The demand for modern office space is growing year by year, both in regional cities and in Warsaw. Last year, one third more offices were leased than in 2014, which was also very good in this respect. The amount of space leased in major agglomerations, except Warsaw, where for the first time in history the volume of leases was higher than in the capital, proved to be a precedent.

The biggest contributor to this was companies from the modern business services sector, which signed agreements for more than half of the space leased in 2015 in the largest cities outside Warsaw. They constitute by far the most numerous group of tenants of offices on regional markets. According to Walter Herz specialists, in 2015 sector companies leased almost 400 thousand square meters of offices in major agglomerations, outside the capital.

70% of offices for BPO/SSC companies

The BPO/CSS sector develops its activity most dynamically in Kraków and Wrocław. In these cities, companies providing modern business services were the recipients of about 70% of last year's rental pool. The industry is growing in our country by about 15% annually, and its expansion entails the development of regional office markets. Apart from Kraków and Wrocław, the growth of this branch of the economy is a motor for the development of office investments in the Tri-City, Poznań, the Katowice Agglomeration or Łódź.

The industry is growing to become a leading employer in Poland. According to the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, this segment of the market currently employs over 170 thousand people. Forecasts indicate that this year's employment in the industry will increase by about 20 thousand.

Kraków - the European leader in outsourcing

The largest outsourcing centre, not only in Poland but also in Europe, is Kraków. The capital of Małopolska is both a Polish and a world leader in terms of the number of new entities and the development of companies from the BPO/SSC sector. IT outsourcing and development services are developing at a particularly fast pace in the city.

The city provides investors with support, excellent access to qualified personnel, with lower labour costs and rental rates for office space compared to Warsaw. Another incentive to invest is the touristic position of the city, which is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe.

Employment in the sector will reach 58 thousand people

Walter Herz specialists, based on the latest analyses of the ASPIRE organization, report that in January 2016 in the international companies operating in Krakow in the sector was employed about 48 thousand people. Over the last year, it has grown by 9750 people (26%). The advisors inform that according to the ASPIRE report, by January 2017 the industry will be enriched by another 10,000 employees (20%), and employment will increase to 58,000 people.

Experts from Walter Herz also emphasize that in recent years there has been a clear evolution of services provided by BPO centers, which have moved from simple business processes to advanced operations, requiring specialized knowledge and skills. Outsourcing centers located in the city are doing very well in areas such as management accounting or advanced IT processes.

Many global companies have located their branches in Kraków, including Capgemini, Cisco, Eletrolux, Shell, UBS, State Street, AMS, ALK-Abello, Google, FedEx, Capita, Getinge Group, HSBC, Grid Dynamics, IBM, IAG Dassault Systems, Lufthansa, Lundbeck, Architech, Red Stack Tech, Solar Winds, Amway, Symphony. The companies present on the Kraków market are developing their area of activity. An example can be the IT company Comarch, which in the last year increased employment by about 800 people, or the business centre of Shell, which employed 400 new employees.

Kraków is approaching 1 million sq m of office space

With the development of BPO and SSC centres in Kraków, the office market is developing. In 2015 the demand for office space in the city exceeded 200,000 sqm, according to experts Walter Herz. Nearly 80,000 sqm of offices were delivered to the market. This year, over 100,000 sqm of office space can be leased, which will not be a problem as tenants are already waiting for it. The vacancy rate in the city oscillates around 4-5 percent. Currently, offices can be leased in the new building of Bonarka Business Park complex and Quattro Business Park, Opolska Business Park office building, Equal Business Park, or Aleja Pokoju 5.

Experts from Walter Herz estimate that in the next two years the total supply of modern office space in Kraków will reach 1 million square meters. Currently, Kraków has less than 800,000 sqm of modern office space at its disposal. Among the new buildings being constructed in the city there is Axis office building and further stages of the DOT Office and Enterprise Park investments are underway.

Wrocław and the Tri-City are chasing Kraków

Krakow is on the heels of Wrocław and Tricity. In these agglomerations, companies from the sector of modern business services are also looking for offices, thus competing with the capital of Małopolska. Walter Herz specialists give an example of an American corporation State Street, providing financial services for global institutional investors, which has been operating in Krakow for several years and employs 2500 people, and has recently rented offices in Alchemia in Gdansk, where 1100 people are to work.

However, Kraków is still the leader when it comes to renting offices by companies from the sector of modern business services. In 2015, they signed lease agreements for over 150,000 sq.m. of Kraków offices. In Wrocław, last year, outsourcing companies leased over 90,000 sqm of office space. Last year, however, Wrocław and Tricity were ahead of Kraków in terms of the number of offices completed and it is these offices that provide companies servicing business processes with greater availability of modern office space.