OFFICE
Didier Balcaen, Co-Founder and Partner, Speedwell
IT’S ALL ABOUT WELLBEING Didier Balcaen and Jan Demeyere, the founders and partners at Speedwell, are announcing more projects and investments in Romania, boosting ideas and enthusiasm for new generation, rewarding, mixed-use destinations. So far, Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca and Timisoara are the key cities, but more opportunities will follow.
How would you define the philosophy behind Speedwell projects in Romania, the market arguments and the opportunities in this region? The founding partners of Speedwell have a wide experience in the Eastern European region, and we have chosen to focus on Romania only because of the dynamics of the real estate industry and of the opportunities that arise out of the stage in which the current market is today. Compared with other countries in the region like Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary or Bulgaria, we have discovered here a mix of factors that makes it for us a proper business environment, in the long term: availability of inner-city land to develop nice projects; economic growth driven by well-educated and hardworking employees; a real demand for quality in terms of design and 30
construction, in the existing offer, both in residential and in the office segments; good return on investment; a beautiful country with cities that grow fast and become attractive for multinational companies, no matter the industry. There aren’t only positive aspects related to the Romanian market, as we all know there is a certain fiscal and legal environment unpredictability. Since real estate projects span at least 5 years, a fixed horizon over the same period is essential. Adding the pluses and minuses, for us it made sense and we are optimistic towards the future, as we have confirmed the development recipes in the projects we have built. What are the benefits of being active both in Bucharest and the regional market? Which are the milestones
reached and the lessons discovered so far? What cities are attracting new projects from Speedwell? Speedwell has developed projects in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca until now, and recently started a new mixeduse development in Timisoara, the project named Paltim which will replicate in terms of business model the Record Park project from ClujNapoca. Apart from these cities, we are looking at other potential destinations in the future. Our aim is to grow the residential share in our mixed-use developments substantially over the next few years, while offering a Speedwell quality stamp, so both commercial users and residential buyers know that they get good value for money, no matter where in the country they buy or rent. We have learned a lot about our market in the last few years mainly about the focus of the companies to offer a high-quality environment to the employees, the dynamic of the labor market which impacts directly the way office spaces are being planned, and also about the increasingly demanding future residents in search of new homes. Nowadays the access to information makes the real estate market a very transparent environment, in which both the developer and the customer talk the same language. The key is to understand the market, create a differentiated quality product and respect the promises you make towards your customers. Can you explain a few demands and behaviors of occupiers in office and residential buildings? Did you feel changes in recent years, how did you change for the trends to come? The market is continuously changing, which on one hand is a challenge for all of us, but we prefer it this way because the most dynamic companies make a difference. Both tenants in the office buildings and residents as well are more focused on increasing the quality of life, more time for themselves, reduce the commute time between work and home and have most of the services they need in the proximity of their office or home. That’s why we are focused on offering a mixed-use environment combining all services WWW.TRANSILVANIABUSINESS.RO