The Hellenic Ministry of the Environment, Planning and Public Works is preparing to launch an international ideas competition for the design and urban development of the Hellenikon Park.

The transfer of Athens airport from Hellenikon to the Mesogeia plain, in 2001, made available a large piece of prime land close to the city centre and to the Saronic Gulf. The planning and management of this extensive area, of some 530 hectares, is a unique opportunity for Athens to reclaim extensive public open spaces and green area badly needed to improve the quality of the city's environment.

The programme makes provision for housing and urban services on one hundred hectares of the site as well as a vast park which will include green areas, cultural, sports and leisure facilities as well as the restoration of some existing buildings, amongst which the terminal designed by Eero Saarinen.

The International Union of Architects is currently reviewing the brief for this competition. The launch is planned for the beginning of the month of December 2003.