#FIS2019 | Didier Balcaen (Speedwell): “Problems like workforce deficit and government instability are not unique to Romania; many others have similar issues”

Anca Alexe 29/10/2019 | 13:49

Didier Balcaen, the General Manager of Speedwell, said during the “Investments in the real estate sector” panel at the Foreign Investors Summit that the problems that Romania currently faces, including the workforce deficit and the government instability, are not unique to the country, as many others in western Europe and globally are dealing with similar issues, even if they are more developed than Romania. 

Talking about the Romanian office market, Balcaen argued that it has plenty of room to grow.

“I’m from Belgium, and I can tell you that Brussels has 1 million inhabitants and 12 million sqm of office stock, compared to just 3 million sqm in Bucharest, so there’s definitely a growth margin here. I strongly believe in the country and especially in its office market, as well as in the mix between the office and residential sides, because people want to live close to their offices due to the mobility issues.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Polish market being very expensive right now, and so companies are looking at Romania; but they’re looking at it for the long term, not just in terms of the current prices on this market.”

Didier Balcaen spoke about investors’ approach on new projects.

“Investors are conservative when it comes to purchasing mixed-use projects and still want the different functions to be clearly split.”

Asked why there are still so many badly designed and not integrated projects being built, Didier said:

“It would be easy to point at the authorities, but we’re not, since this is not the authorities’ role, the market will demand better designed projects, properly integrated in the neighbourhood, since people have choice what to buy nowadays and badly integrated projects will not sell anymore.”

He also addressed the factors that affect the success of office environments in the country, including technology, the surrounding architecture and human resources.

“The technology we have in Romania is close to the one you can find in other countries. As far as the architecture goes, we can easily point to the administration and blame them. But there is also a problem of attracting talent; people should be able to integrate new buildings without changing the entire area.  

The main question is what the adult Romania will look like, because today it is still young.” 

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Anca Alexe | 27/03/2024 | 17:32
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