Revolution in evolution: the rise of adaptive workplace ecosystems

When looking at today’s commercial real estate market in Poland, I feel that the traditional concepts we relied on for decades are blurring. It used to be simple: a corporation leased an entire floor of the building for five or ten years, while a start-up looked for a desk in a co-working space. Today, these two worlds overlap. From your perspective, how have the rules of the game changed? Is traditional long-term leasing a thing of the past?

Anna Korwin-Kulesza: The past five years have fundamentally reorganised how we view and perform work. Economic unpredictability forces organisations of all sizes to prioritise agility and risk optimisation. Yet, that does not mean traditional leasing is losing its relevance. On the contrary, having a stable, well-defined corporate headquarters remains highly valuable for brand identity and operational control. However, what has changed is what we must build on top of that stability. Today’s business environment shifts quarter by quarter. Companies operate under constant pressure from evolving hybrid work models, technological leaps, impact of AI, and fluctuating costs. At Globalworth, we’ve flipped the script and moved away from asking about floor space only. Instead, our starting point is now the trajectory of our tenant’s business growth. From our perspective, modern businesses are looking for a physical workspace just as much as they are looking for a strategic partner who can help reduce their growth risks and adapt to their velocity.

You place a strong emphasis on flexibility, but coming from an institutional fund, that sounds quite unusual. For years, ‘flex space’ was the domain of smaller, boutique co-working operators, not landlords managing multi-billion-euro portfolios. How do you bridge the gap between institutional stability and micro-level agility?

We perceive flexibility primarily as a way to align with our tenants’ evolving business models. We believe our services and spaces should adapt to them, not the other way around. The office needs to respond to user needs, transforming from a static cost only into an agile, strategic resource. While the commercial real estate sector naturally evolves a bit slower than more digital industries, the office sector is mature enough to operate more and more under the Real Estate as a Service mode.

Integrating Ace of Space into your core portfolio is presented as closing the ‘growth loop’. To what extent does owning the flex product genuinely differentiate you, given the rapid expansion of third-party operators across Poland?

The secret lies in creating a complementary ecosystem, not a temporary, makeshift fix. Nearly two years ago, we established our serviced office brand, Ace of Space, and brought it directly under the Globalworth umbrella. By fully integrating it with our core portfolio, we built a system of interconnected vessels that is truly unique in the Polish market. We call this the One Place to Grow model. It provides a closed, secure workspace environment under a single ownership structure, and often within the exact same building, regardless of a company’s immediate spatial needs or scaling speed. A tenant gains a unique “growth loop”: they can start with a few desks in a serviced office, easily add project modules for short-term contracts, and eventually transition into a tailored, traditional corporate lease or even utilise both formats simultaneously. This completely eliminates the financial and logistical discomfort of relocation or restructuring. Businesses keep their prestigious address and operational continuity, no matter how fast their headcount changes. Flexibility is the new currency of the real estate market, and we provide corporations with such reliable insurance policy for growth.

Speaking of corporations – are large organisations truly interested in flex spaces? Do corporate procurement departments and boards not still prefer predictable, traditional long-term commitments?

Indeed, there is a remarkable shift in mature organisations’ behaviour regarding the choice of working environment. Only a few years ago, serviced offices were seen as a solution for freelancers or early-stage start-ups. Today, the inquiries coming into Ace of Space are for teams of 50, 100, or even 200 workstations from global brands. Grown-up companies and corporations confidently use flex space as one of their strategic tools. When launching a short-term project or entering a new market with a satellite team, time-to-market is critical. They cannot afford to wait for a traditional fit-out. They need a fully operational, premium workspace immediately. Flexible serviced offices have become a vital safety valve for enterprises in an era where strategic planning horizons have shrunk significantly.

The in-house management model gives you control across the value chain. Does that concentration of functions risk reducing competitive tension and innovation compared to a more outsourced, specialist-driven approach?

On the contrary, the highest quality in tenant relations is built precisely on eliminating operational friction. When all key competencies – from leasing and technical advisory to fit-outs and community management – are kept under one roof, decisions are made instantly. They are also driven by a profound, first-hand knowledge of the building’s technical capabilities and limitations.

Our in-house team operate as a ‘Business Concierge’, offering daily operational support right within the building. Meanwhile, technology like our proprietary Globalworth App serves as the digital connective tissue of this entire ecosystem. It ensures that navigating the building and transitioning between different spaces is completely seamless and intuitive for employees. The building becomes as simple to operate as a smartphone, from desk booking to parking. This owner-managed approach enables us to keep our finger on the pulse and proactively resolve client needs in real time.

The One Place to Grow concept hinges on eliminating relocation risk, yet office markets are cyclical. How resilient is this model in a downturn, when the number of tenants on the market may contract sharply rather than expand, dampening demand?

This exact capability to tailor the office environment to current operational needs is precisely our pillar of resilience, especially during market shifts. Our ecosystem One Place to Grow removes that strategic impasse and stress. It gives the freedom to reorganise responsibly and safely, regardless of the economic climate, and while keeping the same address.

That said, such scenario remains purely hypothetical for the Polish market right now. The latest industry data for Q1 2026 shows that demand remains highly stable. Furthermore, Warsaw market is currently facing a supply gap: the volume of office space under construction in the capital has dropped to a historic low. As a result, the vacancy rate in central Warsaw is below 6%, driving rental pressure and putting owners of prime, mature assets in a very strong position. In Wrocław and the Tri-City, our office portfolio demonstrates strong leasing performance, with occupancy levels close to 100%. The One Place to Grow concept is not just a theoretical cushion for bad times; it is an active tool that allows us to seamlessly manage the organic growth of our partners today.

You highlight community-building as part of the offer. How do you measure these initiatives, beyond anecdotal tenant satisfaction?

On days when we run programmed community events, we see a sharp, measurable spike in office attendance. This directly helps our tenants’ HR and admin teams successfully implement their hybrid work models. We track real engagement by monitoring workshop participation and the number of people utilising our shared infrastructure. We anchor these activities within our core pillars People, Place, Planet and Technology. This proves that our brand promises of Place to Grow and Together We Grow translate directly into tenant loyalty, long-term lease renewals, and minimised vacancy rates.

We are speaking in Warsaw, a city dominated by high-rise architecture and a constant race to build the tallest, glassiest tower. Your portfolio, however, focuses heavily on mature assets in prime locations. Does maturity not lose out to novelty in the eyes of modern business?

Quite the opposite – today, maturity is the new modernity. With strict ESG requirements and rising environmental awareness, the greenest building is the one that is already built. Revitalising existing, architecturally excellent buildings in city centres generates a fraction of the carbon footprint compared to building anew. Today, a quarter of our portfolio holds the prestigious ‘Barrier-Free Accessibility’ certification, and also a quarter is certified BREEAM In-Use v6 at the highest Outstanding level.

Maturity also means resilience and being deeply woven into the urban fabric, properties within the ‘15-minute city’ concept – vibrant places with active ground floors, dining, and cultural options. This rich environment and sense of belonging create true reasons to office, genuine motivators for employees to return to the workplace. An organisation’s success depends on its people, and people choose spaces that support their wellbeing, offering more than just an air conditioning system. Our model proves that combining a stable, mature infrastructure with an agile service is the strongest foundation for sustainable business growth.