Antoniu Panait, Managing Director, Vastint Romania: The constant in office development remains the location

Leaders in business services industry gathered for sharing their latest insights on the evolution and shifts in their work and companies at the 11th Edition of THE ROMANIAN BUSINESS SERVICES FORUM & AWARDS.

In the discussion of the CEO Forum panel, Antoniu Panait, Managing Director, Vastint Romania who detailed on latest project developments, market evolution and tenants’ expectations.

Within the volatile times we have been experiencing for the past few years, from the office perspective, the constant remains the location.  Following our experience of 26 years in Romania and 35 years in Europe in office development and over 1.4 million sqm of office all around the countries in Europe, we concluded that remained a strong indicator for successful development. For instance, before pandemics,  tenants such as service centers were prepared to look for and open a secondary location for a 2 EUR / per sqm / per month  difference.

Tenants found the difference significant as opportunity calculating the savings to be achieved through this difference on a short and long term. But we prepared a calculation tool for them to see  what the total real cost is of motivating the employees to commute for instance in the northern area of Bucharest (including transportation costs, fuel, car allocation, and time spent in traffic). The market has professionalized, and tenants  run buildings audit, due diligence, technical analysis from taxonomy perspective. The conclusion is that it is cheaper to pay higher rents per sqm with 1.52 Eur in city center or roundabouts because of the latest changes we experienced in the workspace environment. The employees mindset also changed during the past years. Now, time is a major indicator of employee wellbeing, They calculate the time spent in traffic for work commute for a one-year period. Other indicators considered by employees are the nearby public transportation offer, the mix of facilities of the building office. All our office developments are chosen based on public transportation offer.

Our Timpuri Noi office building is 10 per cent leased, we have developed the second stage of the project of 105.000 sqm, the largest project we have ever done, following Business Garden which amounted to 74,000 sqm. Evn if the times are harsh now, we turn the volatility into opportunity  because we became general contractors to maintain the quality and cost-effectiveness perspective . We talk about green development, fossil fuel free. We target the 100-points platinum certification. Hence in conclusion, the parameters for a first-choice in office buildings are location, quality and the amenities mix offer.

The event was supported by: 

GOLD PARTNERS: TP Romania, Vastint Romania, ACCA, The National Institute for Research and Development in Informatics – ICI Bucharest, Allianz Partners, Wipro Romania, Societe Generale Global Solution Centre,  Capgemini Romania, Accenture, Genpact

PARTNERS:  Griffes, VOIS

SUPPORTING PARTNERS: AHK Romania, BRCC, ANIS, ClujIT Cluster, Lovering & Partners

MEDIA PARTNERS: Outsourcing Today, Sustainability Today, Automotive Today, Financial Intelligence, Romania Durabila, Economistul, Club Economic, Bursa  

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Event resources:

The CEO Forum and Awards Gala ceremomy recording can be found here: ROMANIAN BUSINESS SERVICESFORUM & AWARDS 2025 – powered by The Diplomat Bucharest

The winners of ROMANIAN BUSINESS SERVICES AWARDS can be found here: The business services industry in Romania celebrated its performers at Romanian Business Services Forum & Awards, 2025 Edition! – Outsourcing-Today.ro