A more beautiful and enjoyable Palladium

The three-year reconstruction of the Palladium shopping centre under the baton of Sentient has. been successfully completed.

The international consulting company Sentient is proud to have successfully managed the organization of a complex refit of the Palladium shopping centre in Prague. The total reconstruction of the common areas was carried out from the beginning of 2020 while the shopping centre was in full operation so as to minimize interventions and the impact on existing tenants and customers.

Reconstruction under full operation

The reconstruction and refit included, among other things, the construction of a new floor behind the main entrance together with a new reception and distinctive anodized elements hiding the technology leading to the roof; unification and replacement of awnings on both historically protected entrances to the shopping centre; modifications of the facade to match the new design of the shopping centre; full replacement of common area lighting with remote control and monitoring, including the installation of Preciosa designer lighting fixtures in the entrances; a new programmable LED tunnel around the main escalator to the food court, as well as a total reconstruction of the food court floor. All of this was achieved without any interruption to the operation of retail and restaurant units.

The visitors did not notice anything

“The owner of the building put great emphasis on architectural detail and the quality of the execution of all of the work. Most of the construction activities took place at night, and during the reconstruction period it was necessary to deal with a whole series of organizationally and technically demanding tasks as a result of working during the full operation of the centre. It was crucial to phase each stage of the project so that all the retail units could remain open the whole time, and the customers would ideally not even notice that anything is going on. Furthermore, the project was affected by complications related to the coronavirus pandemic, which, among other things, brought significant pressure on our ability to keep sufficient workforce on the construction site and the subsequent extreme increase in construction costs. Nevertheless, all phases of the reconstruction were completed to the required standard, in accordance with the planned time schedule and within the approved investor’s budget,” says Martin Scheuch, Director of the international consulting firm Sentient, which provided the services of project and cost management, quality control, technical tenant coordination and health and safety coordination on the project.

The organization of similar complex reconstructions and refits is one of the long-term specializations of Sentient, which provides a wide range of consulting services across the CEE region. The first significant projects of this type include the reconstruction and extension of The Mark hotel (formerly the Kempinski Hotel Prague), the reconstruction of the Škoda Palace, and especially the reconstruction and expansion of the Černý Most shopping centre. In recent years, the same approach was used during the completion of the reconstruction and refit of the Myslbek and Karviná shopping centres and during the ongoing reconstruction and extension of the Grand Hotel Evropa on Wenceslas Square, which is being transformed to the first W Hotel by Marriott in the Czech Republic.