64
A RT I C L E
Following the 2013 downturn, investors’ activity in the officemarket surged beyond expectations
in 2014. Investors secured permits to build 1.3 million sq.m of office space in Q1-Q3 2014, up
by a whopping 116% year on year. Interestingly, the number of buildings for which building per-
mits were issued in this period rose by a mere 3% to 527. This means that the average area of
office buildings planned in Poland doubled and reached nearly 2,500 sq.m. However, Warsaw
saw a hefty increase in the number of buildings (by 150%) and it was mostly Poland’s capital city
that exerted such a potent effect on the performance of the country as a whole. Contributions to
the growth of the office market were also made by other major municipal centres and selected
counties, some of which had not been previously known as office centres.
Regarding the main office markets, the average area of office buildings planned is the highest in
Warsaw (40 office buildings with the average area of 14,500 sq.m, up by a steep 210% year on
year).Warsawwas followedby twomainregionalmarkets:Kraków(27buildingswith theaverage
floor area of 7,500 sq.m; a 27% increase in the average floor area) and Wrocław (23 buildings
with the average floor area 7,600 sq.m; a 64% increase in the average floor area). Interestingly,
a high average floor space of more than 7,000 sq.m was also recorded by the Pabianice county
(
driven by just one but sizeable project in the planning phase) and the city of Bielsko-Biała (two
office buildings planned with the combined floor area of over 15,000 sq.m). Other cities with
high average floor areas of office buildings planned include: Kielce (two buildings with the ave-
rage floor area of 3,400 sq.m), Poznań (13 buildings; 3,100 sq.m), Bydgoszcz (five buildings,
2,900
sq.m), Gdynia (six buildings; 2,900 sq.m), Łódź (six buildings; 2,800 sq.m), Radom (two
buildings; 2,600 sq.m) and Gdańsk (11 buildings; 1,800 sq.m).
Inaddition tourbancentres,strongdataonbuildingpermitswasalsoshownbysub-urbanareas,
including inparticular thePoznańcounty(13buildings)andKrakówcounty(sevenbuildings). In
our opinion, the activity upturn on the part of office investors across the Polish counties in 2014
may have been driven by the decision to extend the operation of the Special Economic Zones by
sixyears(until2026)asnotonlyproductioncompaniessetup theiroperations in theZones(tho-
ugh they also establish small-sized offices side by side with production plants), but also investors
from the services sector, including Poland’s flourishing outsourcing sector.
The increase in the floor area of the planned office buildings was also evident in other, less
prominent counties and cities where permits of office buildings were issued in 2014 for the first
time in four years. In total, the floor area of building permits issued in these counties and cities
amounted to 18,500 sq.m.
Bartłomiej Sosna
Head Construction Analyst, PMR
Powiat/County włoszczowski
2,869
Powiat/County częstochowski
2,447
Powiat/County łańcucki
2,439
Powiat/County tatrzański
2,224
Powiat/County zambrowski
1,983
Powiat/County leszczyński
892
Powiat/County kołobrzeski
781
Powiat/County turecki
617
Powiat/County obornicki
565
Powiat/County łobeski
510
Powiat/County czarnkowsko-trzcianecki
496
Powiat/County m. Jelenia Góra
418
Powiat/County strzeliński
399
Powiat/County łukowski
313
Powiat/County m. Świętochłowice
257
Powiat/County działdowski
227
Powiat/County bartoszycki
199
Powiat/County braniewski
162
Powiat/County opolski
155
Powiat/County nakielski
140
Powiat/County jaworski
111
Powiat/County świecki
97
Powiat/County lidzbarski
97
Powiat/County chodzieski
46
Powiat/County kolbuszowski
13
Average
area of office
buildings
planned
in Poland doubled
Investors nearly all over the country massively applied for building permits in 2014 to construct new office buildings,
which can be partly attributed to the extension of the operation of the Special Economic Zones. Importantly, some
new prospective office markets were identified in cities and towns across Poland, including Bielsko-Biała, Bydgoszcz,
Gliwice, Kielce, Radom and Rzeszów. Some of them are likely to join the group of more developed regional office
markets in the next few years and witness a similar trend as the shopping centres have experienced in the recent years
PMR is a market research and consulting company active within over 25 countries of Central and Eastern Europe. Since 1995 we have assisted more than 500 global
corporations and many other regional companies to continuously increase their market share, successfully enter new territories and optimise costs. We specialise in con-
struction, retail, pharmaceuticals, healthcare, IT and telecommunications. However, our experience extends to many other industries. Our 100 in-house professionals
fluently speak together more than 15 languages. In addition to our tailored research and business consulting projects we also publish annually over 150 ready sector
reports and market intelligence services.
25
powiatów, w których pozwolenia
na budowę budynków biurowych
wydano po raz pierwszy od czterech lat,
I-III kw. 2014
25
counties where office building permits
were issued for the first time in four years
(
sq.m), Q1-Q3 2014
Źródło/Source: PMR na podstawie danych/based on GUS, 2015
This article is based on information contained in the latest PMR report entitled „Office buildings
construction in Poland 2015-2020. Investments – Companies – Statistics – Forecasts – Prices”.
