The EC1, jewel of Lodz, Poland

This architectural marvel incorporates an old coal-fired power station built in 1907 and decommissioned at the turn of the century. Yet EC1 does more than just make excellent use of this abandoned site, the unwitting symbol of the decline of a city that successfully underwent political and economic transformation after the fall of communism. It has become a driving force for social and economic development in the historic city centre, and hopes to remain one once the global coronavirus pandemic ends.

The revitalised EC1 complex has become home to three culture and education centres: the National Centre for Film Culture, the Center for Science and Technology that includes a planetarium and a 3D cinema, and the Center for Comics and Interactive Narration. It offers exhibition, concert and conference spaces and will soon accommodate shops, clubs and restaurants too.

EC1 is not only a monument and a museum, it is also a place for daily activities where residents can spend quality time with their family and friends. EC1 has the ambition to become the pride of its city.

By definition, a project seeking to transform problems into opportunities in a less developed region of Poland deserves the European Union's support. This is the whole point of its regional cohesion policy. The project must of course match EU priorities and comply with its strict allocation criteria – which is where JASPERS comes in.

From 2007, the City of Łódź dedicated a lot of time and energy to wondering how it could transform this degraded industrial area into an economic and cultural magnet. The city already had an international reputation in the field of cinematography, mainly thanks to the famous Lodz Film School, whose graduates include Roman Polański and Krzysztof Kieślowski. This asset began to play a role in the redevelopment of the EC1 complex.

After numerous consultations with experts and residents, the aim became to transform not only of the EC1 building, but also the urban planning of nearly 100 surrounding hectares, now called The New Center of Lodz.

The exercise raised a number of questions. How could the European Union support a project so important to local identity, whilst also helping it to adhere to the regional policy criteria applicable across Europe? How could it ensure the project had the best possible chance to benefit from more than 20 million euros in EU subsidies? One answer was to offer the services of three JASPERS specialists.

The city approached JASPERS at an early stage of the project and as of 2008, JASPERS was able to advise on legal dilemmas.

Firstly, the JASPERS specialists made it possible to adapt the legal structure of the project. The main issue was that the city of Lodz had to retain ownership of the site, as EU subsidies can only be allocated to public sector entities constituted to manage them. Any other kind of structure would definitely have jeopardised the allocation of subsidies, and it would not have been possible to change such a key point when making the subsidy application. This is where support from JASPERS comes into its own, as in this case it was able to highlight the issue at the feasibility study stage at the beginning of the project.

The second major legal question concerned state aid. Since this cultural project hoped to give a major boost to private sector economic activity, how could the EU subsidies be prevented from distorting the free competition needed for the open market? To this end, the JASPERS legal experts advised the city to split EC1's activities in two, with the cultural part eligible for subsidies on one side and the private sector activities (construction, renovation, restaurants, bars, etc.) – which had to remain subject to the free enterprise principle – on the other. JASPERS involved the European Commission's Directorate-General for Competition very early in the process.

Beneficiaries often turn to JASPERS for the technical skills of its engineers, urban planners, environmentalists and legal experts, as well as for the international experience that they can bring to a project. They are also of course key to proper alignment with the European Commission. In addition, the confidence built up on an almost daily basis strengthens dialogue with other partners such as national ministries and regional authorities. So once again, JASPERS’ role sits at the crossroads between technical aspects, diplomacy and finance.

This innovative gamble has already transformed the urban landscape of Lodz and has even started to become known internationally. It is still developing and taking shape despite the global coronavirus pandemic. The project has cost almost PLN 265m (EUR 66.1m) and has duly received EUR 20.6m in subsidies from EU Structural Funds. Mission accomplished for JASPERS.

The Planetarium was a particularly big success with young and grown-up visitors alike. Thousands of people have already come to admire the famous spherical screen measuring 14 metres across and projecting images at a resolution eight times higher than HDTV, on the movement of tectonic plates, air masses, ocean temperatures, volcanic activity and the ozone layer. It was also awarded first place among the seven wonders of Poland by National Geographic magazine!