New Office Locations in Poland 2012
The modern office market in Poland is dominated by nine major
office locations which include Warsaw, Kraków, Wrocław,
Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań and Łódź, followed by Lublin and
Szczecin.
The market is evolving and new office destinations are
emerging in Poland. This report provides an in-depth analysis of
the labour and real estate markets of 8 alternative office
locations including Bydgoszcz, Toruń, Rzeszów, Olsztyn,
Opole, Kielce, Białystok and Radom. Seven of them are the
capital or co-capital cities of their respective voivodships and
Radom can be considered as a satellite city of Warsaw. All
those cities enjoy good connectivity by both public and private
transport.
Demand for these locations is typically generated from mainly
local companies wishing to expand and seeking to move from
old office tenements in to modern office space. The war of
talent, labour and real estate costs are increasingly driving
domestic outsourcing companies or international service
centres with foreign capital to these new markets. Local
developers and city authorities see great potential in creating
favourable conditions for potential tenants especially from the
outsourcing sector.
The growth path of these new cities will largely depend on their
availability of labour force, cost competitiveness, choice of
quality office space and the evolution of the modern service
sector itself.
Population and Unemployment
The population of the eight cities in the corresponding new
office locations in this report, account for almost 5% of the
entire Polish population, totalling 1.76 million of people. With
more than 363,000 inhabitants, Bydgoszcz is the largest city in
this group and is comparable to other cities in Poland like
Katowice (309,000 inhabitants) or Szczecin
(409,600 inhabitants). To compare, the population in larger
regional office markets like Kraków, Wrocław or Poznań is
Bydgoszcz
The office market in the city started to emerge after 2008 and
as of today, developers carefully monitor the market, prepare
future projects, however, without signed pre-let agreements,
some of them will probably not start. Modern office stock in
Bydgoszcz amounts to 22,900 m2, the majority of which can be
found outside the city centre in two main office developments:
Bydgoszcz Biznes Park - Alfa, Beta & Gamma (14,500 m2) and
in Danhouse (6,800 m2, phase I of the SCANPARK Business
Center). Office supply outside of the city centre with convenient
access to both public and private transport, have established
critical mass in business terms.
In the city centre, the office supply area is predominantly
covered by renovated tenement houses offering smaller office
premises, newly built small office buildings placed in between
and attached to the old buildings.
The latest completion in the city (outside the city centre) is
Gamma building, the next phase of Bydgoszcz Biznes Park.
The project, delivered in August 2012, offers over 4,500 m2 for
potential tenants. Within the Bydgoszcz Biznes Park, the
developer plans to build at least one more office block of almost
8,000 m2. The construction works should commence soon.
Other developers have also secured plots for future office
schemes including: TPS Otwarta Przestrzeń for F 262
Fordońska Office Centre (13,000 m2), Hunger Development for
the SCANPARK Business Center extension (28,000 m2) and
new office blocks within Bydgoszcz Business Centre . However,
some of the projects will only begin once they have the 30-50%
signed in pre-let agreements.
The demand for office space in the city is mainly driven by
banks and financial institutions, law firms and small local
financial, insurance and real estate companies. However,
companies from the outsourcing sector are also present. Up to
now, the following firms have decided to open service centres in
Bydgoszcz: Atos, JP Morgan Chase, Sunrise System or Alcatel-
Lucent. Potential tenants from the outsourcing sector looking for
options to lease 1,000 m2, may choose from such office
locations as: Bydgoszcz Biznes Park and DANHOUSE. These
two locations offer over 8,000 m2.
At the end of Q2 2012, the vacancy rate in the city was at a
level of 19.1% or 4,400 m2, with available floor plates of above
1,000 m2.