The start of the long-term transformation of the largest business area in our country into a greener and more social city center will be celebrated with the three-day  "The Park" Festival from June 23rd to 25th.

Business Park Sofia presented its long-term development strategy, which aims to turn the largest office complex in Central and Eastern Europe into an even more attractive urban environment through more green areas, public spaces, events, culture and diverse services. Among the first improvements created in partnership with the Collective Foundation are the transformation of a 3,000-square-meter rooftop into a social space for events, dining and meetings, new shared outdoor workspaces, a new lakeside stage, and large-scale street art murals. Ten studios of popular artists are already operating in the Park and organize various workshops and events for residents and visitors. All new functions and spaces will be presented for the first time during "The Park" Festival at the end of June. By the end of the year, a new co-working space with 80 seats in Building 10 is expected to open, as well as start of the construction of the new Building 16 next to the metro station.

"Since its opening in 2001, our business zone welcomes thousands of citizens daily and has become the most successful example in Bulgaria of a private project that provides a public service." said Ekaterina Radeva, Head of Special Projects and ESG Initiatives at Business Park Sofia. "Today, the capital city needs more quality public spaces outside the center and we want to turn the Business Park even more into a Park by saturating it with more greenery, content and culture and start offering new services, events and activities for our residents and visitors."

The goal of the long-term transformation is for The Park to be developed into a secondary urban center and a place for public service, leisure and recreation for all age groups, to meet the need for social infrastructure in this part of the city, and to serve as an example of sustainable development of similar open complexes both in our country and globally. The plans correspond with the Vision for the development of the Metropolitan Municipality as a compact and multifunctional city, as well as with global urban planning trends and the concept of the 15-minute city, which offers all services at an arm's reach. Consultants in the creation and implementation of the strategy are one of the largest global architectural offices, Gensler, the long-term designers of Park A&A Architects, the Collective Foundation and the communication agencies NEXT-DC and Imp-Act Agency.

Urban activists from the Collective Foundation, known for initiatives such as "The Rivers of the City" and "100 Chairs", are already working on the activation of the new public spaces and the creation of street art in the Park. Their urban and architectural projects are also the result of a large study and a series of workshops in which nearly 500 people, tenants, residents, neighbors and visitors of Business Park Sofia, took part. Over 70% of all survey participants indicated that they would like to attend more cultural and philanthropic events in the Park, and that they would like more areas to work, meet and eat outdoors. Based on ideas and suggestions from the local community, the Collective Foundation develops and tests the plan to activate new places in The Park through a series of architectural improvements and art.

The potential of the new social spaces will be presented for the first time during The Park Festival between 23 and 25 June, which includes a rich program of music and concerts, children's activities, contemporary circus art, dance lessons, workshops and more events. The full program will be announced on The Park's social networks on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.