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THE POLISH COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MARKET IS RELATIVELY YOUNG, AS THE FIRST MODERN OFFICE BUILDINGS WERE ERECTED IN THE 1990s. EMPLOYEES EXECUTED THEIR DUTIES WITHIN A SPECIFIED TIME RANGE AND THEN MADE THEIR WAY HOME AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. CURRENT MARKET DEMANDS AND LONGER WORKING HOURS MEAN THAT THE OFFICE AND ITS SURROUNDINGS MUST OFFER SOMETHING MORE.
The last 20 years has definitely changed the employers' and developers’ view of employees' needs - to the advantage of the latter. “Good economic results and the generally improved standing of enterprises in Poland mean that tenants have more money and are beginning to pay attention to the fit-out standard of offices. HVAC equipment is becoming necessary due to climatic changes and the increased number of electrical appliances emitting heat. People at the office are beginning to appreciate high quality fit-out, a functional reception desk, and appealing surroundings of the office block. Until recently, to reduce construction costs, the developers left out raised floors that allow cabling to be hidden, or opening windows. Today such values as the visual appeal, daylight access and the ability to air a room are no less desirable to tenants then the right number of parking spaces or a modern building management system" - comments £ukasz Maciak, corporate investment director, Arka BZ WBK Real Estate Fund.
EMPLOYEE COMFORT FIRST
Improving the quality of leased space is about both ensuring working comfort and allowing employees to do things not related to their job duties. It is necessary to enable them to have or prepare a meal, so fully equipped kitchen annexes are built, and developers make every effort to have a restaurant or a cafe in the building. “Already at the planning stage developers decide to provide leisure space to future employees. For instance, the architects designing the Teofilów Business Park being built in £ód¼ have planned comfortable rest areas on window ledges along the monolithic facade, where you can sit and have your coffee during the morning break. The climate is no less inviting in the lobby, where an unusual solution is to combine a standard stone floor with cosy carpeting and comfortable armchairs for visitors" - £ukasz Maciak adds.
Frequently, the surroundings of future projects are chosen so that they would give employees the opportunity to spend their free time in a way they find productive and interesting. A new trend is to situate various service outlets within large office developments or in their vicinity. Apart from typical services, this also includes sports clubs or even company crèches and nursery schools.
THIS ARRANGEMENT OF SPACE ALLOWS COMPANIES LEASING OFFICES TO USE BUSINESS SERVICES LOCATED ON-SITE. THEIR STAFF, IN TURN, GAIN ADDITIONAL FACILITIES THAT MAKE THEIR WORK MORE COMFORTABLE, AND WHEN THEY FINISH IT, THERE ARE SHOPS, SERVICE OUTLETS OR LEISURE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THEIR PRIVATE USE NEAR THE OFFICE.
COMPREHENSIVE SPACE TRENDS
With regard to the arrangement of office space, a trend is surfacing to create space that comprehensively satisfies tenants' needs. “In line with this trend, one space houses not only offices, but also public facilities, business services, retail and service outlets which meet the needs of office employees. This idea can take the form of business parks located next to shopping centres, like the Mokotów Business Park in Warsaw. Closer to the centre, office buildings with retail space set apart will be more popular, like the Millennium Plaza in Plac Zawiszy" – says Ewa Janiszewska, board representative for commercial space at Atlas Estates.
This organisation of space allows companies leasing offices to use business services located on-site. Their staff, in turn, gain additional facilities that make their work more comfortable, and after they finish it, there are shops, service outlets or leisure opportunities for their private use near the office. All this is in the vicinity, so you can save commuting time. What is more, combining office and retail space, regardless of the different competences needed to manage it, is also profitable for the developer, who can charge higher rent due to the wider offering of the building and the more interesting infrastructure.
“It is worth noting that combining different building functions is also supported by the changes in work patterns. The growing popularity of outsourcing, using the services of freelancers, the attention to employees integrating socially and a less formal atmosphere requires a new, different type of space in the building. This includes not just in-house tea rooms, but also common space, like cafes, restaurants or a fitness club" - says Ewa Janiszewska.
TWO TYPES OF SPACE IN ONE PLACE
An example showing what this combination of two types of space in one location looks like is provided by the Millenium Plaza building. To allow the staff to have not only their meals, but also opportunities for informal meetings, various catering establishments are present: cafes and restaurants arranged into a food court. Business services are provided by conference rooms, banks and consulting companies located in small offices. Other services of this type may include post offices, law firms or translation agencies. A separate floor has been set aside for medical clinics. Another desirable public facility is a nursery school. The most accessible parts of the shopping arcade should house shops: a supermarket and shops with other product ranges tailored to the needs of both office tenants and outside customers. The last element that provides added value to office building employees consists in interesting activities for their free time, offered at the Millenium Plaza by a fitness club with a SPA or a language school.
The lobby at the ground floor of the Millenium arcade was redecorated with a part of the space hitherto occupied by small retail units being released, so that it can now be used for cultural events and the like. As part of the remodelling, office tenants received an elegant entrance to the office part, and a reception space with comfortable couches is to be opened for them soon.
“We intend to let the remaining free shops on the ground floor to exclusive boutiques or outlets serving building tenants. Negotiations are in progress with a jeweller, a distributor of exclusive interior design products and a delicatessen. We still have attractive retail units ranging from 20 m2 to as much as 650 m2 available to tenants at very competitive rents of EUR 20 – EUR 30 per m2” - Ewa Janiszewska adds.
However, not everyone agrees that it makes sense to introduce retail space in office buildings.
“In my opinion, there good perspectives for office developments combined with service functions like restaurants, but a building with a shopping arcade will not work well in practice. Too many retail, service or entertainment establishments mean a large influx of outsiders, which does not contribute to the working comfort or safety within the development. Tenants usually have very detailed requirements concerning access control to premises and the security of offices they lease, which could hardly be met in such a multi-functional office building" - adds Monika Franaszek, Senior Leasing Manager of the Buma Group. This seems right, so opening food courts, restaurants and facilities like fitness clubs, gyms, SPAs or squash courts at office developments makes the most sense.
Modern office blocks situated in large cities are usually leased by companies whose employees spend their entire days at the office. The availability of service outlets at their workplace, like a restaurant or a fitness club, significantly improves the comfort of their work. Service providers, in turn, obviously benefit from a location with large customer streams. This seems to make everyone happy, so it can be assumed that such an arrangement of office space can soon become a standard, as today an office building is not just a place to work in.
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