The season for coworking

For example, in December New Work is to open the largest – and what it claims to be the most modern – co-working centre in Poland, in Łódź. The 4,500 sqm of serviced office space will be available in the newly completed Hi Piotrkowska office complex. It will include 300 fully equipped workstations and a conference centre and is to be open 24 hours a day. Tenants will be able to choose between private offices and open space corporate modules for large teams of 30–40 people. Since the centre is on the 12th and 13th floors, one feature will be the panoramic views of the city. New Work will be offering flexible contracts, a reception service, free parking for guests, access to the conference centre, well equipped kitchens and printing facilities. The company also promises to tailor its services to meet individual needs, while the tenants themselves will be able to register their businesses in the building.

Serviced in the South

Echo Investment, meanwhile, has signed a lease agreement with flexible workspace operator CitySpace for it to open a 2,300 sqm business centre in the Face2Face Business Campus in Katowice in May 2021. This will be the company’s second such centre in the city and will contain 370 workspaces. It will also feature different types of office space, including open space, coworking (hot desks), private offices and virtual offices. The space can be leased for any period of time, even for just a few days. Meeting rooms, quiet rooms, conference rooms, a kitchen and reception, telephone rooms, function rooms and relaxation areas will also be available to each company that leases the office space. A cleaning service, an office manager and IT support are also to be provided. Echo Investment began the construction of the centre at the junction of ul. Grundmanna and ul. Chorzowska in May 2018, and in January this year the first, 21,000 sqm building came into use. Its tenants include DAZN and Perform Content. The second building, which is to open before the end of the year, will have 15 storeys.

Another Katowice building, DL Tower, which is being developed by DL Invest in the Wełnowiec-Józefowiec district, will also include co-working space. DL Space, the company’s flexible office concept, which is already present in other buildings owned by the developer, will also operate in the 14-storey, 17,000 sqm building. DL Space rents out private offices with access to common space, including conference rooms, silent boxes, kitchens and relaxation rooms. The building should be completed in Q1 2022 by the group’s general contractor, DL Invest Group PM.

In Kraków, Warimpex has opened its Mogilska43 Cowork centre. The 1,100 sqm of shared working space is situated on the ground floor of the Mogilska 43 Office building. This comprises serviced offices for large and small firms, personal desks and hot desks. As well as the individual offices for rent it also has ten serviced offices ranging from 27 sqm to 160 sqm, where teams of 5–22 people can work together. A corporate package is also available for larger companies or project teams, allowing up to 48 people to work together.

The next Wave

In the Wave office building in Gdańsk, which was developed by Skanska and opened in July, International Workplace Group (IWG) is to open its first Spaces coworking centre in the TriCity. The centre will take up 3,000 sqm of office space on the two top floors of the building. IWG is a specialist flexible workspace provider that currently operates in 120 countries and 1,100 cities across the world. In Poland the Spaces brand can be found in Warsaw, Kraków and Wrocław – along with the new centre in Gdańsk, which is to open next year. The leasing transaction was brokered by JLL. The Connected by Skanska system is installed in the building, while close at hand is City Hub, the first shared mobility hub in the TriCity. The first stage of the complex will comprise 24,800 sqm gla. Wave, which was designed by Medusa Group, is LEED, Well and Building Without Barriers certified. Another coworking centre is also to open in the TriCity, but this time in a renovated historic building. In September, Stocznia Cesarska Development completed the refurbishment of the Dyrekcja building (formerly the premises of the Gdańsk shipyard director) – and its two top floors are now occupied by a Mind Dock coworking centre. This offers space for freelancers and small firms, where they can rent one or two offices for any period of time. The centre also has hot desks, private workstations within a co-working environment and private offices. Pets are also welcome. The 1,000 sqm centre also comes with relaxation areas and kitchens. Its interiors have been designed by Roark Studio. Stocznia Cesarska Development has partnered with Belgian IT specialists ZapFloor to provide an app-based platform for the tenants. This can be used for reserving office space and conference rooms as well as for tenants to pay their bills.