Scheme could be Hungary鈥檚 tallest building forever

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - daytime view looking towards old city

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - daytime view looking towards old city

A 120m office tower designed by Foster & Partners for Budapest will escape a proposed government ban on skyscrapers in the Hungarian capital, the prime minister鈥檚 office has confirmed.

The 28-storey tower was commissioned last year by oil and gas firm MOL Group as its new headquarters and will be the tallest building in Hungary.

The Office of the Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, last week announced it was planning to ban all buildings over 90m to 鈥減reserve the traditional profile of Budapest鈥�.

English language newspaper reported: 鈥淭here would be an outright ban on buildings over 90m, and decisions would be taken by authorities on a case-by-case basis for buildings between 65 and 90m.鈥�

But Gergely Guly谩s, head of the PM鈥檚 office, said the ban would not affect the Foster tower because it had already won planning.

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view from lake towards tower

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view from lake towards tower

鈥淚nformal talks were earlier held with MOL, OTP Bank and Richter 鈥� Hungarian companies with high international profiles 鈥� on the possible construction of skyscrapers to serve as their headquarters, and only MOL wanted to avail of the opportunity,鈥� the newspaper said.

The MOL Group tower, planned for the south of the city, has been designed with a number of sustainable features, possibly to mitigate the company鈥檚 work with fossil fuels. Founded in Hungary a century ago, MOL has 25,000 employees and works in more than 30 countries extracting, refining and selling oil and gas.

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view of entrance plaza

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view of entrance plaza

Nigel Dancey, head of studio at Foster & Partners, said when the project was announced in October: 鈥淭his is a landmark project for several reasons, not only for MOL but also for Budapest. It presents a unique challenge 鈥� to ensure that the building meets the functional needs of the organisation, follows the highest standards of sustainability, and is respectful of its historic surroundings.鈥�

Hungary鈥檚 three tallest buildings pre-date 1906 and include the Parliament building. The current tallest modern building in Budapest, at 88m, is a 1976 tower housing a university faculty.

Unless the new ban is overturned, Foster鈥檚 tower is set to retain forever its crown as Budapest鈥檚 tallest.

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view from atrium towards tower daytime

Foster and Partners - MOL campus Budapest - view from atrium towards tower daytime

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