Employees in the sights of developers

The growth of the BPO sector is having a very significant impact on the development of the office market in Poland, especially in the regional cities, but... “a city or town that cannot supply the requisite amount of space on request is crossed off the list,” admitted Michał Kornacki, a chief specialist from the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency. Lublin does have a plan to increase the supply of new office space in the city. By 2017, 90 pct of the city council’s departments are to move to new office space. “These will be newly-built areas, ecological buildings,” revealed Mariusz Sagan, the director of the strategy and investor service department at Lublin city hall. CBRE suggested that if the office market is to develop, cities will have to take care of good access to these projects. But: “The requirements of the private sector from the road management authority in Łódź would cost PLN 10 bln. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to fulfil all the developers’ requests. We are not New York,” admitted Adam Pustelnik of Łódź city council. Bydgoszcz has found a way to encourage office developers to work. The town has passed a resolution for a tax release on properties, including office projects.

“Every investor is asking for green certificates. It is impossible to sell a building without such a certificate,” said Adrian Karczewicz, the transaction director of Skanska CDE. “100 pct of the buildings in our portfolio are certified,” boasted Karol Bartos, the executive director of portfolio and asset management at Tristan Capital Partners. There is also the prospect of a new wave of green and zero-energy buildings in Poland due to new regulations. “This is unrealistic. I can’t imagine billions being spent on refurbishment,” said Karol Bartos. “If you want to, it is only your willingness that matters rather than the costs, because there are not too many of those. Sooner or later the majority of buildings will be renovated,” believes Maciej Kiepal, the sales manager for Poland of Armstrong Building Products. The question is – is there any real benefit to be gained from such green certificates? “Yes, there is – you can simply secure more tenants,” pointed out Rudolf Grossmayer of UBM.

“The costs were what mattered in the past. Now it is the quality of the space for the employees, the standard of the architecture and the technical installations. And the prestige of the building,” argued Anna Andrzejewska of EY. “It used to be the case that better space for employees came seventh or eighth in the criteria used when searching for premises. Now they come second,” pointed out Joanna
Nicińska, the senior leasing manager of the office project department at Echo Investment. As Michał Styś, the vice-president of OPG pointed out, all workplaces are starting to look similar, particularly in new office buildings – and the only factor that can potentially be different is the atmosphere of the workplace. “We have tried out various ideas to improve the atmosphere at work – office gardens, bowling, etc. – but they didn’t catch on. After some consultations with office workers it turned out what they needed was bicycle infrastructure,” explained Radosław Kozubski, the founder and managing partner of Bike2Box. “Some are only looking for a building that has a parking space for the president’s huge car – and won’t settle for anything less,” said Konrad Okła, the president of the board at Realko. “We have provided our employees with a large amount of communal space, large kitchens and many other smaller tea-points,” explained Katarzyna Cieplak, the property maintenance director at PZU. For Mobica, however, the main requirement was clear: the location. “In Warsaw the office had to be next to the underground line, while in Bydgoszcz it had to have the best possible access from Toruń,” remarked Magda Majchrzak, the real estate, facilities and procurement manager at Mobica, which, just like PZU and Capgemini, made one of the largest office relocations this year. “A terrace was very important for us. This was an unquestionable issue because we had got used to having a terrace in our old office,” added Dariusz Radek of Aviva Poland, which also moved this year.

And if it is no longer possible to adapt a building as it is no longer suitable for its tenants? “I remember developing office buildings on al. Jana Pawła II in Warsaw. Their new owners are already thinking about demolition,” pointed out Krzysztof Wilczek, the director of region north at Skanska Property Poland. “Polish offices will not maintain their leasing levels unless they improve their standards. Our acoustics are worse, that is, much louder, than French ones,” added Leszek Romanowski, the workplace strategy leader for the EMEA at Grupa Nowy Styl. “This can be remedied not only by installing the right type of floors and ceilings but also the furniture and wall-to-wall carpets,” added Leszek Romanowski.

“Everyone is talking about 100 pct leases and the whole market is focused on this. But it doesn’t make any sense,” argued Joanna Nicińska of Echo Investment. “If you have a large ten-year lease contract, but it does not cover the entire building and there is provision for flexibility in the contract, we have to lease the remaining space for short periods or leave it vacant,” added Krzysztof Wilczek.

At the lottery at the end of the conference, bottles of wine provided by Eurobuild were won by Anna Brewińska of OPG Orange Property Management, Paulina Bziuk of Tacit Investment and Konrad Okła of Realko. Diamond and peridot jewellery from A&A went to Renate Kremer of Conject and Eric Swidon of CDI Zarządzanie Nieruchomościami. Magdalena Szerenkowska of Philips Lighting walked (or rode) away with a Strida bicycle supplied by Bike2Box.