In 2023 in Poland, the modern retail park market will strive to meet the growing demands of tenants and customers. However, costs for construction and land purchases will continue to increase due to inflation and the geopolitical situation. According to Statistics Poland, the price indices for construction and assembly production have continued to grow at over 10% y/y since March 2022. It reached a high of 15.4% in December 2022 and has risen every month since then.

Increasing development costs will increase the importance of existing buildings located in convenient locations and fixed in the consciousness of the local community. However, these existing structures, e.g., stand-alone, retail parks, and convenience stores from the 1990s and early 2000s, require a change in function, reconstruction, and adaptation to current trends in retail trade.

Remodeling a retail park is an excellent opportunity to implement solutions to reduce its carbon footprint. These measures include replacing old lighting with LEDs, collecting and using rainwater, photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, and building management systems (BMS). These are just a few ways to significantly reduce resource consumption and costs while positively impacting the environment.

The decision to remodel will also be dictated by issues related to the decision-making processes of the financing institutions. Implementing the ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) strategy and obtaining environmental certification, e.g., BREAM or LEED, has become an essential element of the process, along with the decision to refinance the investment. All in all, lenders increasingly seem to prefer to allocate their resources to more ESG-compliant projects. 

Retail’s green building landscape will continue to develop in the coming years as investors and retailers realize the value of integrating high-quality environmental, social, and governance into their store assets. Those who greenify their stores are using the opportunity to go above and beyond minimum requirements, sending a clear message about their stance on ESG.

Putting ESG into practice

LCP as a part of M Core Group is going to become more green in coming years. One of the assets to become more green and environmental friendly is M PARK Pisz.

During the ongoing rebuilding of the M PARK Pisz retail park, we are implementing actions aimed at reducing energy consumption and increasing the comfort of tenants.

We have built energy-efficient shop-windows with a lower thermal transmittance coefficient, installed parking LED lighting, replaced the old ventilation system with new air handling units with heat pumps and integrated everything within the Building Management System. The building is also being prepared for green certification.

Find out more on: www.lcp.pl & www.mcoreproperty.com