New office property classification is in effect in Kyiv

Kyiv, October 10 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Some leading international consulting companies and players of the Kyiv commercial real estate market have finished drawing up the new classification of office property in Kyiv, representatives of international consulting companies and companies which were members of the working group of the Office Property Committee on the basis of Real Estate Club (URE Club) said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.

They said that the new classification took effect on October 9.

"We set a goal of improving standards and quality of the office market. We've drawn up a rather detailed classification. It consists of 40 criteria: 30 mandatory for A class, 10 recommended and 18 mandatory for class B and 22 recommended," Director of Real Estate Management Department at IDP company (Kyiv) Hanna Skrypkina said.

She said that the main specifics of the new office property classification of Kyiv is the absence of obligatory pegging of A class facilities to the so-called downtown business district of the capital and the absence of class C.

The new classification takes into account recommendations of the UN regarding the sub-criterion as accessibility for people with disabilities, she said.

She said that the URE Club's Office Property Committee accepts proposals and remarks from market players on possible amendments to the new classification until January 1, 2015.

Skrypkina also said that according to the new classification, criteria of location and transport hub are mandatory for existing projects, while one or two mandatory criteria could be removed from other sections.

From January 1, 2018, there exceptions are canceled, she said.

Head of Kyiv office of Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) Dmytro Sennichenko said that taking into account new criteria, it is expected that around 10-15% of office projects will be shifted from class A to class B and reversely.

Sennichenko said that in Q3, 2014, 1.8 million square meters of professional office property is registered in Kyiv.

Senior Client Manager of the Office Agency of DTZ Ukraine Denys Tuchkov said that some criteria of the previous classification of offices in Kyiv entered the new classification.

In turn, managing partner of CB Richard Ellis (CBRE) in Ukraine Radomyr Tsurkan said that along with the development of the Kyiv's office property market and growing demands of leasers to landlords, the previous classification has become out of date.

Senior Manager of the Real Estate Services Department of EY in Ukraine (earlier Ernst & Young) Serhiy Kekukh expressed confidence that the introduction of the new classification will allow structuring the office market and establishing clearer relations between market players.