When choosing an office, the location is crucial, the costs related to maintaining workplaces are becoming increasingly important for companies, while ESG-related matters are of little importance to them - these are the main conclusions of the latest survey conducted by Walter Herz among the tenants of office space in Warsaw.

According to the new report published by Newmark Polska, key themes defining the Warsaw office market in the first half of 2023 included waiting for new office completions and adjusting occupied space to widely popular hybrid working models. Despite new supply constraints and relatively muted development activity, the city’s vacancy rate edged down marginally in the second quarter of this year. Leasing activity reached a similar level to that of the first three months of 2023.

At the end of Q2 2023, the office market vacancy rate in Warsaw reached 11.4% (down 0.2 pps compared to the previous quarter and decreased by 0.5 pps in relation to the comparable period in 2022). The Polish Chamber of Commercial Real Estate (PINK) has published figures on the office market in Warsaw for Q2 2023.

CTP is launching another industrial and logistics complex in the Mazovia region in Poland. The developer will develop two cross-dock facilities in Emilianów with a total leasable area of nearly 102,500 sqm. The investor has already received a building permit for the first phase of the investment. Its commissioning is scheduled for the end of the second quarter of 2024.

Warsaw’s Skyliner office building has extended its contract which guarantees 100% of electricity from renewable energy sources until 2026. The supplier is the E.ON Group.

MLP Group has begun the construction of another warehouse in its Pruszków logistics centre. The new facility at MLP Pruszków II, being built on a speculative basis, will provide 33,000 sqm of warehouse, office and staff amenity space. It is to be ready for use already in February 2024. General contracting work has been once again entrusted to Pekabex. It is planned that the project will undergo BREEAM New Construction certification of ‘Excellent’.

Warsaw UNIT, Ghelamco’s high-rise building is the first building in Poland to be awarded WELL Certification rating at the highest possible level of Platinum.

Due to the increase in prices of electricity, utilities, services and minimum wage, as well as local taxes and fees, experts from Avison Young Poland are experiencing significant increases in operating costs in office buildings this year. In Warsaw, depending on the class of the property and the components of the operating costs, they have observed an increase ranging from 15% to as much as 30-40%. Tenants are now paying particular attention to the components of the settlement that may vary depending on the building, as well as technological solutions that allow for reducing utility consumption.

Panattoni has completed the development of a production plant for Reynaers Aluminium, a global supplier of aluminium profiles. It has been built in Żabia Wola just 35 km from Warsaw. The development has undergone BREEAM certification for a rating of Excellent. 

Barceló Hotel Group has opened Barceló Warsaw Powiśle, a 4-star hotel with 151 rooms and suites at the Elektrownia Powiśle complex in Warsaw.