Romania ranks 6th in the top destinations in the data centres market in Europe, while the Nordics and the Netherlands occupy the first positions, according to Savills’ new Data Centre Investment Index. The number of data centres is multiplying to accommodate the surging demand for data storage. Thus, the need to have smaller scale domestic facilities to comply with data and privacy laws is set to lead to an uptick in activity across all of Europe.

Savills has been appointed property manager of Arkada Business Park, a Class A office complex in Bydgoszcz. The building has already received an occupancy permit.

As a result of large portfolio transactions, the first quarter of 2018 on the Polish real estate investment market closed with a record investment volume of ca. €2.05 billion, according to Savills. Taking into account the number and volume of ongoing transactions, we may expect another very good year on the investment market.

Savills has set up China Desk, a special section within its Warsaw-based Corporate Finance & Valuation department, dedicated to Chinese investors interested in the Polish commercial real estate market.

Austria (+74%), Romania (+54%), the Netherlands (+46%), and Denmark (+32%) experienced the greatest annual increases in commercial property investment in 2017, as total investment across Europe rose to €234 billion, a 7% increase year-on-year, according to.

Savills has consolidated and reorganised some of its business lines in Poland. It has set up an investment hub providing a comprehensive range of advisory services on the commercial real estate investment market through cooperation involving individual departments.

The Polish Office Research Forum has published its figures for 2017 for the office market in eight major regional cities in Poland (Kraków, Wrocław, the Tri-City, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź, Szczecin, Lublin). The market data prepared by a team of analysts includes modern office stock, new completions, take-up volumes and vacancy rates.

Savills will manage two buildings in Poznań and three buildings in Warsaw. The two office buildings in Poznan are RB House and Dwór Hamburski. Tenants include IPF Group and T-Mobile Polska. Two other office buildings are Jasna 24 and Wola Plaza in Warsaw. Tenants include i.a. Hochtief Poland. The third Warsaw building is a modern warehouse Airport House with office and social facilities. The total portfolio under management amounts to 25,000 sqm.

The growth of the start-up culture and the high-tech sector, leading to an ever larger number of projects that require swift staff reorganisations, has sparked a boom on the Polish market of co-working space and serviced offices, as revealed by real estate advisory firm Savills in its latest report Flexible Workplaces in Poland.

Established in 2011 by Martina Bartek and Michaela Semanova, who will join Savills as directors, SB Property Services has 25 staff managing a portfolio of commercial properties comprising 185,000 sqm with a value of over €400 million. Clients include Commerz Real and Czech fund management company REICO (an investment company of Czech bank Ceska sporitelna). Among the Class A properties managed are Charles Square Center, the Melantrich Building, Rohan Business Center and the Trianon office building.