Ikos Resort, Kallithea Halkidiki: Structural redesign and strengthening of the Athos Palace and Pallini Beach towers

Client: Sani/Ikos Group
Location: Kallithea, Kassandra, Halkidiki, Greece
Scope of Penelis Consulting Engineers: structural redesign of the resort, strengthening design of the two multi-storey hotel towers and structural support during construction

Ikos Kassandra resort – aerial view of the masterplan — Ikos Kassandra – aerial view of the resort masterplan (render: HBA, Schematic Design).

744

keys across six accommodation buildings

≈ 80,000 m²

gross building area (accommodation buildings)

340 / 234

keys in the Athos Palace / Pallini Beach towers

38,114 / 24,671 m²

gross area of Athos Palace / Pallini Beach

The former Athos Palace and Pallini Beach hotels in Kallithea are being transformed into a new Ikos resort. Penelis Consulting Engineers carries out the complete structural redesign of the resort. The core of the work is the two landmark reinforced-concrete towers, Athos Palace (14–15 storeys) and Pallini Beach (12–13 storeys). Their structure is being upgraded to modern seismic standards while new room layouts and new balconies are introduced.

Design approach

The towers are redesigned to the Eurocodes and the Greek Code for Structural Assessment and Retrofitting (KAN.EPE.), with the buildings classified in importance class III (γ_I = 1.20).
The existing heavy balconies and vaulted façade elements are removed. This substantially reduces the building mass, and with it the seismic demand on the structure.
The new balconies are lighter, with composite decks and lightweight concrete. At Athos Palace they are carried on steel beams; at Pallini Beach on new reinforced-concrete beams connected to the strengthened wall edges.
Where beams above room openings are removed, local slab strengthening is used. At the wall edges of Pallini, reinforced shotcrete jackets are applied.
Members with shortfalls in flexural or shear capacity are strengthened with carbon-fibre (FRP) laminates and sheets. New elements are connected to the existing concrete with resin-anchored dowels and couplers.

Construction

Demolition is carried out by vibration-free diamond wire and wall-saw cutting. The balcony and parapet elements are cut into segments and lifted away by crane, which protects the existing structure from impact and vibration.
Quality control on site includes pull-out tests on the anchored dowels, carried out by the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. The tests confirmed safety factors above the design values before the strengthening works continued.

Works on the two towers are in progress (2026).