Nikaia: management plan for Filippas grove approved

The management plan for the Agios Filippas grove in Nikaia, also known as the Dexameni Hill grove, has been approved by a decision of the Piraeus Forestry Directorate issued on 18 August 2026. The approval was announced on Friday 21 August 2026 and, according to Efimerida Koinoniki, the study bears the title “Management Plan for the Agios Filippas Grove of the Municipal Unit of Nikaia” and sets a ten-year management horizon for the period 2026 to 2036. The grove covers 105,680 square metres, while the estimated total cost of the management works over the decade comes to 1,100,000 euros. The plan is the institutional tool that determines which interventions are permitted inside the grove and in what order of priority they will be carried out.

The planned works include felling and pruning to protect against disease and fire, new planting, the installation of automatic watering and the maintenance of the irrigation and firefighting networks. Maintenance of the roads and paths is also provided for, as well as the upgrading of the playgrounds, the sports areas and the open-air theatre. The plan does not provide for new structures or for any reduction in the green area. In the first three years of implementation the emphasis is on felling dead trees, on clearing, pruning and cultivation work, and on new planting with automatic watering. Also included are measures against vandalism, better staffing for guarding and maintenance, and information for the public on the use and protection of the site.

The Agios Filippas grove is one of the largest open green spaces in Nikaia and the wider Piraeus, an area with high building density and a limited ratio of green space per resident. For residents of the surrounding neighbourhoods the hill serves at once as a place to walk and exercise, as a meeting point and as a thermal counterweight to the high temperatures of summer, such as those Attica recorded in the heatwave with 38 degrees. The fire protection dimension is equally critical, as this is woodland surrounded by housing. Urban greenery has become a standing issue for the municipalities of Attica, with initiatives such as the one in which children map the urban greenery of Athens.

The mayor of Nikaia-Agios Ioannis Rentis, Konstantinos Marangakis, said: “Our aim is a grove that is safe, clean, functional and accessible to all.” The approval of the plan by the Piraeus Forestry Directorate is the first step, as each individual piece of work will then have to be set in motion through the prescribed procedures. The sum of 1,100,000 euros concerns the whole decade and not a single project, while its distribution per year has not been announced, nor the funding sources for each phase. No timetable for the start of the first works on the ground has been made known either. Similar works on municipal infrastructure in Attica, such as the stormwater network projects in Palaio Faliro, are usually carried out in successive phases.