FAN Courier intermediate hub on str. Actiunii — a facility serving courier operations for the southern area of the capital and the neighbouring areas of Ilfov county. Unlike the other FAN hubs designed by PPAE, developed on free land, the intervention here involved the adaptive reuse of a 1980s industrial hall — keeping and rehabilitating the existing precast-concrete structure, demolishing the degraded annexes and extending with new bodies for contemporary functions.

Challenges

The project involved a strategic decision that decision-makers often encounter in built portfolios: full demolition or reuse? For the 1980s auto-repair hall on the site, the chosen solution was adaptive reuse — keeping the precast-concrete structure (main bay 12 × 55 m), which was still functional, and demolishing the degraded annexes built later. The decision reduced the consumption of new structural material and shortened the execution time, but required strict coordination between rehabilitation and the new extensions so that the final complex would operate as a single operational system.

Solutions

• Adaptive reuse of the existing structure. The main precast-concrete bay (12 × 55 m, built in the 1980s) was kept, while the enclosure and partition walls were demolished. The hall was rehabilitated and transformed from an auto-repair space into a mail-sorting hall, with a contemporary conveyor installation integrated beneath the old structure.
• New extensions for contemporary functions. Two new ground+1 bodies house the staff amenities and the office building. Connected to the rehabilitated hall, they solve the comfort, hygiene and representation requirements that the old structure could not accommodate.
• FAN brand language applied selectively. The secondary envelope of blue perforated sheet metal — the visual signature of the FAN Courier hub network — appears here in a restrained variant, only on the office volume. The smaller scale of the intermediate hub required a proportional application of the language, to mark the identity without overwhelming the urban context.

Result

For FAN Courier, an operational facility that directly serves the southern area of Bucharest and covers an important link in the national network. For PPAE, a project that confirms the team's ability to integrate rehabilitation with new construction into a coherent system — a relevant competence for investors with built portfolios who want to maximize the value of existing assets.

Do you have an investment that involves the reuse or rehabilitation of an existing industrial building? The PPAE team can support your project from concept to completion. Contact us

See also the other FAN Courier hubs designed by PPAE: Brasov | Cluj | Sibiu | Stefanesti