Hungary’s most modern office building east of the Danube is built in Debrecen

Several thousand new jobs may be created in the new shared service centre. The number of people working in the SSC sector in Debrecen may be doubled by the end of next year.

A spectacular, futuristic-style office building is erected on the plot of Debreceni Vagyonkezelő Zrt. at 4 Tüzér Street. As many as 2,500 new jobs may be created in the SSC sector in connection with the construction of the category A+ office complex, with a total floor space of 22 thousand square metres. The municipality would like a new office complex to facilitate the further growth of the local shared services sector, which has been developing continuously in the city. The building will also feature a restaurant, as well as an underground parking garage for 205 cars. According to the plans, Forest Offices Debrecen is supposed to open by next autumn.

As Dehir.hu reported earlier, the office complex is designed by Bord Architectural Studio, the company of Péter Bordás, who was the architect behind the designs of the new Nagyerdei Stadium as well. The contract for the construction has been awarded to HUNÉP Universal Zrt.

The cornerstone of the LEED Gold certified office building was laid at the construction site on Wednesday morning. Participants at the event included László Papp, mayor, László Pósán, MP, József Mészáros, member of the board of directors of Debreceni Vagyonkezelő Zrt., as well as Gyula Szűcs, president and CEO of HUNÉP Universal Építőipari Zrt.

In his speech, László Papp said that the laying of the cornerstone of Debrecen’s latest and most modern office building is a very important moment in the life of the city. He called the investment a major chapter in the economic history of the city, and emphasized that the New Phoenix Plan has put the development of the city on new foundations. Based on a recognition and the serving of the market demands, it has been achieved that there is continuous interest on the part of investors, as is also the influx of capital and the increase of the number of jobs in the city.

The mayor said that the economy of Debrecen has gained extraordinary impetus, and the city is able to fulfil the role of a regional centre also in the economic sense of the word.

“We must create the infrastructural conditions that function as a call out to investors : the economic infrastructure has particular significance within the New Phoenix Plan, the development of the southern industrial zone has also started, where public utilities are installed on an area of approximately 200 hectares , so that we could also welcome some major investors here from 2018. Debrecen has become the city that is the second largest base in Hungary, after Budapest, also for the service sector, after investments in manufacturing and other production,” said László Papp.

As the mayor said, more than three thousand people are employed in the SSC sector in Debrecen. He emphasised that the approximately HUF 100 billion of capital was invested in the city between January 2016 and the first half of 2017. A major step forward is now being taken in the service sector of the Debrecen, since this investment makes it possible to create more than two thousand new jobs in SSC.

The mayor noted that other office building developments already foreshadow that the number of people working in the SSC sector in Debrecen may be doubled by the end of 2018, which will mean a total of 6,000 people working in this sector.

László Papp underlined that currently there is no other category A+ office building east of the Danube, and therefore, the city can be proud, as without the investment no actual responses could be given to investors’ needs. As he said, in 2016, nearly 800 new jobs were created in the sector, which partly came from the increase of the capacity of employers already established in the city, and partly the appearance of a new shared service centre. This year may bring yet another success story, as the mayor hopes to introduce a new player in the sector soon, which may already establish itself in the new office building. As he said, they managed to raise interest in the field of office building developments.

Keeping qualified young people in the city

“Debrecen could not be successful without the appropriate education background, and it can only be a strong industrial-economic centre if the educational capacities can also serve the needs of the investors. The service industry receives the necessary support on both the secondary and tertiary levels of education, as thousands of students graduate from the university in the fields of IT and economics. The aim is to keep these young people in the city, and this can also contribute to reaching the desired population increase to 250,000. Once we succeed in this, Debrecen can be the largest city in the region, and this investment also contributes to that purpose,” the mayor said.

László Pósán, member of the Hungarian Parliament, emphasized that the aim of the Modern Cities Programme is to put county seats in a position so that we would no longer live in a single-centred, top-heavy country, but the countryside would also be strengthened. This aim has significantly affected and will continue to affect Debrecen as well. He called it especially beneficial that an initiative of economic policy would be combined with the local endeavours in such a way that the economy of Debrecen is continuously enriched. As he said, Debrecen has always tried to find the opportunities in the interest of the development of the city.

The politician emphasized that Debrecen is rare in the country, since there are great schools and universities in other cities, but they have not come together with other players to form such a dynamic unity as they did in Debrecen. “For centuries, Debrecen has been able to supply professionals for the whole country, and this activity is now closely linked with the efforts of municipal development. Such a strong cooperation that has been created here between the university and the city is very rare. Debrecen will be able to take advantage of this also in the future. This investment is an excellent example for all of this, as it proves that highly trained professionals have excellent career opportunities in Debrecen, and everyone can find here what they are looking for,” the MP emphasized. Pósán added that it is necessary to raise more awareness that in case a talented young person wants to make a career, they should not go to Budapest, which has already reached the limits of its capacities, but should rather stay here, since Debrecen offers a wealth of new opportunities.

József Mészáros, the president of the board of directors of Debreceni Vagyonkezelő Zrt., the municipal asset management holding company, highlighted that they have to achieve certain municipal objectives, and accordingly they support the county seat in becoming a major regional economic centre by 2020, and they strive to provide this assistance on a continuous basis by way of creating the necessary infrastructure. He emphasized that the opportunities of the SSC sector have become narrower in the capital city, mainly due to the shortage of young professionals speaking foreign languages. Debrecen can currently exercise a bigger force of attraction, and with the current investment, the lack of office space of high technical quality has also been solved.

Gyula Szűcs, president and CEO of HUNÉP Universal Építőipari Zrt., said that the company is in a similar situation as it was when building the office complex on Vezér Street, where the investment created 1,500 new jobs, but the present development even surpassed that increase. The majority of the SSCs provide services for various subsidiaries of its parent company, but some also serve other companies, develop software, elaborate technological solutions, or provide customer services.

The video recorded on the site is accessible at the following link:
http://www.dehir.hu/debrecen/forrest-office-alapko/2017/08/30/

Source: www.dehir.hu