The quieter, the better

At the beginning of July you laid the foundation stone for your Modena project in Poznań’s central Jeżyce district. What are the biggest challenges with projects where you have to try to preserve their identity?

Tomasz Łapiński, the CEO and managing director for residential projects at Cordia Polska, and CEO of Polnord: Above all, a renovation and conversion project has to be based on solid fundamentals. Preparing a project that fits in with the surrounding buildings that already exist is often a challenge – here we are usually talking about neighbourhoods in busy city centres that have a pre-designated use. A well-balanced project has to fit into its surroundings. That’s the key thing – and so it’s during the earliest stage that you can make the most mistakes. When it comes to Modena in Poznań, one exceptional feature of the project is an alleyway lined with beautiful old plane trees, which will be open to everyone. The site covers such a large area that locals should have the right to be able to cross it and, moreover, this will help them move around the district. On the ground floors of the buildings, there will be shops and service services that will also be open to all. We prepared the project under the supervision of the building conservator, who made certain that the architecture fits in with Jeżyce’s traditional townhouses. With these kinds of projects, you have to think about everything that happens every day in the neighbouring area. If the work takes place near a school or a kindergarten, for example, in a highly densely built-up area, this needs to be taken into account, in order not to increase the local traffic as children are being picked up or dropped off. This is a kind of typical logistical challenge that every developer faces when developing a project in an already densely built-up area. Cordia’s portfolio also includes Corvin Promenade in Budapest, which is the largest mixed-use development in the CEE region as it involved the re-development of an entire quarter in the downtown of the city. The complex includes 3,000 apartments and over 100,000 sqm of office space. I have had the opportunity to see for myself how well we had succeeded in achieving our goals of creating a kind of town within a city. Because Cordia is headquartered within Corvin Promenade, I can spend some time there and use all the amenities of the complex. Not just the offices, but the shops, the gyms and the restaurants.

What are your predictions for the Polish residential market? A recession is on the cards and…

As with all sectors of the economy, real estate does best under stable economic conditions. In other words, generally speaking, the quieter the better. It takes at least four years to develop a residential project and it comprises many stages. As a result, a lot can happen in this time. Over the last two and a half years, we have indeed experienced quite a few situations that were hard to predict. A number of factors have built up that have rocked consumer stability, including the pandemic, the war in a neighbouring country and galloping inflation, and all of this has encouraged people to put off important decisions. One such decision would definitely be to buy a home. On the other hand, developers are facing a difficult situation on the market for construction materials and have lost many workers from Ukraine. But many of the refugees are definitely going to want to stay in Poland, which is also set to lead to increasing demand for housing. Of course, with such a need there also has to be financing. Potential Ukrainian buyers, who are often very entrepreneurial people, will gain the means to do so when stable economic growth resumes – and I’m still hoping for this.

Do you think that Polish developers are bracing themselves for a rather less rosy scenario?

I do think so, and especially those who experienced the 2008 crisis themselves. I myself was in a management position at a development firm. You have to prepare for the disruption that might come. I’m thinking about financial liquidity and cash reserves. Most of the companies I know have secured themselves in this regard.

A clear trend we can see in real estate is the greater involvement in ESG and combating climate change. What is Cordia doing in this respect?

Above all, our projects are abundant in greenery. We are working intensively, for example, on a project in Warsaw’s Wilanów district, where this can be clearly seen. When you are talking about environmental solutions, obviously we concentrate on using the least amount of energy possible, which however also depends on what kind of infrastructure a given site has. It is one of our priorities to fulfil every requirement that the environment places on us. And there are more and more of these, rightly so. We also want to make our estates more attractive. They shouldn’t just be cleverly and functionally planned out – they should also allow people to rest and relax.

And since we are on the subject of relaxation, what are your favourite holiday destinations?

For many years now I’ve been taking my vacations on the Croatian island of Korčula. I’m also planning to go there this year.

Interview: Julia Cudowska