The public procurement procedure announced in the European Public Procurement Bulletin for the general construction of the new downtown campus building of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University and the renovation of the existing Bródy Sándor Street building, as well as for the conversion of the Szentkirályi Street Palace, is available on the university's website.

The main element of the so-called Bródy project is the new campus building to be built at 26 Szentkirályi Street. In parallel, the building at Sándor u. 15th listed building which was designed by Károly Hild(Chimney Sweep House) will be rebuilt for offices of the central departments supporting the operation of the university. The scope of the investment includes 28-30 Szentkirályi street, Designed by Antal Hofhauser and completed in 1898, whic is under the protection of the capital. The refurbishment of the educational building, which will house the Faculty of Law, will be organically connected to the new block, although this house will be less affected by the works. The plans are listed by Közti Zrt. And Hamburg C Kft.

The new building from Pollack Mihály square (Source: pkke.hu)

The primary goal of the investment is to create a new building for the university that meets the functional needs of the current operation, thus providing a larger educational area, the announcement states. Furthermore, the aim is for the buildings involved in the construction to strengthen the university's presence in Józsefváros, as well as the downtown campus of Pázmány. The university considers it important that the immediate surroundings of the campus, the real historical values, are preserved during the planning process, in addition to the modern and up-to-date design, interior layout, use of form and use of materials.

The general construction task includes the modern implementation of the new educational building and the high-quality renovation of the existing building, as well as the necessary and economical transformation of the contact and the existing building, the tender indicates.

Visual design of the new building (Photo: Balázs Fürjes / Facebook.hu)

The useful floor area of the new educational building to be built in the listed environment at 26 Szentkirályi street is 9944.6 square meters. The useful floor area of the protected listed building to be renovated and converted at 15 Bródy Sándor Street is 1496.1 square meters. The building to be converted at 28–30 Szentkirályi street is 1306 square meters.

According to the street view plan, this is how the building at 26 Szentkirályi Street will look (Source: ppke.hu)

At the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, 8,000 full-time and correspondence students study at several training locations - Budapest, Piliscsaba, Esztergom - and this fragmentation has hampered its effective development in recent years, the university reports on its website. In order to create a consolidated training venue, the Hungarian Catholic Episcopal Conference, as the maintainer of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University, received the buildings of Józsefváros that were once used by the Hungarian Radio in the spring of 2020. In return, the university handed over the properties on its Piliscsaba campus free of charge. The design of the new, unified campus will allow for a significantly more sustainable and efficient operation than before.

The listed building at 15 Bródy Sándor Street (Photo: Both Balázs / pestbuda.hu)

As we wrote earlier , the merged campus will be located in the area bounded by Szentkirályi street - Múzeum street - Pollack Mihály square and Bródy Sándor street. Renovation is also expected during the works, so the Esterházy Palace, which includes the former Marble Hall of the radio, or the Károlyi Palace, which is in a completely dilapidated state, will also be renovated.

The new campus of PPKE will be built in the heart of the Palace District, in the district bounded by Múzeum street - Pollack Mihály square - Bródy Sándor square - Szentkirályi street (Source: ppke.hu)

The unified Pázmány campus is expected to be completed by 2027.

Source: ppke.hu, EU Public Procurement Notice 

Cover photo: The new downtown campus of the Pázmány Péter Catholic University will be established in the Palace District of Józsefváros (Photo: ppke.hu)