Industrial ambition in Katowice
"Such industrial parks promote regional development. Upper Silesia is a very attractive area for investors and a strong industrial center, since it has well-developed infrastructure and a large manpower base," said Tomasz Brodzicki, an innovation specialist from the Gdańsk Institute for Market Economics.
"The key factors that will draw investors to the GPP are the special economic zone, a good location and developed infrastructure, as well as a qualified workforce," he added.
Energy efficient
The first stage of the project involves approximately eight hectares of land and is broken down into three separate projects: an already in-use warehouse-production building; a consultancy project, meant to support the overall GPP scheme; and GPPBusinessPark, a passive office building.
This third aspect of the first stage, GPP Business Park, will be a seven-storey, class-A office building in which the energy-efficient Passivhaus technologies will be used. According to the investor, it will be the "biggest passive building in Europe." Two storeys of underground parking will also be available.
A part of the building has been included in the Katowice Special Economic Zone.
A total of 23,000 sqm of office space will be available for lease and the building is intended to house companies providing offshoring services, mainly from the IT, financial and accounting industries. GPPBusinessPark will also offer services for the needs of employees and visitors, such as conference rooms, a post office outlet, kindergarten, restaurant, medical center, fitness club, sauna and spa.
Construction work is scheduled to start in 2009 and completion is expected in Q1/Q2 of 2011.
Industrial activity
The first stage of the GPP project also includes a building with 14,600 sqm of warehouse-production space and over 1,500 sqm of office space. The building was given over to use in January 2008.
"The standard of service is very high and the prices are competitive," said Michał Holeksa, the owner of building tenant Eko-Bryza. "I am very satisfied with our cooperation with the GPP. I decided to cooperate because of [its] very convenient location and friendly prices, which are very important factors for small entrepreneurs," he added.
Grzegorz Gajda, technical director at IT Point, another company located in the warehouse-production building, also expressed his satisfaction.
"The character of the UpperSilesianIndustrial Park perfectly fits the specificity of IT Point's activity. The office space we rent meets our expectations entirely; however, we are not ruling out further cooperation, after GPPBusinessPark is ready," he said.
Warehouse-production space is divided into 12 modules and office space is located on a reinforced concrete mezzanine. The building is gated and fully monitoring, with access control and 24-hour guards.
The Upper Silesian Industrial Park has existed as a limited liability company since 1995. It operated under a number of other names prior to 2005.
The company's activities include: the development, purchase and sale of real property; lease of real property and property management; advisory services; and promotion and advertising.
