On 29 October 2013, the cornerstone ceremony was held for the Kapelanka 42 office complex, currently under construction at the intersection of Kapelanka and KobierzyÅ„ska streets in Kraków. This is the first office project by Skanska Property Poland in the capital of MaÅ‚opolska region.

The ceremony gathered representatives of the city authorities as well as Skanska management. The Foundation Act was signed by BogusÅ‚aw KoÅ›mider, Chairman of Kraków City Council, Jan OkoÅ„ski, the Mayor of Kraków’s representative for entrepreneurship, Maciej Karwacki, director of Kraków general construction branch at Skanska S.A., as well as Bartosz Kalinowski, regional director at Skanska Property Poland. Apart from the Foundation Act, the front pages of Kraków newspapers dated 29 October were placed in a special tube.

„The decision to locate our new office project in Kraków was based on a solid ground. This is not only a beautiful city with a splendid history and fantastic architecture, but also one of Poland’s leading business hubs, with a huge potential for further growth. Kraków attracts with a great number of ambitious and well educated labour force. The city is also very well connected with Poland and the rest of Europe. This is the reason behind the dynamic growth of modern business service outsourcing companies, like BPO or SSC. Kraków is currently considered the leading center for the outsourcing sector not only in Poland but in the whole region”, said Bartosz Kalinowski, Skanska Property Poland regional director.

Kapelanka 42 will comprise two A class office buildings, with 9 storeys above and 3 below ground level. The total leasable area will amount to 30,000 sqm. Nearly 400 parking spaces will be available for tenants in the underground car park connecting the two buildings as well as at the ground level. Kapelanka 42 was designed by Medusa Group with care taken to allow flexibility in office space arrangement in line with tenants’ expectations.

The first stage of the project included the construction of an underground car park to serve the whole complex. Overground construction work is currently in progress. The first building is due for completion in Q2 2014. Skanska S.A. is the general contractor, while Skanska Property Poland is in charge of leasing.

„Kapelanka 42 raises considerable interest in the Kraków market. We are currently in talks with a number of tenants who are interested in locating their offices in our building. We plan to finalize some lease contracts in near future, with the project to be 60%-leased by the end of the year. Tenants value green buildings by Skanska, as they provide comfortable working environments where people can thrive”, said Bartosz Kalinowski, regional director at Skanska Property Poland.

Like all the projects by Skanska Property Poland, Kapelanka 42 is built in line with sustainable development principles. This means that already at the planning and construction stage green solutions are applied to minimize the impact of the project on the natural environment. Kapelanka 42 is Kraków’s first office project which has been LEED-precertified at the Gold level. The building will also receive EU GreenBuilding certificate.

www.skanska.pl