Every year, the number of BREEAM and LEED-certified warehouse buildings in Poland increases. There are several reasons for the growth of sustainable development in the sector. On the one hand, educated tenants put pressure on developers. On the other hand, developers themselves increasingly adhere to the decisions of the Paris Agreement, which sets out a global action plan to prevent global warming. In the latest development schemes, companies strive to reduce the negative impact on the environment through more thoughtful development planning and by reducing the carbon footprint. Currently, certification is particularly popular in the office sector. But warehouse developers increasingly strive to meet the BREEAM or LEED construction standards too. Often long before the completion of the scheme, warehouse developers try to demonstrate that the project meets the requirements of sustainable construction and ecology by obtaining pre-certification. Indeed, the new green construction standards for new buildings are slowly becoming the norm within the warehouse sector.

The first half of 2020 was the strongest on record for the warehouse and industrial market in Poland, says Savills. Despite COVID-19 challenges, take-up set an all-time high halfway through the year. In addition, the leasing volume and the amount of new space coming onto the market were higher in Q2 than in the first three months of the year.

The Polish warehouse market maintained its robust momentum in the first half of 2020, with a record 2.38 million sqm leased. Gross take-up in the second quarter of 2020 – during a time of strict COVID-19 lockdown measures - was as much as 50% higher compared to the same period in 2019, at 1.36 million sqm. Such good outcomes were the result of high demand for space on the back of booming e-commerce trade and numerous BTS transactions which commenced earlier in the year, according to Axi Immo.

XLMX obchodní s.r.o. has leased 16,000 sqm of warehouse space in ctPark Prague East in Nupaky with a view to setting up a regional warehouse for XXXLutz.

Panattoni will build another warehouse and manufacturing park in Silesia – Panattoni Park Zabrze II. The 44,000-square-metre project will be delivered in Zabrze, at the Katowice Special Economic Zone. The first customer has already leased 14,000 sqm at the park.

Panattoni has completed the development of the largest warehouse facility in the Warsaw region – A2 Warsaw Park. The building, totalling close to 104,000 sqm, was delivered in Adamów, right next to the Grodzisk Mazowiecki junction on the A2 motorway. Nearly half of the space provided by the developer has been taken up.

Ekol Poland has rented 23,500 sqm in Panattoni Park Poznań VII, on which it will carry out logistics processes for the outdoor clothing producer - Regatta. The implemóented operations will ensure integrated sales, both in the e-commerce channel and in stationery stores, as well as support wholesalers. The lease transaction was mediated by Axi Immo.

Warehouse occupancy costs are a broad concept that can be interpreted in many ways. The key components include rent and service charges. Utility charges billed according to individual consumption constitute a variable component. And on top of that, there are the costs of labour, logistics, supply chains and use costs of space itself. Tenants frequently forget that rent paid to the landlord is not the only cost of doing business in a warehouse facility. “A service charge is the maintenance cost of a facility that is often part of a larger industrial park - it is reinvoiced to individual tenants by the landlord. Its key component is the property tax levied on the landlord and determined by local municipalities,” says Daniel Kempa, Associate, Industrial & Logistics, Cushman & Wakefield.

P3 has signed a lease agreement with InPost for 10,882 sqm in the P3 Piotrków park. The modern warehouse and office space will be used for logistic processes within services offered by InPost Fulfillment, an operator for e-commerce companies.

The construction of the first warehouse in accordance with 7R’s new 7R Green eco-concept is underway. The facility is being built in the BTS formula for logistics operator No Limit in the 7R Park Sosnowiec complex in Sosnowiec, Poland. The green solutions applied in the project will help to minimize No Limit’s environmental impact.