Irina Shkolnik, Managing Partner Forum Group Ukraine 

 

Business activity in Kiev has resumed and is gaining currently. At the beginning of the full-scale invasion the business centers were almost empty - in July 2022 the number of occupied offices did not reach even 30%. But by mid-autumn more than 40% of tenants had already returned to Kiev offices.

And after the 10th of October, when Russia began destroying civilian infrastructure, a new challenge arose - to provide heating for employees of tenants who cannot give up office space: large teams, call centers, employees of accounting and finance departments, high-tech production.

Also, doubts about the possibility to work in winter among the business community were sowed with a statement of George Nikolaev, head of Project Management and Technical Consulting Department of CBRE Ukraine, about the closure of office centers for the heating season due to lack of gas.

Today the traditional preparation for the heating season has become a real challenge for many commercial structures.

First of all, the business centers connected to the centralized heating system, will face the problem of closure. They are more vulnerable for several reasons: lack of gas for heating and possible damage to critical infrastructure due to shelling.

Another category of business spaces are centers that have autonomous heating. They have more opportunities for maneuver and timely preparation for the season will allow them to keep the indoor temperature at 18-19 degrees, which comply with sanitary standards.

We, as a company that creates our own business centers by revitalizing of old industrial urban real estate, originally envisaged our buildings’ maximum autonomy by installing our own boiler-houses.

For the last 8 years we have used solid fuel for heating almost all BCs. Only two BCs which do not have combination boilers, used gas for heating. However, this year its price is too high – from 1.5 to 2.2 thousand dollars per cubic meter.

To provide alternative heating in these two centers, where everything depends on gas, we have purchased diesel generators. In case of an accident they will allow us temporarily to keep the buildings at a temperature comfortable for both employees and the premises themselves.

In other office centers this year the solid fuel boilers , which we purchased in the summer , will still run on firewood. The energy is stored in separately designated areas and in special solid fuel storage rooms.

For stability and a certain consistency in our tenants' office life we have fixed the price of heating this season at the level of the previous one. Thus, our clients avoid increasing the cost of utilities and have the opportunity to plan the budget more concretely. In such mode we plan to work till the end of this year.

In general, the heating season of 2022-2023 will pass according to the following logic: the temperature will be 18-19°C in rented premises where people work, which comply with the current sanitary standards, and 9°C -  in unoccupied premises. This is the temperature that will prevent the fuel systems’ depressurization, increased humidity and mold.

The consequences of a prolonged lack of heating in a room in the winter can lead to losses reaching into the millions, which then have to be invested in new repairs. Nevertheless, we are confident that timely solutions will keep the heating situation under control.