Craft, the latest project by Belgian developer Ghelamco in Katowice, has been granted an occupancy permit, thereby adding 26,700 sqm of office space to the local market.

A new building, Liget Center Vitrum, will join the existing office buildings, Liget Center Classic and the iconic Auditorium. At the same time, the visual identity is being updated: it will be modern and distinctive while reflecting the history of the building complex.

According to Savills' research, the demand figures for premium office space in the first half of 2023 have started to vary significantly across Europe compared to the five-year average, Luxembourg saw a 137% increase, Oslo a 22% increase and Prague a 13% increase, while Lisbon, Dublin and Budapest saw declines of 62%, 42% and 21%. However, demand is facing a shortage of modern office buildings, especially in well-served locations. Moreover, no developer has started construction of an office building in Prague for more than 12 months. In addition, most of the projects that started with the construction earlier (e.g., Masaryčka) are already significantly occupied. On the contrary, the positive news for those interested in new offices is that up to 195,700 sqm of new office space could be built in Prague by the end of 2025, of which 143,600 sqm is already under construction, says Savills in its analysis. 

High demand and a lack of new projects have caused Prague's office vacancy rate to fall. It currently stands at 7.26%. The volume of new construction and refurbishments accounted for approximately 143,600 sqm at the end of Q2 2023, and the total market size was 3.85 million sqm. Benchmark rental prices did not change from the previous quarter; however, the price of office fit-out (equipping them with necessary features) is increasing due to ESG and modern standards. Such outlays can easily exceed €1,000 per sqm, according to a survey conducted by Colliers. 

Austrian company CA Immo has concluded a long-term lease agreement for approx. 8,000 sqm of office space in Millennium Tower I, situated in the Millennium City Center, a large complex just off the river Danube. Cushman & Wakefield and Newmark VLK acted as agents and advisors on the deal.

Skanska has obtained the WELL Core & Shell certification at the Gold level for Building C of the High5ive office complex located in Kraków. This is the first project in the city to be awarded such certification at the highest score.

E.ON Business Services Cluj, part of the German group E.ON, will relocate to a  new office space in Record Park, the mixed-use project developed by Speedwell, and owned by AYA Properties Fund. The fit out works for the new office have been completed and the company is expected to start operations in the new space soon.

Bratislava's downtown has a new tall building. The Mill, by developer Immocap, is nearing completion and recently took down the scaffolding to reveal the final form of the high-rise project, real estate website yimba.sk reports.

The HOP office project in Warsaw has been awarded the WELL Health – Safety Rating by the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) following a complex review that covered a range of health-related factors including air and water quality.

Despite a supply gap and a low level of new completions (18,700 sqm in H1), there is a lot of optimism in the capital’s office market. Over 230,000 sqm is scheduled to be delivered in the next three years, which will significantly increase the amount of office space available to let. On the demand side meanwhile, we observe a relatively high occupier demand, whereby 2/3 of all agreements signed in H1 were new leases. AXI IMMO presents market data for the first half of 2023.