黑洞社区

Faithful + Gould has been appointed project manager on a 鈧�300m (拢239m) regeneration scheme that will make an entire district of Athens zero carbon.

The firm will also act as cost consultant on the project, the 200,000m² Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. The scheme will develop an opera house, a national library, a ballet school and a park on the site of a former racecourse at Athens鈥� Faliron Delta.

The scheme is aiming to be zero-carbon and to score a LEED platinum rating 鈥� the highest band on the American energy-rating tool.

The buildings are expected to be largely powered by solar panels, although the project team is also considering geothermal technologies. This is thought to be a good option because Athens is in an earthquake zone.

The project is the brainchild of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, a charitable trust that will hand over the facilities as a gift to the Greek government after developing and operating them for a short time.

Neil Clemson, head of project management at F+G, said it was 鈥渓ike someone giving you the British Library and half a regional park鈥�.

He said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 a massive scheme. It鈥檚 regenerating one of the town鈥檚 quarters and providing a park, which is badly needed. Athens has one of the lowest amounts of park per capita of any European capital.鈥�

He said the scheme should set a sustainability benchmark for large-scale projects. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you could consider building a facility with this national impact without targeting as high as you possibly can in terms of sustainability.鈥�

Enabling works are expected to start at the end of 2009, with completion set for 2014.

A contractor has not yet been appointed to the project.