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The sure bet of the decade

Feature
If the bookmakers had been taking bets on who was going to win the Eurobuild Award of the Decade for the best warehousing developer, few punters would have bet against Panattoni Europe, which has come to dominate the market over the last ten years

How many warehouses has Panattoni Europe developed in Poland? Around 7 mln sqm, that is, 40 pct of all the existing space on the market. Recently, the company has accounted for almost 60 pct of the total supply each year. Although Panattoni is in fact just beginning its expansion outside the CEE region, it is already the largest developer in Europe in terms of space delivered annually. “This has certainly been a very intense ten years for us. It was during this time that we became the market leader,” points out Robert Dobrzycki, the CEO of Panattoni Europe. In 2009, the sector was still recovering from the credit crunch, but Panattoni took the momentous step of responding to the market turmoil by establishing a new structure, its BTS Group. Because of this decision the following years for the company came to be dominated with the development of tailor-made facilities. “The recession was not just a corrective for the market – it also allowed us to spread our wings. And it was the change from boom to crisis that enabled us to take an active role, to learn a great deal and to adapt to the new conditions. While our competitors were changing their strategies to reduce the scale of their operations, we were able to maintain the strength of our activities,” explains Robert Dobrzycki. The years that followed saw record-breaking volumes of space delivered. In 2010 the company announced the development of 57,000 sqm for Tesco, and two years’ later 50,000 sqm for Castorama. In 2014 it signed a huge agreement for the development of 246,000 sqm to be leased to Amazon in two locations – Poznań and Wrocław. “We have completed eight buildings for Amazon to date and have now finished the decade with another feat, having last year built a record-breaking facility in terms of size and functionality for the same company in Gliwice. The development of more than 210,000 sqm on four floors has been equipped with the innovative Amazon Robotics system and is the largest building we have developed in this country. As many as 3,900 transport robots are used within it to place goods on the shelves and complete orders,” reveals Robert Dobrzycki. In 2014 he was also made managing partner of Panattoni Europe. The CEE (Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia) remained under his leadership, but the company ventured into Western Europe, first into Germany and then in 2017 the UK followed by the Netherlands in 2019. “What makes me extremely proud is the company’s expansion, especially into such mature markets, as well as the fact that they are managed from Poland by our Polish management,” points out Robert Dobrzycki. He believes Panattoni plays a big role in promoting Poland on the international stage especially for global companies. Panattoni is also proud of promoting less well-known towns in Poland. “When most developers have focused on the most mature warehouse markets, our eyes turned to more adventurous locations, such as Lublin, Szczecin, Bydgoszcz, Zielona Góra, Białystok and Kielce,” points out Robert Dobrzycki. However he considers the emergence of urban logistics and city logistics parks to be game-changers. Such parks, which Panattoni is developing in Warsaw, Wrocław and Łódź as well as in Berlin, are ideal for e-commerce and SBUs. “What also makes us distinctive is our management style – we have adopted an organic, network business model. We always operate locally, setting up offices in each location, and we use the best talent there, people who totally understand themselves. We are a very flexible organisation and can easily adapt to changes in the market. We react quickly and are also flexible in our approach to our clients. Above all, they can always count on our support and consult with us more generally,” explains Robert Dobrzycki. So what’s Panattoni planning now? It intends to continue its expansion in Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic, the UK and in its most recent new market, the Netherlands. “This promises to be a busy year for us. Already this February we are going to enter another European market – Spain,” reveals the CEO of Panattoni Europe. RO

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