We bet on community
Michal Karbowiak
For a community to be established between tenants, relationships must be formed, and these relationships are formed if tenants feel good about where they work. Our job as Concordia is to create the right platform.
Interview with Lukasz Lergetporer
Concordia Design Head of Leasing & Flexible Offices
Michal Karbowiak: You reiterate that one of the biggest differentiators of Concordia Design Wrocław as a space for work and business development is the existence of an internal "community." Which is actually what?
Luke Lergetporer: Communities. It consists of people, relationships and atmosphere.
A group of people in coworking is already a community?
No. In order for a community to be established between tenants, relationships must be formed, and these relationships are formed if tenants feel good about where they work. Our job as Concordia is to create the right platform. First, physical: well-designed, inclusive - such as our coworking and common spaces. Secondly, a metaphorical one in the form of approaching customers, interacting with them on a daily basis, encouraging them to interact with each other or even animating relationships through joint activities or events.
Easier to design the space or the atmosphere?
They have to interact with each other. Concordia as a space is modern, inclusive, professional, but at the same time quite informal. We wanted it to be the same "inside", to have its own unique character. We hoped that the unique location on Słodowa Island and the design of the building itself would attract people full of passion, energy, good ideas. And looking at the 400 people who work for us, I can say that we succeeded (laughs).
Concordia has also succeeded in creating a community?
It is forming all the time, it is not a finite process. I see the special character of our community in everyday, ordinary situations, such as the willingness to eat meals together, discussions at the express, parties. By the dogs, who run around and are adored by everyone. After communication, where "hello" rather than "good morning" prevails. Some tenants greet each other like friends, are able to learn English together, spend time together, including after work. Many carry out joint business projects or share their network of contacts
In the community, does business matter?
The ability to find a customer, business partner or sub-supplier in the building adds value. And it happens quite naturally. More than 100 companies are developing in Concordia, with different, often complementary profiles. Their joint projects are derived from personal relationships, but also from the work of our team, which strives to learn about tenants' challenges and effectively connect them with each other. The existence of a community, especially in the face of a pandemic, has another positive dimension.
Which one?
Psychological. Our tenants are not only business owners, but also employees or freelancers who work independently. If they feel comfortable in the building, they are more likely to choose to work from an office than from home. This, in turn, will have a positive effect on their mental hygiene. It can also translate positively into the quality of the projects they complete.
There are some people who have no need for integration. They would just like to have an office serviced to a high standard.
Everyone has their own needs, we don't do anything by force. A quality serviced office is our standard. Integration with others, is a possibility. We think it's important, we bet on community, but we don't force anyone to do anything. There are people who, while working for us, come to one event a year, then when time allows them, sometimes with their children. That's great, too.
You've been building business communities in co-working spaces for more than a decade. What has changed in that time?
When I started in 2012, a period when the idea of coworking in Poland was just crawling, I constantly had to explain not only what coworking is, but also "why it's worth it." I showed the real benefits of working in a coworking space. I encouraged integration. Because it was a time when everyone wanted their own enclosed office. It was a marker of prestige. Today, not only do we understand the general assumptions of such a model of organizing a place to work, but we also know its advantages, and are aware that it is more than a comfortable desk and original design. Our tenants choose coworking because they need a community that will inspire them, allow them to expand their network of business contacts, or do something together, combining their potentials and competencies. And this awareness is growing and with it the popularity of spaces like ours.
Do the numbers back this up?
Even before the pandemic, coworking spaces were the fastest growing type of office space in the commercial real estate market. This share is forecast to grow by another 30% over the next 5-7 years. This type of space is no longer of interest only to freelancers or startups, but also to large corporations. So it seems that we have opened up to integration and learned the value of cooperation.
