We live in the era of smart phones, smart watches, smart cars and smart homes. But are we ready for super smart office buildings? An article by By Stefania Baldovinescu, Senior Partner, Real Estate Management Services at Colliers International Romania.

PZU’s office building in Wrocław – Komandorska 12 – has been recognized with an LEED Gold certificate. The building includes systems that control water, heat and energy consumption. Furthermore, its architecture ensures access to natural daylight on 80% of floor space. 

The Bucharest office market recorded leasing transactions more than 100,000 sqm during Q1.2017, almost doubling the volume of transactions recorded in the same period of the previous year. Net office take-up during Q1 2017 stood at 57,200 sqm. Colliers International published its summary of the Bucharest office market in Q1 2017

Skanska helps introduce the WELL Building Standard (WELL) to the market of Central and Eastern Europe. WELL is the preeminent building standard to focus on enhancing people’s health and well-being through the built environment. Spark is one of the first office buildings to pursue WELL Certification in Poland. Skanska will also apply for certification for its projects developed in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.

Vastint Poland was awarded LEED-Platinum for the first phase of Business Garden Wrocław. Once completed, the complex will comprise nine office and retail buildings with a total leasable area of 117,000 sqm.  

Obtaining a green certificate for modern office buildings has become a must in recent years. Still, developers, operators and tenants don’t fully realise what does a certification actually stand for and what kind of effect green solutions actually have on operating costs and productivity. The latest Green Talk, co-organised by RICS and HuGBC, focused on green buildings in Hungary. 

Sky Office Center, located at 31 Rzymowskiego Street in Warsaw, has received the BREEAM In-Use International Certificate for “Building Management” and for “Asset Performance”, owner Hines Poland announced. The facility received the “Excellent” grade in both cases.

Buildings account for over 40% of energy consumption in Europe, of which   around 75% are not energy efficient. This illustrates the importance of obtaining sustainable development certificates for both newly-developed and existing buildings. Their energy efficiency is assessed based on modeling and energy simulations. However, so far, there has not been any analysis regarding the actual energy consumption of a building: what is the impact of the implementation of innovative systems, appropriate management, specifications and the expected level of the users’ comfort on the building energy performance? These issues have been thoroughly addressed in the first study in Europe, conducted by Skanska, Go4Energy and Cushman & Wakefield, which analyses office buildings in Poland.

Warsaw office building Wspólna 47/49 has been awarded a BREEAM IN-USE International certificate. It received an “Excellent” rating in Asset Performance and a “Very Good” rating in Building Management. The scheme is owned by CA Immo and Cushman & Wakefield is the property manager.

Cushman & Wakefield has been responsible for the audit of the Sienna Center office complex and obtaining a BREEAM IN-USE International 2015 certificate for the scheme. The office complex received a “Very Good” rating in Asset Performance and an “Excellent” rating in Building Management. The scheme is owned by CA Immo.