Business moving business

A successful business in any major city is likely to suffer growing pains. An increasing demand for office space is a common example, as many firms simply outgrow their premises. In Warsaw and other large European cities, limited supply and high lease prices mean that growing companies often cannot afford to remain in a central location and thus have a choice to make - buy or build their own headquarters, or lease new space beyond the central business district.

Bank Millennium chose the latter option. The company had occupied the MillenniumPlaza building, located in the very heart of Warsaw, since late 2003, and moved to HarmonyOfficeCenter in the Mokotów district of Warsaw in March 2008. Last year, when the transaction took place, it was a record deal in terms of office space leased at 18,600 sqm.

"Our moving process was divided into phases. Of course we went through the entire strategy, dividing tasks, creating a schedule for both preparations and for relocation, including safety elements in case of emergencies. The strategy took into account possible but unpredictable and atypical situations," Maciej Mężyński of Bank Millennium's public relations department told Lokale Immobilia.

The relocation arrangements lasted six weeks and the moving itself took four weeks. Mężyński described elevator and road accessibility to MillenniumPlaza as the biggest obstacles during the moving process. Another challenge was to effectively connect to the new IT environment at the new site.

TP plans for the future

This summer telecom giant Telekomunikacja Polska (TP) sold three office towers - amounting to 62,000 sqm of office space - to closed-end real estate fund BPT Optima for around E168 (zł.556.70) million. The firm is now looking to find a new headquarters in order to consolidate its operations in one place. In the meantime, TP has leased back its former property until its new location, which will be located outside Warsaw's city center, is chosen. The firm expects to relocate in 2011.

Wojciech Jabczyński, spokesperson for TP Group, said that consolidation of the offices at a new, modern site would be much cheaper than maintaining and leasing the current office space.

Provident moves house

Financial services provider Provident has recently moved into its new headquarters on ul. Polna. Previously it was situated in the West Gate building on Al. Jerozolimskie and had a call center located in the Blue Skyscraper on Pl. Bankowy.

"The preparations took three months. We had to relocate 700 work spaces. The employees were specially trained on how to pack their things and label them, and they had all information, including the relocation firm's emergency phone numbers," said Małgorzata Domaszewicz, communications director at Provident.

One of the biggest challenges was relocating the IT equipment, but employees had their computers and phones working at their desks the morning following the relocation. "And we kept our old phone numbers," added Domaszewicz. Provident's relocation lasted three days and was done in a weekend (Friday-Sunday).

Boxing day specialists

Warsaw-based Oneo is a firm that specializes in corporate relocation services. "The whole process really depends on what the customer wants," said Szymon Zdziarski of Oneo, which helped in the relocation of such companies as Hilton-Baird Polska, Impel and Jaguar Land Rover. The key to success, in his opinion, is the proper management of personnel, as well as good planning.

"It is possible to relocate a company in a day. Of course we would need more manpower and resources, but it is doable," Zdziarski added. The average relocation time provided by his company amounts to a week, with most of the work done overnight or during weekends in order to minimize disruptions to the firm's operations.

Another office relocation company, Warsaw-based DTS, has experience in relocating some of the largest firms in Warsaw, in terms of personnel and equipment. DTS took three weekends to move telecom Polkomtel's 2,000 employees, out of FIMTower (now OrcoTower) on Al. Jerozolimskie, one of the tallest office buildings in Warsaw, as well as out of several other locations.

Relocation of insurance company Allianz Polska's 700 employees was completed in four days, a day faster than originally planned.

One of the company's biggest challenges was to serve Presspublica, the publisher of Rzeczpospolita. The relocation began on a Friday afternoon and needed to be completed by Sunday morning, in order to enable the journalists to work on the Monday edition. On Sunday at 8:00 am, 650 computers were ready in their new places.

Professional advice

Real estate advisory Cushman & Wakefield was involved in consultations for Bank Millennium's relocation last year. Recently the company won a tender to advise publishing company Gruner+Jahr Polska, a subsidiary of German media giant Bertelsmann, which is looking for new premises. The firm currently occupies 6,000 sqm on ul. Wynalazek in the Mokotów district of Warsaw and is looking for at least a six-storey building with 10,000 sqm of office space.

"The moving itself - meaning the transfer of furniture and start of operations - can be done within one weekend. But the whole relocation process is more complex," explained Tomasz Daniecki, head of project management department at Cushman & Wakefield Polska.

G+J wants to finish its relocation by Q1 2010, giving it around 18 months to complete the process. This is possible, Daniecki said, but everything depends on the firm sticking to deadlines. He added that cooperation between the customer and its partners in the relocation was crucial.

"Negotiations can be finalized in three weeks, but in some cases they can last over two years. The future tenant is usually not in a hurry, although the prices of office space obviously change [as negotiations drag on]. The same goes with the plan for office arrangement - it can be ready in four weeks, but preparing a design may also take up to four months," said Daniecki, whose company also advised in the relocation of Johnson & Johnson and Skandia.

Daniecki said his firm's clients were usually doing well in their branches, and that office relocation was, in most cases, an experience they faced every five to 10 years. Therefore they are often unprepared to oversee the whole process themselves.

"Quite often their local decision-making process is strongly influenced by their mother companies. This is the major concern and that is why they need specialist advisors," he added.

Check out: Bank Pekao shares with WBJ their relocation process