Sustainable Redevelopment

In order to achieve our goal of delivering unique city centre living spaces, we employed three key principles in our mission to restore alaattin apartments:

• Sustainable Redevelopment - a focus on restoration
• Community Engagement - the naming of alaattin apartments
• Historical Retention - liveable history

It was a daunting task to step into the neighbourhood of Galata in 2003, before gentrification started, in order to turn a derelict building into luxurious accommodation. It wasn't just the target of building luxurious accommodation as the mission, but to deliver living spaces rich in history and comfort using a very thoughtful approach to the materials used and the community engaged to achieve this goal. This was the mission laid out and taken to task by the team picked to restore and create these homes. We feel great pride in what was completed and each corner, floor board, door or brick holds a small piece of our story in successfully completing this mission.

Great care and time was taken in the restoration works in order maintain as much of the historical nature of the original design of the buildings without compromising on developing modern completely functioning luxurious accommodation. Many important details were achieved with painstaking effort such as restoring 100 year old doors (over one hundred pieces) plus over 700m2 of floor boards, some of which dated from the late 1800’s, to the sourcing of antique door handles and cast iron antique bathtubs were undertaken to finish the flats to their current charming state. Another challenging task was reusing stone stairs (120kg+ each) undertaken by an engineer and structural team creating one of the finest features in the development. During 2005|06 the building underwent extensive reinforcement works including an integrated reinforced concrete (using a special PCC mortar), steel skeleton and reinforced concrete decks on each level. 

Sustainability is evident on many fronts - from the reuse and repurpose of original building materials, to sourcing Turkish materials and engaging with local craftsmen and artisans to understand original restoration techniques - all important to our vision of liveable history. The history of the building was studied from various angles in order to retain as much of the history and charm of these two period buildings. 

From start to finish, alaattin apartments was a Turkish project. Built in one of Istanbul’s most famous quarters it involved local architects, engineers, tradesmen, contractors, suppliers, lawyers, students and artisans from all over Turkey. Heavy works were designed, implemented and overseen by a top structural engineering reinforcement "father-and-son" team with calculations and support completed by professors at the Istanbul Technical University (ITU). The architectural and finishing details were a combined effort by many architectural students working closely with the developer and the finishing crew of dedicated workmen. This multi-year project involved significant reinforcement works followed by a very careful performed finishing period. All of this hard work and efforts combined delivered a truly special and unique development for city centre living - carefully built with sustainable concepts and community development in mind, working with the local community to the benefit of the local community.

There is no better way to explain our focus on community engagement than naming the building. It was chosen because of the dedication and hard work of one of the development company's employees: alaattin baca. Not only was alaattin the company’s first employee, hired to oversee the cleaning and emptying of the building, he proved regularly to be the most devoted, loyal and hard working member of the team. When it came to naming the building shortly after the restoration works were completed, the team considered many options and after considerable thought, it was unanimously chosen to become alaattin apartments, due to the true dedication and devotion from alaattin baca. 

Since 2004, in addition to his consistent dedication to alaattin apartments and the comforts for its guests, alaattin has also helped countless residents of Galata from performing minor household chores to working in various home renovations. As a clear sign of his trustworthiness by the locals, he has held keys to numerous homes, shops, offices and storage depo's over the years for many people who all know him as a wonderful addition to the neighbourhood. Having come to Istanbul from the Black Sea region of Samsun looking for more prosperous work, alaattin tried various jobs including a chef at his own "bufe" before looking to the construction sector where he soon join the project of alaattin apartments. He is a father of four girls and deserves this achievement and our gratitude and sincere appreciation.

Many important details were achieved with painstaking work such as the restoring of 100 year old doors (over one hundred pieces) plus over 700m2 of floor boards, some of which dated from the late 1800’s to the sourcing of antique door handles and cast iron antique bathtubs were undertaken in order to finish the flats to their current charming state. Even a very challenging task of reusing stone stairs of over 120kg each was undertaken by an engineer and structural team that created one of the top features in the development.

Maintaining a true focus on our aligned mission and goals we were able to deliver on our promise and produce flats rich in history and luxury and have been home to numerous people from a variety of professions. alaattin apartments has been home to an impressive list of tenants from numerous consulate and foreign government employees to major international companies and various organizations. It is also a top destination for the tourist and holiday visitors with demand for such accommodation growing each year as Galata offers a more relaxed destination than the traditional Sultanahmet district. It is expected to continue to grow as the area develops and provides more amenities to it resident and guests.