BWI Group, a global automotive suspension parts design and manufacturing company, has moved into a unique passive building in Europe. The group's research and development centre will begin operations in Balice near Kraków, where advanced technologies will be developed to increase the functionality of shock absorbers. The developer, 7R, has prepared an energy self-sufficient facility for the company, using an advanced trigeneration system. The building will obtain a BREEAM Very Good certificate.

United Business Center 3 in Timișoara has become the only LEED ‘Platinum’ certified office building in Romania outside Bucharest and the third one in the country.

What will the Warsaw office market look like in the next 18 months? Experts of Savills have outlined two potential scenarios. Both scenarios foresee a short-term decrease in demand and rising vacancy rates, but with a different scale of impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Polish capital’s office market. Both also forecast that the market will remain resilient in the long term.

Total demand on the Budapest office market in Q2 2020 reached 87,990 sqm, representing a 46% decrease year-on-year and the number of signed transactions dropped by almost 50% compared to the same quarter of 2019, according to BRF’s latest figures.

Speedwell has closed a significant deal with KPMG for office space lease at Miro, the company’s new project located in Băneasa, Bucharest. The project has marked a key milestone as it has just received its building permit and will welcome KPMG’s employees at the end of 2021. The office division of Knight Frank Romania was the consultant in the transaction.

Savills has been appointed sole letting agent for office space in Eximius Park, an office complex on the outskirts of Kraków. The buildings of the complex have been upgraded since they changed hands and are now ready to welcome new tenants.

Skanska plans to build the first climate-neutral office building in the CEE region. The developer is going to use a solution based on structural timber, as wood is a natural resource that will help reduce the carbon footprint. Construction works on the office building located on Radlická Street in Prague are planned to begin in 2023. Skanska has made a global commitment through a climate target of net-zero carbon emissions by 2045, with a 50% reduction by 2030.

Penta Real Estate’s Sky Park Tower in Bratislava, a high-rise office building designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, has a building permit issued and is currently awaiting its legal force.

Fears that offices will no longer be needed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak are overblown, and investors should keep an eye out for pricing opportunities, according to Savills Investment Management.

Iulius Company is starting the construction works for Palas Campus in Iași, an investment upwards of €120 million. This will be one of the largest office buildings in Romania in terms of its total area, adding up to more than 60,000 sqm leasable space and it will consolidate the city centre as a destination that supports the evolution of local entrepreneurship and creative industries.