Better together

The arrangement, to partially integrate and share services, should make things easier, cheaper and more convenient - not only for the developers, but also for the later users of the buildings themselves. "We have already explored the possibility of supplying heating to all the buildings within the Warsaw Business Centre," says Bolesław Shugol, the president of Concept Development, who goes on to add that they will able to save as much as 30 pct on the heating itself. And it is not only heating that is to be jointly purchased by the developers - they are also considering shared electricity, security services and access roads to the buildings within the quarter.

The power of synergy
"So far it is mainly the developers who will save money, but after the buildings are taken over by their target users or when they are purchased by other owners, the lower costs can then be transferred onto tenants," explains Bolesław Shugol. "Around 7,000-8,000 people will be working in the office buildings, so they will need to have everything close at hand," he explains, but services don't need to be multiplied. Instead of ten chemists there will only be one and its location will be determined by where the developers decide such facilities should be. Apart from a chemist and a newsagent, there will also be a fitness club, a grocery store, a bar, a post office, a dry-cleaner, a café, and so on. There are also plans to open a nursery school. "The final strategy of group buying and details of the services will be revealed in the next two months at the latest," claims Katarzyna Pyś-Fabiańczyk, marketing and leasing manager of Ablon's Karolkowa Business Park project.
The partners plan to set up a joint website, featuring visualisations of each of the buildings on a virtual map. The buildings are to be linked to the websites of each of the projects. "The close proximity of the individual projects, as well as their scale and the scope of the services, have all contributed to the decision to market the complex under one brand," adds Katarzyna Pyś-Fabiańczyk.

Competition not always healthy
What about the competition? Has one of the basic elements of the free market got lost in all this thinking about joint projects? "We value cooperation more than competing with each other. It is our intention to create a self-sufficient district,' claims Katarzyna Pyś-Fabiańczyk of Ablon. "Naturally, there is competition between developers, but we are planning to share the marketing because it will help each of us individually," says the president of Concept Development. The idea was the brainchild of the management of Concept Development, which is developing the Concept Tower project (with 8,900 sqm of office space) in the district. As both companies confirm, Concept is currently in negotiations with Ablon, which is working on the Karolkowa Business Park project (18,000 sqm of office space and 3,000 sqm of service and retail space). According to the director of Concept Development, other companies also building in the quarter have given the thumbs-up for the idea. Negotiations are also pending with Bank Polskiej Spółdzielczości, whose new home (10,000 sqm) is being built by Unibep and Unidevelopment on ul. Grzybowska, and with LC Corp, which is developing a service and office building on ul. Przyokopowa (31,000 sqm). Polstar, which has not started to build anything yet, as it is switching its plans from a residential into an office project (19,000 sqm), is also involved in the negotiations over the scheme. "The project is worth considering because there is strength in numbers. Competition is not always healthy," says Anna Kalbarczyk, Polstar's representative.
The construction work on most of the projects is to be ?completed within a year. Concept Tower is to be finished first - within seven months. Ablon is planning to complete its project at the end of 2012 or early 2013, while the LC Corp building is to be opened next February. Meetings of the 'developers' representatives to decide upon the details of the cooperation will take place in the second quarter of the year.