Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Tuesday, June 14 with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
Data centre enquiries on the rise in Poland
Both Polish and international companies are reporting a growing demand for modern data centres. While the availability of suitable development land in established Western European markets is shrinking, Poland still has a large pool of excellent and affordable sites meeting data centre requirements.
The growth of the data centre market is fuelled by the ongoing business digitalization, the development of e-commerce, the growing number of mobile apps and the rise of streaming platforms.
“Uninterrupted access to IT systems is strategically critical to business continuity for an increasing number of companies requiring secure and non-stop access to network infrastructure and servers,” says Natalia Mika, Advisor, Newmark Polska.
“As the pace of digital transformation and development of cloud technologies accelerates and the data centre sector continues to grow at speed, Poland is seeing more and more data centre enquiries. Our country still has excellent and affordable sites and suitable fibre connectivity which is one of the key requirements in data centre projects,” says Waldemar Witczak, Regional Director at SEGRO.
“Energy security is critical to data centre operations as stored data is sensitive. That’s why many data centre projects feature several or even more powerful generators with a capacity of up to 1.5 megawatts each and fuel consumption of 500 litres per hour. Fuel tanks and barrels must be kept at hand for emergency supplies to ensure energy security. There’s no place for even a split second of a power blackout,” says Michał Samborski, Head of Development, Panattoni.
According to data from K2 Group, 58 percent of e-commerce companies throughout Poland rely on public cloud infrastructure. This trend has been confirmed by a PMR report on data centres which has revealed that the total capacity of commercial data centres in Poland is expected to double in the space of the next six years.
Robert Sztemberg joins ARC Capital Markets as Managing Director | Property Finance
Robert Sztemberg is the new Managing Director of Property Finance at ARC Capital Markets. In his 25-year career, Robert has largely worked for lenders BerlinHyp and HSH Nordbank and JLL with a focus on Poland.
Pinebridge Benson Elliot and Sharow Capital’s regional office investments awarded green certificates
A PineBridge Benson Elliot and Sharow Capital-owned portfolio of six grade-A office buildings (“PRO Portfolio”) located in Poland’s major regional cities has obtained WELL Building Standard and BREEAM In-Use certification. All properties obtained recognition following property manager MVGM’s certification process.
The WELL Building Standard certification confirms that the portfolio’s assets adhere to the highest standards of building safety and support the health and well-being of occupants, while the BREEAM In-Use certificate establishes the buildings’ sustainability credentials and the quality of property management.
“The certificates we have obtained for the six office buildings in our client’s PRO Portfolio confirm that these buildings have a positive impact on the well-being of their occupants, but most importantly, they meet the highest safety standards and create the right environment for work and social interaction,” comments Łukasz Mazurczak, Managing Director of MVGM.
“Tenants recognise the great locations of these buildings, but also the modern specifications, high level of capital investment and now the portfolio’s ESG credentials,” says Angus Wade, Sharow Capital.
Office supply hits record highs in Poland’s regional cities
New office supply in regional cities in Poland hit a record high of 243,500 sqm in Q1 2022, representing an uplift of 5 percent on the previous peak in Q4 2019, reveals real estate advisory firm Savills. More new office space was delivered in the first three months of this year alone than in the whole of 2021.
At the end of Q1 2022, total office stock in Poland’s core regional cities (Krakow, Wrocław, Tricity, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Lublin and Szczecin) stood at 6.27 million sqm, says Savills. Krakow – with 1.64 million sqm of office space – remains the largest regional city office market.
“New lease transactions continue to outnumber renewals, which bodes well for the further growth of the Krakow office market,” says Agnieszka Kuehn, Regional Manager, Office Agency, Savills.
The largest completions included Global Office Park A1 and A2 in Katowice (55,200 sqm), KTW II in Katowice (39,900 sqm) and Midpoint71 in Wrocław (36,200 sqm).
Of all the regional cities, Wrocław recorded the highest development pipeline of 172,000 sqm at the end of March 2022, as well as the largest office take-up in the first quarter, with 38,400 sqm transacted.
“Leasing activity in Wrocław, the capital city of Lower Silesia, is recovering. Thanks to new office developments, occupiers will soon have more choices about their new headquarters needs. Wrocław mainly attracts BPO/SSC tenants and IT companies planning to enter Poland,” comments Bartosz Plewa, Regional Manager, Office Agency, Savills.
