In Kraków there is a lack of A-class office space. The demand is steadily rising, though not as dynamically as few years ago – since 2006 it remains largely on the same level, over 60,000 m2 of leased space a year. It is not surprising that many property developers, in order to fill that gap, have prepared projects of office buildings. As a result, we have nearly 180,000 msq of office space currently under construction, which means that the office space area in the city will double in the following year. As the analysts assure, the demand is huge and the market will absorb additional space without any problem. It is shown by the fact, that the free space rate in Kraków is currently 0%, and most of the lease contracts are signed during the construction of the object. Almost 40% of realised space has already been leased. The most important among currently realised A-class office spaces are: Bonarka 4 Business, Nowe Miasto, Vinci, Quattro Business Park, Echo Investment, Enterprise Park, Centrum Biurowe Pilotów, Kraków Business Park and Centrum Biurowe Kazimierz.
Bonarka 4 Business, constructed in Podgórze, on the area owned by Bonarka Chemical Company, is a part of Bonarka City Center – the first complex in Kraków which will combine office, service and residential space. The main aim of the investor – TriGranit company and IPR Group – is to change the associations pepole have with this area, from polluted industrial part of town to green, modern city centre. The design of the complex was made by Cracow's Biuro Architektoniczne Artur Jasiński i Wspólnicy. We aimed at using an unconventional combination of office and residential functions – said one of the authors of the design, Marcin Godziński, during the press conference – and to create a new district, which will become and important part of the city.
The city, obviously, is not uniform, so the four 7-storey buildings are different in architecture and in the materials, such as clinker brick, aluminium, cement or cement and glass panels used for the decor. A square, closed for the traffic, will “clasp” the shopping centre and the offices, in the future also residential places. It was a base for the idea, that all buildings should have service spaces on the ground floor (banks, restaurants, cafés, small shops). On the square there will be green islands, fountains and rock hills.
The next element which will integrate the square will be the arcades with roofs, connecting the buildings – said Marcin Godziński. – All that in order to generate movement on the square, so that it will not be an empty space, but a part of the city. During the night, the structures' facades will be impressively iluminated . The issue of final purpose of a 100 metres tall chimney, currently located in front of the buildings and being a remnant of the Chemical Company, is still not resolved. It will definitely be covered and lighted, probably it will be covered with a thin membrane, which will allow illuminating it from the inside and creating changing light shows. It may be used as a vantage point.
Office buildings will have the latest technological solutions, as for example – used for the first time in Kraków – air-conditioning based on chilled beams, increasing comfort and ergonomics of the workplace. Thanks to BMS, it will be possible to monitor and administer for example air-conditioning, light, room temperature and fire escape gates, from every place in the complex.
The structure will be handicapped friendly – all the storeys will be easily accessible for the disabled, the elevators will have voice announcements and on every floor, handicapped accessible toilets will be present . In total, the complex will offer almost 32,000 msq of space. Future tenants will have 470 parking spaces in an underground lot. There will be additional 100 spaces, for the complex's guests, in a parking lot on the surface.
Construction of Bonarka 4 Business started in August. The works will finish in the fourth quarter of the following year.