Last year was a demanding period for the office market and a test for us, which we managed to successfully pass, says Katarzyna Zawodna-Bijoch, President and CEO at Skanska’s commercial development business unit in Central & Eastern Europe (CEE). In 2022, we will witness safe and futureproof workplaces, new technologies as well as Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) areas becoming increasingly important, with the latter being subject to continuous intensive analyses as a business trend.

Despite almost all European office employees working from home last year the empty workplaces did not lead to a reduction in the expenditure that companies had to fulfil had the workforce been in the office. The average costs per FTE fell by only 2% and amounted to €9,468. These findings have been published by Colliers, Occupier Cost Index (OCI), which comprises data from 29 countries, 3,990 buildings, 26.1 million square meters of office space and 1.96 million FTEs.

Griffes ended 2021 with a significant office leasing surge, placing the agency as the second best performing real estate player in the intermediated office leasing segment in Romania. The achievement tops Griffes’ 5 years of activity on the Romanian real estate landscape which the company celebrated at the end of the year. The team extended significantly its activities throughout 2021, growing into land sales and industrial leasing by marketing a large-scale project to be developed next to Budapest Airport in Hungary.

Property developer Atenor got €50 million from the sale of Dacia One office project in Bucharest to Pavăl Holding, in a deal brokered by real estate consultancy Colliers. 

Property developer GTC has received LEED Gold certification for the Cascade Office Building located in central Bucharest. 

The real estate development and investment company Warimpex has started the construction of another office building in the Polish city of Kraków, Mogilska 35 Office, with approximately 11,000 sqm of space and a completion date set for the first half of 2023.

Echo Investment has received a €65.6 million loan for the construction of three office buildings of Brain Park complex in Kraków. The financing of the project was provided by PKO Bank Polski as a loan agent as well as Bank Pekao S.A. acting as security agent.

Property developer Atenor delivered its office project Dacia One in central Bucharest at the end of December 2021, roughly five months after selling the building to Pavăl Holding, the owner of Romanian DIY retailer Dedeman. 

A survey carried out by professional services firm EY Romania among 40 owners of office buildings shows that 75% of them kept their current rent prices despite negotiations with tenants, while the rest lowered prices. 

Property group Globalworth has obtained the WELL Health-Safety Rating for the entire portfolio of almost 500,000 sqm consisting of 15 office buildings in Romania.