Heads together

Although it is not even three years old, it has plenty of experience to look back on. Its prospects for the future look good and its plans are still bold but now more realistic.
The Warsaw Research Forum is very much alive and kicking

You need four to forum
"The Warsaw Research Forum has been operating for more or less two years and has had the same aims since the very beginning," says Mathieu Giguere, who is the only male and non-Pole in the WRF. "We analyse office data together, we publish the same statistics and distribute them all over the market. They are available to everyone and not only members of the Forum."
The Warsaw Resarch Forum consists of representatives from four real estate agencies: Paulina Górska of CB Richard Ellis, Anna Staniszewska of DTZ, Elwira Zielska of Jones Lang LaSalle and a Canadian, Mathieu Giguere of Cushman & Wakefield Healey & Baker. They all agree that the original purpose of the Forum was to enhance the quality of information delivered to clients and the press. Its founders' main objectives were to increase the effectiveness of gathering data, expand their knowledge of the market and build customer trust in materials prepared by real estate agents in Warsaw.

For better and for worse
One of the first things the Forum did was group Warsaw's real estate geographically, into three zones: the Central Business District, Central locations and Non-Central locations. They also decided on a methodology according to how the Forum would gather data on the available, vacant and leased office space in the city and the number of utilised buildings. Another goal was to create a classification technique for modern office space and divide it into classes A and B, though this has been considered dubious by other market players.
"The Forum is a good idea but what some people object to is that four companies working together have reserved the right to set terms which define the whole market. I'm afraid that the WRF may be vulnerable to accusations of selective consultation and bias as a result," says Katarzyna Bączyńska, Head of Research at Knight Frank Nieruchomości.
"It would be putting things too strongly to say I'm opposed to the Warsaw Research Forum," says Jerzy Muszyński, Head of Analysis and Valuation at Unikat Nieruchomości Komercyjne. "I don't have any objections to the demand, supply and vacancy terminology. The idea of dividing Warsaw into zones is also a good one, though it's hardly a geographical discovery. What the WRF failed to do well was classify office buildings. Their definition doesn't define anything and is impossible to apply in practice, since on its basis any agent or owner may prove that their buildings are class A."

Got anything better?
The Forum's representatives claim that their building classification was a response to the clear expectations of both developers and tenants and that the categories are very popular and commonly used.
"Our definitions are based on general rules for building classification and are the result of a compromise reached by the companies involved in the WRF. We are planning to improve them in the future," says a WRF representative who adds, "as far as I remember, nobody has suggested better ways of classification than those we propose."
Jerzy Muszyński however questions the very notion of classifying buildings: "everyone knows which buildings are class A without WRF's 16 categories. It's a buildings' prestige which is key and this can be raised through effective marketing."

The new is coming
What is the Forum working on at the moment? "We recently discussed reorganising our structure to allow us to welcome other members and reach agreement more easily within the WRF, as sometimes it's not so straightforward. Other plans involve working on a standard contract for leases as well as a code of ethics for the forum. We've also considered changing the Warsaw CBD borders but in my opinion this would cause several complications and would make it impossible to compare data," says Mathieu Giguere.
Katarzyna Bączyńska of Knight Frank Nieruchomości is rather sceptical about this idea of new membership: "I'm reluctant to comment on this organization because my company is not a member. I wonder though what the role of the new members might be. Would they be required to supply more market data or be able to participate in the defining process? Only in the latter case would the suggestion make any sense."

Promises, promises
When the WRF was created, its founders pledged that they would also research the warehouse market, as well as apply the WRF model to other cities where the membership companies operate. Only one of these intentions, the latter, has come to fruition but there are apparently moves to make headway on the former.
In breaking new ground by setting up an umbrella research organization, the Forum has been more successful and their idea has spawned others in Prague and Budapest and a similar group of market analysts is said to be getting their heads together in Moscow. "From what we've heard from other offices, particularly in Western Europe, the idea of the Forum has been warmly received," say the WRF's representatives.