Proptech is changing the face of the real estate market. What technology and innovations are appearing in Hi Piotrkowska?

We can divide them up into two types: those that are introduced when a building is commercialized and those that are to be introduced once a center has been put into use. When we were commercializing Hi Piotrkowska we introduced a mobile app for tablets and also Spacer 360, which was created through working with a startup from Wrocław. You can see the results of the project on the Hi investment internet site. In effect we saved time and optimized costs while maintaining a high quality of service. In the mobile app a user can go through the building as if they were in a computer game and out of the window they will see a real view of Łódź that was created by a drone, which flew up to the height of the 15th floor.

Next there is the technology that is introduced after a center is put into use and what is of particular interest is our proprietary mobile and internet app, which helps you move around inside a building and manages the parking facilities intelligently. The purpose of this system is to maximize the use of the common space within a complex and to manage the parking lots. What this means in practice is that a future user of the Hi complex can quickly find a room, can report a fault in the building to the management, can book a conference room and can allow someone else to use his parking space when he is not there. Moreover, the app has other functions such as those which allow users to communicate with the management in order to improve how a building functions, those that electronically grant access to various rooms and those that improve the comfort and efficiency of a user of the center.

What were the criteria that your choice was based on? Price? Tenant expectations? Or maybe it was the market standards?

All in all, it was all of the things you mentioned such as the price, which is an important factor in optimizing the management costs of a building both while it is being commercialized and when it is handed over for use. It was also the expectations of the tenants and in particular the nature of their businesses which affects the comfort and needs of the office workers. The market defines the absolute minimum standards that must be met for a development to be positioned as a modern office building. Those systems that are above the standard are what is innovative and what makes us competitive on the local market and this is an essential criterion when looking for made to measure technology. Such an approach is partly dictated by the need of achieving a high rating in the multi-criteria green building rating system known as BREEAM certification. The Hi project achieved a rating at the design stage of 'Very Good'. We want more so we are looking at the kind of innovation that will assure us a final rating of 'Excellent'. Here it is worth mentioning that the technology we choose must maximize the usage of the space in the building and meet the expectations of building owner, the management, the tenants and the workers. This means that any application we want to introduce should be complex, easy to integrate with existing systems in a building, practical to use and it must solve problems and meet needs.

Which systems are there to help the investor and which are for future tenants?

The functions and purpose of the systems we planned combine and interact with each other and you can see their effect in both the long and the short term. For example, when at the construction stage the communication of an innovative app has a positive effect on the commercialization undertaken by the investor and in the long term it helps with the signing of leases. Tenant are more eager to choose places that offer a wide range of amenities to employees and business partners. In Hi Piotrkowska tenants can maximize the use of the space and lower its maintenance costs by using the mobile app. And how is this done? Due to the convenient system for moving around the building, they save time and improve their comfort of use. They can quickly let their colleagues know where they are and find their way to a meeting room. The digitization of society, which means the possibility of communicating through an app has a positive effect on work efficiency. For example, for a tenant this is the ideal way to report a flaw and to flag the place where it occurs as well as to check the status of the report. We all know well that one of the challenges in office buildings is the continuously increasing need for parking spaces. Here too we also approached the problem creatively and introduced an intelligent parking management system, which will show where parking spaces are and allow them to be reserved. One major convenience will be the possibility of viewing what is offered by the service points around the complex. A worker can quickly check the lunch menu in a restaurant or the timetable of classes in a fitness club all through a single app integrated with the building.