Jan Demeyere, Speedwell: “The rise of construction prices will hit the market very hard this year”

“2021 has been a year of growth for Speedwell, both in terms of team members and number of projects.“ Jan Demeyere, co-founder Speedwell, told The Diplomat-Bucharest.

“We believe the emerging trends of the two previous years will continue to grow. We are referring here to the increasing demand for bigger surfaces when it comes to the living space and the one dedicated to terraces, for green spaces and facilities located within walking distance from home. These were main goals in all our projects even before the pandemic period and the emerging trends are a reconfirmation of the fact that Speedwell’s strategy is the right one.”

COMMITMENT TO PERFORMANCE | BUSINESS EVOLUTION,  PROJECTS, PERFORMANCE, FIGURES  

“2021 has been a year of growth for Speedwell, both in terms of team members and number of projects.

Our team is rapidly growing as we are acquiring new talented professionals to join it so that it can support the increasing number of projects. It has now reached 58 members of our SuperTeam.

In terms of projects, our portfolio has also developed as we have announced 3 new ones before the end of 2021: SpacePlus, our first industrial development, Paltim, the first mixed-use project we are going to build in Timisoara and another mixed-use one, this time in Bucharest, that we have announced the land acquisition for just before the year’s end.“

What were your company’s business achievements in 2021?

“The previous year has been quite a busy one for Speedwell. Among our achievements I would say the delivery of our MIRO project, its hand over to our tenant KPMG and the sale of our project, Record Park Offices in Cluj, were some of the biggest. Also, let’s not forget the delivery of our residential projects, Record Park in Cluj-Napoca and Triama Residence in Bucharest, in the first half of 2021. These achievements are rooted in the fact that we were able to organize our team in a professional way and prepare them for a growing future.“

STRATEGY & VISION |  RETHINK STRATEGY & PRIORITIES

What challenges have you faced as a CEO/ leader during 2021?

“I think we all learned to face a changing world, a world where we took things for granted. The pandemic has shown us that as a leader you have to guide and stand strong when the future suddenly is not so certain anymore. Adapting another way of work and accepting and implementing new technologies in a much faster speed then other years while still focusing on our business was a real challenge. Combine this with the fact that we almost doubled our team last year and you will understand that we are appreciating the immense work performed by the Speedwell Team.“

What priorities and business strategy focus do you have in 2022?

“Speedwell’s business strategy is reflected into the main themes that can be found in the company’s DNA. That is building sustainable projects, with a focus on TOD and growing communities.

We intend on continuing to shape the city’s urban landscape by developing high standard projects that will improve the quality of life, no matter if we’re referring to those living and using the developments or the community living in the area. Sustainability has been and will continue to be our main reference points when it comes to our concepts. We are striving to build sustainable, futureproof projects meant to add value, according to international standards and this can be seen in the certifications we received, usually BREEAM Excellent or WELL. Furthermore, all our projects are based on the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) concept – inserting day-to-day necessary services into developments that combine residential, office and retail components. The TOD concept brings all these facilities close to home, within a walking distance of 15min and embedded in the existing urban grid.”

PEOPLE & COMMUNITY | FOCUS ON SAFETY, SOCIAL APPROACH, LEVERAGE THE POWER OF COMMUNITY

“We are a developer and I tend to believe that our CSR is embedded in the way we want to develop projects. We have a strong belief in rejuvenating and bringing new life to parts of the city that have been left behind or parts of the city that are missing quality of life. Our project in Timisoara, close to the city center, was an old industrial site. The buildings were dirty, some parts polluted, and other buildings still had an industrial heritage. For me, creating a community that provides work, quality of life, greenery, social and public spaces in respect with the history, in respect with the sustainability and respecting the urban grain is embedded in Speedwell’s mantra.

For our projects we are bringing together urbanists, engineers, landscape designers, architects, and people from the community together before we start designing a project. These stakeholders all have the same goal, and that goal is to create projects that are accessible for all and that have the strength to create sustainable communities.”

KEEN ON GREEN  |  SUSTAINABLE, GREENER,  COMMUNITY & ENVIRONMENTALLY-FOCUS

“Speedwell incorporates environmentally friendly design techniques, materials, and technologies into the building process. The projects’ architecture focuses on both its users’ health and sustainable environment while protecting natural resources.

Our team pays special attention to various aspects of the design and development process to guarantee the residents: health, wellbeing, and demands through the project measures towards energy and water consumption, land use and ecology, health wellbeing, transport, and so on. Hence, visual comfort, acoustic performance, accessibility are essential elements, while energy and water consumption are closely monitored and reduced.”

DIGITAL DNA  | GRASPING TECH, DIGITAL INNOVATION, CUSTOMER -DRIVEN, BUILDING NEW BRIDGES

Which were the major directions in your company in 2021 where digital & tech made major difference?

“Speedwell has collaborated with two IT&C companies with the purpose of digital innovation, SigTree and Cegeka.

With Sigtree, a tech startup we have met during an event focused on digitalization, we have collaborated on the implementation of a platform that automates building maintenance for an improved customer experience when it comes to our residents.

With Cegeka, we have worked on creating Capacity – a mobility platform focused on smart parking and EV charging. The goal of this platform was to leverage license plate recognition, Cloud, IoT, and mobile technologies to achieve improved driver experience, automated management of assets, optimized availability of the parking spots and an integrated experience for electric vehicles charging.

Furthermore, for MIRO, Cegeka has come up with a solution that integrates EV charging hardware and user flows in the platform and developed a mobile app to facilitate identifying the drivers and giving them the correct access to use the parking and charging assets.

The implementation of BIM from the design of a project to be used until the final take-over and creating the digital twin is still work in progress but is looking very promising. This way we can not only professionalize the design but increase the communication and workflow during the full development from the first line to the execution with our project management team.

We are also working on the quality control before we deliver to the client and this year this will be even more a focus point then last years. Software like Dalux during the delivery of a project are helping us a lot and we are extremely lucky that our team is also pushing to integrate new technologies.”

What trends do you anticipate for this year?

“We believe the emerging trends of the two previous years will continue to grow. We are referring here to the increasing demand for bigger surfaces when it comes to the living space and the one dedicated to terraces, for green spaces and facilities located within walking distance from home. This were main goals in all our projects even before the pandemic period and these emerging trends are a reconfirmation of the fact that Speedwell’s strategy is the right one.

On the other hand, we have seen the rise of construction prices and this will hit the market very hard this year. New sustainability laws will push these prices even higher and it is up to us as developer to make sure that the quality is guaranteed. A mature residential market in line with European standards is pushing the prices and the quality to a higher level.”

2021 IN 3 KEY WORDS

“Challenging, persistence and evolution”

2022 IN 3 KEY WORDS OR MORE

“We are optimistic about what 2022 is going to bring and what is going to happen in the long run. We have been excited in the beginning of each year and we weren’t disappointed by the end of it, on the contrary. Speedwell’s organic growth has surpassed our expectations.

The Romanian real estate market is a dynamic one with a lot of room for growth.

We believe that further differentiation between good projects and others will occur, and people will understand what makes a development better than others and we are working on always being on the better side.”