because of its centrality, it offers direct access to the citizens, and at the same time, as a function, it is connected to the productive networks of the center. Beyond weakening services and local networks, the big question is what will replace remote services. This moment has not been scientifically studied by the state, only the receipt of services on PYRKAL. Given that the entire center has been handed over to airbnb and accommodation without planning and control, we must be especially careful not to reinforce this tourism monoculture.”

“With such events, the center is not weakened, but unloaded,” says Mr. Schertzos. “The vacating of the 127 buildings is an excellent opportunity to think about and plan for the revitalization of the center by using and changing the use of both buildings that will remain vacant, for example by developing an affordable housing policy that will encourage young people to return to the center. At the same time, we are given the opportunity to soberly discuss the possible demolition of some of these buildings in order to provide more public space. In this lively dialogue that is now beginning, municipal authorities, academic bodies, civil society and market actors are already taking the lead. This is without a doubt an ambitious and complex undertaking that looks to the future and requires serious and long-term planning.”