Yearly Archives: 2015

There is a serious demand for offices in Sofia for several months already. The investments made in business centers have gone up with more than 50 % and that stirred the search for suitable plots for construction of office buildings. For 2014 the investments made in business premises has increased with 115 million Euros, which marked a serious demand and led to an increase in the rental levels of the top class office buildings. Yet, the interest shown is not towards all offices, but towards the high class offices that answer all requirements of the international business companies.

The increased demand for new Sofia office premises is based on the fact that only 4 % of the available office premises in Sofia are of the highest class A. This Sofia offices demand is also based on the numerous international companies on the market that expand and are thus looking for larger office premises in Sofia.

Currently Bulgaria ranks at 14th place in the world and 3rd in Europe in search of office premises. The global tendencies show that the foreign investors are testing the Bulgarian market by doing online sales and then they make investments in offices, located in Sofia, Plovdiv and Varna. The main companies that are expected to make investments in offices in Sofia come from the outsourcing sphere, the trade with electronics, the call centers, the pharmaceutical companies.

The prognosis made for the Sofia Office Market in 2015 are associated with recovery of the demand for offices of class A and better macro-economic situation. The main interest will be shown by the companies in the IT, Technologies, Outsourcing and Bank spheres. That interest towards high-quality offices will be concentrated in Sofia, yet according to the prognoses of the real estate agents, there will be further an interest towards the high class office premises in the other large cities in the country.

The brokers are expecting a very strong year for the office market in Sofia and in the cities of Plovdiv, Varna and Bourgas, since Bulgaria was ranked third in Europe in terms of attractiveness for the outsourcing of businesses. The main office destinations in Sofia include Business Center Sofia, Megapark, European Trade Center, the office building of Bulgaria Mall. The statistics for the ten most sought after prime office buildings in Sofia shows that the average percentage of vacant space in them is only 4.25%.

In 2014 the percentage of the rented offices in Sofia has increased and marked a maximum increase in the last two years. The main reason behind that are the several important international companies that stated their desire to outsource their business, thanks to which the number of the available office premises in Sofia seriously decreased.

In 2014 there were not many investments in office buildings and the search for such premises made many construction companies reconsider their plans. That is so as the earnings expectations are stable and reach 9.25 % for the premium office centers.

Several large industries are showing serious interest in the rental of high class offices in Sofia, mainly coming from the outsourcing, the IT and the pharmaceutical sphere. Companies from the financial and from the energy sector are also showing interest in such business centers in Sofia. Most of the new office projects from the class A in Sofia are to be found in the region around the airport and along Bulgaria Blvd. Interesting to be mentioned is the reconstruction of Pliska Hotel on Tsarigradsko Schousse Blvd., which is to become a central office of a local bank. The rental prices of the offices of the highest class A are stable and reach 12.5 Euro/sq.m for the central business regions. In the rest of the Sofia office destinations the rental prices per month vary between 10 and 12 Euro/sq.m.

The constructions companies that are working on office projects in Sofia are trying to apply modern techniques and technology aiming to create comfortable and contemporary office buildings of the highest possible class. These office premises in Sofia are believed to provoke the attention of the international companies that are willing to relocate to Bulgaria and outsource their business activities in the country’s capital city.

The architects and engineers from the leading construction companies in Sofia try to accept each new office building as a mini ecosystem, since a great deal of the people there will spend at least 50 % and even more of their time in that working environment. The architects of Sofia business centers today are trying to present projects for office buildings with pleasant architecture, careful choice of the completion materials and precise implementation of each detail.

The contemporary situation on the Sofia office market requires the integration of good and functional layouts, done quickly but carefully, providing quality and compliance with all the modern requirements for efficiency. The integration of so many aspects in the construction of office buildings in Sofia is challenging as it features special project and design, choice of the right materials to be used and ideas and appliance of the latest technologies. The idea behind all that is for all the important elements to be combined in the construction of a modern office building of the highest class A, which will facilitate creativity and will stimulate the good mood among employees.

Among the main factors that are of greatest importance for the good functioning of each office building in Sofia and the issue of the highest class ecology certificate are the ones mentioned below:
• Spacious and bright working environment, served by air conditioners
• Excellent infrastructure, parking zone, access to services and recreation zones, served by the local transportation system
• Low exploitation costs with minimal energy use
• Fast and reliable communications
• Representative entrance and reception area
• Individual working places.

Among the other important elements of the successful Sofia office building is the appropriate form that has to be pure and clean, allowing for flexibility and efficiency, as well as for easy distribution of the working area.