Antoniu Panait (Vastint Romania): A strong commitment to sustainable buildings

Antoniu Panait, managing director at Vastint Romania, tells Business Review that 2022 was full of achievements for the business he runs, which maintained its focus on delivering ESG-compliant buildings that meet tenants’ highest expectations.

By Anda Sebesi

“The magnitude of knowledge we have managed to put together makes me the proud leader of an amazing team. Every single step ahead is made possible by the constant effort of a great team of professionals. I feel empowered every day as I find myself among them. Thanks to them, we ended 2022 with clear achievements,” said Antoniu Panait at the start of his interview with Business Review.

One of the key achievements he mentioned was finalising the process of obtaining the impressive WELL Health-Safety Rating for facility operators for both of its office projects, Timpuri Noi Square and Business Garden Bucharest, as a validation of the efforts Vastint Romania is making to support the health and wellbeing of the employees and tenants inside its buildings.

“This WELL Health-Safety Rating completes the list of certifications we’ve already obtained for both office projects, including Safe Guard by Bureau Veritas and LEED PLATINUM. For the latter, Timpuri Noi Square and Business Garden Bucharest Office Projects got the highest scores in Romania, and in fact, at the moment, Business Garden Bucharest is the office project with the highest LEED score in the CEE region,” Panait points out. “Let’s also not forget the extension of our Lease Agreements with more than 85 percent of tenants, again demonstrating the quality of the long-term relationships Vastint develops with its tenants, completing the list of high quality services and products the company develops and maintains.” According to Panait, 2022 delivered on anticipated challenges, which arose from the continued hybrid working model (from home and from the office) that became popular during the pandemic period, a practice that began to see some recalibration towards the end of year.

Yet in view of the existing office demand and the strong interest in new Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) compliant buildings, Vastint continues to plan future developments with a clear aim of delivering the same type of high-quality products it has put on the market so far, that all meet today’s environmental and sustainability expectations. “We are getting very close to the moment when all companies will have to acknowledge the need to choose their next office spaces wisely, based on their quality and sustainability levels, since all companies will be audited for ESG standards in the near future. As a core target, Vastint builds to deliver maximum sustainability across all its projects, and every decision we make is centred around these ESG requirements,” the managing director adds.

Asked about his leadership style, Panait says he likes to think that his colleagues see him as a democratic leader, who is open to ideas that can generate growth for the company and implicitly for all team members. “We are not a large team, so I appreciate and support open discussion and the exchange of ideas that might lead us to the proper and expected results.” Panait is convinced that in order for people to work well together, the company needs to acknowledge individual results.