Retail park pipeline in Poland 2016/2017 at 280,000 sqm

Increased retail park development across Europe is set to deliver 1.3 million sqm of new space to the market by the end of the year, up 50 percent on 2015’s total, according to the European Retail Park Development Report  from Cushman & Wakefield. As it was in 2015, the retail park pipeline for 2016/2017 is dominated by France which accounts for 54 percent of the total new space in Western Europe, followed by the UK with 17 percent and Italy with 10 percent. The top three in CEE are Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic – although the pipeline of potential floorspace is considerably lower than in Western Europe. Patrycja Dzikowska, Associate Director, Consulting & Research of Cushman & Wakefield in Poland, said: “Retail park development has picked up over the last five years in Poland. Although by the end of 2010 only 500,000 sqm of retail park space came onto the market, the provision of new space doubled in the years 2011–2015 with the average annual supply at around 100,000 sqm. The retail park pipeline for 2016/2017 is expected to deliver another 280,000 sqm. “The growth of the retail park sector is driven largely by growing developer interest in smaller towns. More than half of the 2016/2017 retail space supply will be delivered in smaller cities with less than 100,000 inhabitants. Retail park development is also spreading to towns with less than 50,000 inhabitants. Benefits of this retail format include lower construction costs and shorter delivery times, favourable rents and lower service charges."