Demand for office spaces in Bydgoszcz is rising in view of dynamic growth of the standing of this city on the national market of services for business. At the moment, Bydgoszcz is a leader of this type of services among cities of its size, still leaving a lot of potential for new entities which regularly search for a place where their head offices could be located.

Bydgoszcz is the eighth city in terms of population in Poland, inhabited by more than 350 thousand people, and an administrative capital of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodeship. The city is a leader of the dynamically evolving region, agglomerating numerous social and economic functions. Location for transport and high quality of human capital are significant assets of the centre, contributing to its attractiveness for investors from the sector of modern business services. Bydgoszcz is characterised by huge potential, implementing a strategy of the city friendly to residents and entrepreneurs. Along with Toruń situated nearby, it creates Bydgoszcz-Toruń agglomeration, resided by almost 800 thousand people.

The potential of Bydgoszcz is described by the Report prepared for the City of Bydgoszcz by the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) in cooperation with JLL and Randstad:

“Bydgoszcz is in a group of the most important places for location of investments from the sector of modern business services in Poland. In terms of employment in centres of BPO, SSC, IT, R&D services it is in the eighth place in the country and develops dynamically. Growth in jobs in the sector (28% since the 1st quarter of 2016) has been supported by successful cooperation of investors with the sector of commercial real estate, recruitment companies, local authorities, higher education schools and other business environment institutions. Bydgoszcz makes perfect use of the potential related to development of the sector, in particular broadly understood IT services, making its presence felt more and more on the national map of business services” - as written in the report.

The most significant features of the city, attracting employers of the described sectors, include:

• specialisation in IT services - among 11 largest centres of business services in Poland, Bydgoszcz is in the first place in terms of share of IT services in the employment structure of BPO, SSC, IT, R&D centres,



• competitive pressure level on the local labour market - lower than in the majority of main centres of business services in Poland - share of people working in shared services in mobile productive age comes to 7%,



• convenient access to staff from the region - close proximity to Toruń increases the supply of employees. The share of people commuting from this city is high in companies located in Bydgoszcz. This also refers to qualified staff of the shared services sector,



• success stories of the BPO, SSC, IT, R&D centres - the majority of the business services centres present in the city have expanded the scope and activity advancement degree in last three years, which was also accompanied by explicit growth in employment. According to the most significant investors, Bydgoszcz is a well proven place for doing business,



• cost competitiveness - the city is characterised by lower operating costs compared with the biggest centres of business services in Poland. In the “European Cities and Regions of the Future 2018/19” ranking (fDi Intelligence, Financial Times) Bydgoszcz ranked seventh in Europe in terms of cost effectiveness in the category of “Mid-Sized European Cities of the Future”,



• economic strategy - Bydgoszcz was considered to be the best city for investment according to an independent report of the World Bank “Doing Business In Poland 2015”. Consistent implementation of the policy for support of investors and entrepreneurs is the basis for dynamic economic development of the city. Support for investors during an investment process and professional post-investment care are ensured by the Bydgoszcz Regional Development Agency,



• rapidly evolving office market - a large part of office space is of high quality, located in modern buildings. Approx. 30% of office space resources in the city were put into use in a period of last three years when rapid development of office market took place. Currently, office space which meets requirements of even the most demanding investors in terms of prestige and location is available e.g. an office building of class A IMMOBILE K3 located in the heart of the city (2 min. from the Old Town).

At present, there are 41 business centres in Bydgoszcz nine of which were created within last 2.5 years. 44% of them account for foreign entities - centres from 9 different countries from all over the world have their registered offices here. More than 10,000 staff members in total are employed here. An employment rate between the 1st quarter of 2016 and the 1st quarter of 2018 rose by over 2 thousand people. By the end of 2020, according to conservative assumptions, this number will have grown by further 2 thousand. The vast majority of new jobs created in this period were generated by centres functioning in the city so far, which were developing their activities. IT is the most important category of services provided in Bydgoszcz centres (including research and development activities within the scope of software development). It generates 86% of employment in the sector and is a part of the operation profile of the dominant majority of the centres in the city.

“Recently, the role of Bydgoszcz as an office market has increased considerably, and the supply of offices spaces has exceeded 77,000 m2. The office market in the city tries, ipso facto, to respond to needs of the sector of modern services for business, which contributes to unceasing growth in the supply of modern office space. Since the end of 2015 over 17,000 m2 of modern office space have been completed. It is worth emphasising that in this period the coefficient of non-rented space has decreased from 14.1% to 9.9%. This clearly shows that the office market in Bydgoszcz is very absorptive” - Report of the ABSL, compilation by JLL.

Developer projects implemented by Grupa Kapitałowa IMMOBILE are its response to the dynamic development of the shares services sector in Bydgoszcz. Principal one - IMMOBILE K3 office investment - is a proposal for the most demanding customers, searching for location and quality unique on a scale of the city. This is almost 8,600 m of office and commercial spaces in the inner centre of the city, only 100 m from the Old Town and a unique architectural proposal, perfectly fitting into the climate of the Old Town and Kościeleckich Square - the main communications hub of the centre of Bydgoszcz - by means of the unique facade of glass and sandstone.

The space which will formed in stages in the biggest developer investment in the city - Platanowy Park is the continuation of the Group’s office offer. Office buildings, located on the multi-functional estate with accompanying commercial, service and cultural functions, will offer excellent location to entrepreneurs near the major communications hub in the proximity to the city centre at the same time.

Flats built within the Platanowy Park investment and the new one, also gradual investment: Uniwersyteckie Estate complement the offer.

Source - Report prepared for the City of Bydgoszcz by the Association of Business Service Leaders (ABSL) in cooperation with JLL and Randstad: http://absl.pl/pl/publikacje/