A placemaking project in Kabaty: Archicom buys the right to build with 30 million for the city

Public contribution as the axis — and as the price of entry

A key element of the concept is the commitment to deliver public infrastructure and contributions to the city with a combined value of around 30 million PLN. This is a model increasingly used in large inner-city projects, also under the housing special act: in exchange for the ability to build on an attractive plot, the developer takes on the creation of functions serving the whole area, not only future residents. In practice this means that public contribution ceases to be a gesture of goodwill and becomes a condition of the city council's consent — the real price of entry to the most sought-after land. Speaking on the project, Inga Pilarska, Director of Strategic Planning at Grupa Echo, notes that contemporary developments in such urbanised locations as Kabaty must "create full-value fragments of the city", not merely deliver homes.

Rynek Kabacki and the logic of the 15-minute city

The heart of the scheme is to be Rynek Kabacki — a new city square covering 3,500 sqm, conceived as a space for meeting and local activity, surrounded by services and greenery. Around it, 18 retail-and-service units with a combined area of about 5,000 sqm are planned: a supermarket, retail and catering outlets and — what sets this project apart — space for a public health centre, which after completion will be handed over to the city. This is a realisation of the "15-minute city" idea to which Archicom regularly refers: homes, health services, retail and public space in a single, coherent scheme, within walking distance of the metro interchange.

The programme redesigned after consultations: fewer homes, more greenery

The original concept was substantially changed in dialogue with the city authorities, urban planners and the residents of Ursynów. The effect is measurable. The updated project envisages 410 homes — half as many as the local zoning plan in force here permits — with a moderate building scale of 2 to 5 storeys, harmoniously fitted into the existing fabric. There is to be significantly more greenery: 280 trees, over 11,000 sqm of green areas and a biologically active surface exceeding 30 per cent of the site — four times more than the planning provisions require. Added to this are 400 sqm of playgrounds and retention solutions supporting stormwater management. Traffic is to be eased by 150 publicly available parking spaces in a "Park & Ride" format. All these figures come from the updated concept and — as with any project at the preparation stage — may still change in the course of the procedures.

A strategic signal in the country's most difficult market

The Kabaty project neatly illustrates the direction in which Archicom is heading in Warsaw — a market the management board calls the most important in the country and, at the same time, the most difficult. The developer, which is building premium mixed-use schemes here (Towarowa22, Flare, M7), shows that it can carry out developments in dialogue with local government and the community, turning public contribution from a cost into part of the offer. This also has a business dimension: in the context of the declared plans to acquire new land in the capital, including for the mass-market segment, Kabaty is a model for reconciling residential scale with the quality of urban space — a competence that, in a difficult market, determines access to the best plots.

What this means for the district and for the market

For the residents of Ursynów, the project means transforming an unused site left by a former supermarket at the metro interchange into a mixed-use fragment of the district — with a square, a health centre, retail, greenery and a Park & Ride car park easing pressure on the area. For the development market, it is further proof that public contribution is becoming the standard rather than the exception in large inner-city projects — and that developers able to design and finance it gain a real advantage in the competition for approvals and land. The project's status remains at the preparation stage: the city council's consent is in place, but the final shape of the development depends on further procedures and permits.