Making an attractive Byd

Bydgoszcz is one of the largest cities in Poland. It is a place that is dynamic and full of energy, and, including the neighbouring boroughs within its orbit, is inhabited by app. 1 mln people. These people are highly talented, entrepreneurial, educated and open to new work opportunities in the shared service centre sector – this was the picture of the city given by Edyta Wiwatowska, the president of the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency. During the Bydgoszcz Office Market business breakfast, which took place at the Radisson Blu hotel in Warsaw, representatives of BARR, the initiators of the meeting, reminded those attending about the excellent location of the city – near the main motorways and an international Airport – and the fact that it also has a rich pool of the students and graduates who are in such demand from investors looking to open their latest BPO, SSC or IT centres. “In 2010 employment in the BPO/SSC sector only amounted to 1,230 people, but now, six years later, this number will have grown to 9,000 sqm. [...] Companies that have invested with us include Nokia, Atos, Mobica, SDL, Livingston, COB, Asseco, Ericsson and Poczta Polska. And we are open to more investors,” insists Edyta Wiwatowska. Paweł Panczyj, the managing director of the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) added that there has been a marked trend towards moving businesses out of Warsaw over the last few years. “At present, investors who are considering opening a new centre are not just looking at the seven main cities but they are also enquiring about Opole, Lublin, Rzeszów and Bydgoszcz,” said Paweł Panczyj. According to BARR, Bydgoszcz has 56,000 sqm of office space, 36,000 sqm of which is ‘A’ or ‘B+’ class. Developers are not wasting any time and are now preparing more projects. Arkada Holding is planning the two-building Arkada Business Park complex in the city, which will have a total area of 22,000 sqm. “We are at the stage of finalising preliminary contracts and closing such issues as the general contractor and the financing. We are now set to start the first stage, which will consist of a twelve-storey building with a two-storey car park on ul. Fordońska. It will have a leasable area of 11,000 sqm,” announced Łukasz Tomasik, the leasing manager responsible for the project. Hunger Development is also preparing a project. The Danhouse office building, which forms part of the Scanpark Business Centre, is already in operation at the junction of ul. Fordońska and ul. Kamienna. Its office area of 7,200 sqm is almost fully leased and the construction of the second stage – 8,000 sqm of ‘B+’ class office space – should start at the beginning of 2017. “We hope to receive the building permit this year. It will be an eleven-storey building with an office area of 8,000 sqm and app. 300 parking spaces. The completion of the construction process has been scheduled for Q2 2018,” said Oskar Hunger, the president of Hunger Development. The office complex will eventually involve the construction of five buildings. An office building being developed in Optimum Park in Bydgoszcz is to be completed in August. This project is also being carried out by a local developer – AB Plus Czesław Tyburek. The six-storey facility on ul. Fordońska will have an area of 4,000 sqm. Around 18,000 sqm of offices will eventually be developed on the 2.5 ha parcel. “The three most important things that investors from the IT sector are interested in are: the proximity of the various forms of public transport, the availability of services such as restaurants and cafés, and the parking,” said Mariusz Wiśniewski of CBRE. And what else does Bydgoszcz offer that other cities with similar potential and office and HR resources don’t? According to the developers present, these things could be: flexible leases, freedom in terms of contract settlement (PLN or EUR), the availability of services (restaurants and shopping centres), as well as the nearby recreational and leisure area along the Brda river. It is worth stressing that the latest generation of young people entering the job market appreciate not just the work and the pay, but also the quality of life and the free time.