When you’ve been in the design business for more than 15 years, you see a lot of interesting developments. Celebrating the anniversary, we’ve compiled a list of the 15 most significant changes we see when working with the largest commercial real estate investors. Today we present the first five.
The pandemic, China’s closure and the resulting supply bottlenecks in the global economy, as well as the war in Ukraine, are influencing the development of companies’ nearshoring policies. Relating this concept to industry and manufacturing, we can talk about moving factories closer than before, such as from China to Europe.
Geographical, cultural and often worldview barriers that existed in the cooperation of companies from different parts of the world, thanks to this policy, are beginning to disappear. Transportation costs and the risks involved are also decreasing. For investors looking for solutions in this area, Poland is a very attractive point geographically and logistically.
“We see that the eastern part of Poland and the areas adjacent to the A4 highway are becoming the center of interest for many investors. The area near the highway is particularly attractive for the logistics and warehousing industry as well as the retail industry, as we have noticed when designing for foreign store chains, such as Action or dm. The expansion of brands starts from the western-southern part of our country, where logistics service initially uses logistics and warehousing bases in western Europe (Germany, the Netherlands). Investors then move on to building logistics centers along the transport route, such as along the A4” – says Rafal Brok, CEO of Grupa RB.
“Interestingly, we also see the nearshoring trend when designing office space. In Poland, centers are increasingly being created in service areas such as IT, accounting, HR, finance or banking. An additional change that we are already applying in projects is the planning of so-called hot desks in offices, i.e. positions not assigned to specific employees. This is, of course, due to the fact that companies are introducing a hybrid model, combining work from the office with home office” – adds Anna Brok, co-owner of Grupa RB.
Historically, residential centers began to grow due to the spread of automobile transportation. Modernist cities were built according to functional zones (commercial zone, industrial zone, office zone, bedroom zone, etc.), to which people could travel along wide streets by car.
Today, the nature of urban agglomerations is beginning to change again. We are seeing problems with urban sprawl, energy management, excess cars, the extinction of commercial streets or overcrowding. One concept to improve the situation is chronourbanism, which combines the ideas of the compact city and the elimination of zoning of functions.
Chronourbanism begins to measure distances in cities not by kilometers, but by time. We see the development of 15-minute cities, that is, cities in which we can find everything we need to live in a dozen minutes. The dynamic change in the infrastructure of cities, accelerated by, among other things, pandemics, is strongly affecting, for example, the decline in the condition of large shopping malls.
“We are seeing a very high growth in the number of smaller shopping centers, retail parks with a mixed offering tailored to local needs and challenges, with entertainment and dining also included. These facilities are being built in smaller and smaller towns and cities. The task is not easy, as it is necessary to diagnose needs and customer groups well, and then match the size and type of facility to the location. The basis is a diversified tenant mix, i.e. the creation of a lease structure and an appropriate selection of tenants. This poses new challenges for project teams” – Rafal Brok comments.
Combining desktop and online sales channels has long been developing in various market sectors. The pandemic has definitely accelerated the pace of digitalization of shopping in almost every industry, forcing companies to develop e-commerce channels. This has translated not only into fluctuations in the proportion of online and offline sales, but also changes related to the arrangement of stationary stores, among other things.
Today’s stores are increasingly beginning to resemble showrooms or pick-up points. The changes can already be seen from the outside, as wide entrances are the hallmark of the new design concept. The new architecture is meant to create a balanced backdrop for merchandise, while spacious showrooms are meant to increase the sense of comfort.
The infrastructure of stores is often expanded to include vending machines for parcel pick-up. Today, not only shopping malls, but also small local stores are striving to place parcel machines in front of their doors. Retail establishments thus want to make their offer more attractive and attract parcel pick-up customers, who can, on occasion, take advantage of the offer offered at stationary.
The development of omnichannel sales strategies is also strongly reflected in the number of distribution centers and warehouses being built and their characteristics.
“Working with various investors, we see that the number of warehouses is growing and is more dispersed – in order to deliver goods to customers as quickly as possible” – Rafal Brok says.
The trend of energy efficiency has been noticed by experts for a long time. The pandemic and the war in Ukraine have again influenced the acceleration of change.
“In any conversation with an investor, this topic now comes up as one of the first. Investors are interested in how they can minimize maintenance costs, but also, above all, ensure their independence and self-sufficiency” comments Rafal Brok.
The cost of maintaining a large-scale building depends mainly on how much energy it will take to operate it. It is possible to imagine that we have a building made of low-carbon and ecological materials, but having an ill-considered body, location with respect to the world’s sides or simply poor insulation. In that case, its low-carbon performance ends only with the materials.
“More and more attention is being paid to the energy performance of buildings, which allows us to control the parameters of a building’s energy consumption and find solutions that will lead it to low- or zero-energy performance” – adds Adam Jureczek, assistant architect at Grupa RB.
The Green Deal and sustainability policies currently being implemented in Europe are pulling hard to the forefront of carbon footprint control. This trend has long applied to the materials used, and is now beginning to translate to where they come from as well.
“Parameters such as the distance from the construction site, for example, are being analyzed and should be chosen so that transportation does not emit more carbon dioxide than the material being transported would be able to absorb. This is why the trend for building with locally available materials has begun to flourish” says Karol Golasik, a designer at Grupa RB.
The key challenge – both for new and existing buildings – is the implementation of innovative technologies to meet the criteria for zero greenhouse gas emissions from buildings. While it may seem like a challenge primarily for global networks with significant investment funds, today even small, local shops have the opportunity to contribute to the so-called green change.
“The market standard is to design and prepare buildings in such a way that the manager will have the possibility to install, for example, electric car chargers or photovoltaics in the future” – says Marcin Mertuszka, electrical installation designer at Grupa RB.
Meanwhile, larger investors opt for significantly more spectacular solutions in constructing new buildings with high energy standards. An example is the distribution center of our project, currently under construction in Lower Silesia. The project includes numerous solutions aimed at reducing the impact of the investment on the environment, including: a heat recovery system from refrigeration installations along with underfloor heating, a rainwater utilization system (greywater) in sanitary installations, as well as systems to reduce electricity consumption.
