Ghelamco has announced changes in the management board of its Polish companies. As of 14 April 2023, Paul Gheysens, owner and founder of Ghelamco, took over as President of the Management Board, and Jarosław Zagórski became the new Managing Director, replacing Jeroen van der Toolen in this position. The board was also expanded with the addition of new members: Michael Gheysens, Marie-Julie Gheysens, Chris Heggerick and Rafał Gierczak.

The Port7 office project by Skanska has received the occupancy permit. Port7 offers 35,800 sqm of premium office and retail space in three buildings, 50 percent of which are leased now. Skanska is now shifting its focus to finishing the nearly 2-hectare public park and the new riverside, which is expected to become the new centre of Prague Holešovice. For better access to the entire area, the developer has built an extension of the railway underpass which directly connects the project with the subway, train, and tram station of Nádraží Holešovice.

Last year Globalworth confirmed its strong position in Central and Eastern Europe by signing leases for a combined 87,500 sqm in Poland. This result comprises new contracts for office and retail-gastronomy space, extensions of existing contracts and enlargements of areas leased by tenants.

In the CEE region, Prague placed second in terms of the price of fitting out an office. With €1,159 being the average cost per square metre in Prague, it is just over half of what is standard in top cities in Germany or the UK, where costs often exceed €2,000. Compared with the last year, the prices have grown all over Europe due to inflation and other factors. The 10% increase in Prague means that office occupiers need to carefully consider their office usage and space needs when redesigning their offices. Sustainability and DE&I are also increasingly affecting fit-out requirements, reports Cushman & Wakefield in their latest analysis.

At the beginning of the pandemic, it seemed that many coworking centres or serviced offices could not survive the measures implemented under the Covid-19 pandemic. Shared workspaces, whose philosophy is based on meeting, personal communication, and collaboration, were hit hard by governmental restrictions. But a December analysis by JLL shows promising results; with the retreat of anti-pandemic measures, most coworking and serviced office operators have already felt a new wave of interest, and 2022 has confirmed this trend.

Bulgarian Real Estate Fund (BREF) officially opened the Synergy Tower business building in Sofia, economy.bg reports. The investment is around €40 million. The first tenants of the building are Robert Bosch Bulgaria, Software AG, and INSAIT (Institute for Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence and Technology).

Českomoravská nemovitostní (ČMN), which is half owner of the Churchill Square office complex in Prague, plans to acquire the rest of the property. It plans to buy the property in two transactions, Seznamzpravy.cz reports.

The first building of the Nowa Strzegomska complex in Wrocław has received the BREEAM certificate with an Excellent rating. The redevelopment of Wrocław Business Park in Strzegomska Street will see the existing buildings replaced by five class A office buildings with an area of 10,000-15,000 sqm each. Cushman & Wakefield is the leasing agent for Nowa Strzegomska.

CBRE South Eastern Europe provided advisory services to BIG CEE in the process of purchasing the Capital Plaza complex in Podgorica. 

Despite significantly lower prices than in the capital, markets for offices in Brno and Ostrava are struggling with rising vacancies. Other regional markets, however, now offer opportunities for developers, investors or serviced office providers, thanks to the potential of the Hub & Spoke concept. The latter centres around a strategy where companies reduce the size of the main office and then supplement it with smaller spaces in different locations. Alongside that, there is the Flex & Core office space usage concept, which combines a smaller main office with a membership of one or more co-working centres. These options to curb office vacancies are mentioned in a recent survey by Colliers.