First on the scene

Aneta Cichla, ‘Eurobuild Central & Eastern Europe’: When do developers really start leasing a shopping centre that is still only at the planning stage? Jacek Wachowicz, a board member at Globe Trade Centre: Our team starts to draw up the tenant mix, the offer and the profile of the planned shopping centres quite early – as soon as at the concept stage. At this time we want the anchor tenants to have the deciding vote. They participate, within specific limits of course, in the commercial design of the centre. During such meetings, which often take the form of workshops, we find out quite a bit about the functioning of certain brands and their needs and expectations in terms of retail space. We know these companies very well, the way their business strategies evolve – and we always try to be up to date and get a full picture of the situation. We have used such a method in the case of Galeria Północna. Together with the tenants we wondered how best to design