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.

Savills has appointed Jaroslav Kaizr as Head of Leasing Agency for the Czech Republic & Slovakia.

Savills has extended its Central and Eastern European (CEE) network by forming an association with ESTON International, Hungary’s leading independent property advisor within the real estate industry. The announcement follows Savills opening of an office in Prague in January 2017 and the mutual co-operation agreed with Crosspoint in Romania in July 2017.

Savills has been appointed as an exclusive agent responsible for the recommercialisation of part of Centrum Krakowska 61 retail park in Warsaw. The complex will soon undergo a substantial refurbishment, including refurbishment of one of the buildings which comprises 11,800 sqm.

Savills has been appointed by Immofinanz to property manage a portfolio of four office buildings in Prague. The portfolio includes myhive Pankrác House, Jindrřišská 16, Jungmannova 15 and Airport Business Center, accommodating over 70 tenants including: OMD Czech, GrECo JLT, Customs Office Prague, CPL Jobs and others. 

Over 722,200 sqm of office space is currently under construction across Warsaw, but despite such a high level of new supply, the market remains healthy which is proved by a decreasing vacancy rate and a record high letting activity in H1 2017. Savills summarised the first half of the year on Warsaw’s office market.

According to Savills, the total volume of commercial property investment transactions concluded Q2 2017 in Poland exceeded €1 billion. Investor activity is high, driven mainly by portfolio transactions. 

Savills will advise in the recommercialisation process of Retail Park Karpacka in Bielsko-Biała. The investor of the retail scheme is Biuro Inwestycji Kapitałowych S.A.

Savills has listed the trends dominating Warsaw’s office market. The most important observation is the creation of a new group of tenants – co-working space operators, which generate an increasing share of demand. Also, as a result of Brexit, up to 4,000 new jobs can be created in Warsaw and the falling unemployment rate will increase the importance of office space in attracting best talents.