Greek cultural project for Impregilo

A joint venture between Italian contractor Impregilo and Greek company Terna, is to build the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC) in Athens, Greece.

The contract is worth approximately €325 million, with Impregilo holding a share of 51%.

Work on the cultural centre project is expected to take 38 months, and it will house the National Library and the Greek National Opera, as well as the Stavros Niarchos Park.

The project is guaranteed and financed in full by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, one of the world’s leading international philanthropic organisations, which makes grants in the areas of arts and culture, education, health and medicine, and social welfare.

Designed by architectural firm Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW), the project is said to be an ecologically sustainable multifunctional centre located about 4.5km from central Athens, on a 232,000m² site consisting largely of public parkland.

The new Greek National Opera will have a main 1,400-seat theatre and an experimental 400-seat theatre, while the National Library for the general public will house up to 750,000 books.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre is the Foundation’s largest individual gift – a €566,000,000 grant – as the Foundation is funding in full the Centre’s construction and equipment.

On completion in 2015, the SNFCC will be donated to the Greek State, which will be exclusively responsible for its management and operation.

The Stavros Niarchos Foundation said it firmly believed that the project was of national importance, even more so under the current socio-economic conditions in Greece. It described the project as an engine of short- to mid-term economic stimulus, “which is essential under the current circumstances”.

Impregilo and fellow Italian contractor Salini recently reached a collaboration agreement after Salini’s protracted battle to gain control of the company.

Both companies are to embark on joint commercial strategies in domestic markets and international markets, and will submit joint bids for larger and more complex projects. The companies said they expected to benefit from synergies in procurement, as well as optimising investments and pursuing greater efficiency in their commercial structures.