Squirrel it away

Some eight months after opening its first City Self-Storage in Warsaw, the Norwegian company Selvaag Gruppen is launching construction work on a second. The new facility with warehouse space of 4,000 sqm will be located on ul. Ostródzka in Warsaw's Praga Północ and is planned for completion in July next year.

In order to meet demand for storage services, the company already has plans to build three more units over the next five years. The existing warehouse is being leased out faster than in other countries. Selvaag will invest some zł.15 million in each of the buildings.

"The residents of Warsaw do not have anywhere to store the things that they've gathered over the years, that's why a simple serviced warehouse with well-lit boxes is an ideal solution, even to keep valuable things such as an antique grand piano," says Marzenna Tusza, general director of City Self-Storage.

Since its opening in February this year, the first facility on ul. Krakowska is now over 50-percent leased, mostly by individuals. Only 30 percent of the leased space is used by companies. Customers are able to rent storage spaces of between 0.5 sqm to 20 sqm and have full access to them.

The company, which is the first to offer such services in Poland, has 31 similar warehouses across Europe. In the US, where the service was introduced over 40 years ago, there is one facility for every 7,500 people; in the UK there is one for every 427,000 people.