Business mixed with pleasure

What is the main idea behind business parks? In an ideal world they are self-sufficient garden-cities reminiscent of American university campuses. but in Poland There  is certainly more business than park going on

Zuzanna Wiak

What is the basic definition of a business park? It is simply a complex consisting of a few rather low-rise office buildings, usually surrounded by green areas. This layout is one that owes something to the appearance of Anglo-Saxon university campuses, but it is hard to pinpoint where and when the first complex of this type was built. However, if we accept that they really were inspired by university campuses then perhaps Frederick Terman, a scientist and dean of the School of Engineering in Stanford in the USA, should be considered the father of the concept. In the 1950s, in order to rescue the university from financial trouble, he took the decision to rent out some of its buildings to companies from the new technology sector. In this way Stanford Industrial Park was created, where companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Eastman Kodak, General Electric and Lockheed opened offices. Stanford Industrial Park now operates under the name of Stanford Research Park and comprises 160 buildings with nearly 23,000 people working in them. Furthermore, this business park was the seed that grew into the world famous Silicon Valley, where the biggest companies from the IT and financial sector are now based. Urban planners claim, however, that due to the rapid technological development of business parks, the idea of them being garden cities was abandoned, as their similarity to university campuses ceased. The concept was turned into a set format that was endlessly reproduced by developers. Such parks are usually built on the outskirts and occupy areas close to large transport interchanges. But did their history really start in the US in the 1950s? As it turns out, it did not. In fact, in Europe modern business parks might even have a history going back 90 years. Goodman prides itself on the fact that the beginnings of the Hatfield Business Park outside London stretch back as far back as 1920. In the 1930s, British Aerospace (BAE) was responsible for the development of the whole area and manufactured planes in the park. In 1993, the company finally declared itself insolvent and laid off 8,000 employees. At the same time Goodman started operating in the park by building its first warehouses. After the bankruptcy of BAE, a painstaking revitalisation process began. The plan was to construct over 2 mln sqm of office space, a school, a university, a residential section with 1,000 homes and a park. The developer also retained the historic buildings on the site. Nowadays, Hatfield Business Park is a dynamically developing district combining office, residential, retail and industrial functions. Over 10,000 people work in the park.

It's the business that counts in Poland
The US definition of the term is not fully compatible with how we understand ?business park' in Poland. Here developers give the name to office projects built over a number of stages. "This is the basic characteristic of this type of project. The possibility of introducing them to the market in stages, depending on the demand, allows us to minimise the investment risk and it is easier to sign pre-lease type agreements," explains Richard Aboo, a partner and head of the office department at Cushman & Wakefield. The creation of large office parks is, therefore, a great idea for the development sector in post-crisis times. Interestingly, however, following the trend for green buildings developers are emphasising the connection between business parks and real green parks when launching the former. In January this year, SwedeCenter started the construction of Business Garden Warszawa - a complex of office buildings designed by the JSK Architekci architectural studio. In the first stage of the project, which is to be completed in Q3 2012, a leasable area of 32,000 sqm is to be built, of which 23,000 sqm will be taken up by offices. Eventually the project is to consist of seven buildings with a gross leasable area of 75,000 sqm. As befits a genuine business park, it will offer more than just office space. A 200-room hotel with a congress centre is planned, as well as retail and service areas. Future employees of the park's tenants will therefore be able to do their shopping there, eat in one of the restaurants, go to the gym, the doctor's or send a parcel. "Business parks built in Poland are not on the scale of those built in the USA; this mostly results from transport infrastructure, which in Poland leaves a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, this is the future direction of the development of the office market. More and more emphasis is being put on introducing modern construction technologies and eco-friendly solutions. Developers are trying to create attractive public spaces and a friendly working environment," remarks Richard Aboo. SwedeCenter, which is following this trend closely, is to develop its project on a 6 ha site where the buildings will cover only 40 pct of the area, with gardens planned for the remaining space. The developer is also preparing projects of this type in Wrocław and Poznań. In Wrocław an eventual office area of 85,000 sqm is to built on a plot of 73,000 sqm, with the first stage of the project to be ready in 2014. Meanwhile, the first stage of the complex in Poznań, which will eventually have an area of 80,000 sqm, should be completed at the end of 2012 or early 2013.

A new office district
Competition is already emerging for the SwedeCenter network. Polnord has decided to throw its towel into the ring and develop a business park in a location which the inhabitants of Warsaw normally associate with Sunday walks and a new residential district - Wilanów. Up until now the local office market has consisted of villas converted into small office buildings, as well as the head office of Polish media giant ITI on the boundary of the Sadyba and Wilanów districts. Once built, Wilanów Office Park will be conveniently located between two major roads and close to the city centre. "We are observing a growing interest in this new district for the office market. People are fed up with the problems they are having getting to work in the area around Służewiec or ul. Łopuszańska," claims Bartosz Puzdrowski, the president of the management board of Polnord. The complex will consist of 18 buildings (an office space of 140,000 sqm), the first of which, with a leasable area of 7,270 sqm, has already been completed. "The local zoning plan in Wilanów obliges us to include a lot of green areas in our projects. This will certainly increase the comfort of working in this location. Despite the fact that the complex is to be situated within the dynamically developing Miasteczko Wilanów, we have to satisfy the needs of people working in the area. This is why we have planned a number of improvements, as well as service and retail areas," adds Bartosz Puzdrowski. Environmental solutions, as can be seen, have been the most prominent trend in the construction industry in recent years - a point that has not been lost on the joint-developers of the Poleczki Business Park project, UBM and CA Immo. The construction of the second stage of this huge complex started in March, for which the two companies hope to acquire a ?Gold' LEED green certificate. Two three-storey office buildings are to be built in the second stage with a total area of over 21,000 sqm, while the whole project is to eventually have an area of over 200,000 sqm.

Huge parks, huge tenants
AIG/Lincoln is also planning to develop a business park in Warsaw. The Park Warsaw is to be built at the junction of ul. Łopuszańska and ul. Krakowiaków. The developer has already applied for a building permit and is planning to launch the construction work this year. In the first stage of the project, which is to take app. 1.5 years, buildings with a leasable area of 20,000 sqm are to be constructed. The complex will eventually offer an area of 100,000 sqm in ten buildings, which are to be developed in three or four stages. A large amount of greenery and relaxation areas are planned, with cafés and a fitness club designed by APA Wojciechowski. The project is targeted at demanding tenants who value comfort and the efficiency of their staff. Such companies often include technological firms intent on nurturing creativity. For employees to work as efficiently as possible it necessary to have places where they can relax. "It is mostly pharmaceutical, IT, outsourcing companies, banks and insurance companies that are most interested in leasing areas of this type. They usually employ a lot of people and want to provide them with comfortable working conditions. Having a central location is not one of their priorities," explains Richard Aboo of Cushman & Wakefield.
With a contribution by Radosław Górecki