Nordic development giant Skanska takes the lead in PropertyEU's annual ranking of the Top Office Developers in Europe for the third year running in 2020, followed by France's Altarea Cogedim and AXA Investment Managers - Real Assets in second and third place.

Skanska''s P180 office development in Warsaw

Skanska''s P180 Office Development in Warsaw

Skanska delivered 470,887 m2 of office space in the three years between 2017 and 2019, with Altarea Cogedim completing 390,250 m2 and AXA IMRA building 350,268 m2.

PropertyEU welcomed three new survey participants this year (Covivio, Edge and Immobel), bringing the total number of ranked players to 13. Together they delivered over 2.5 million m2 of space between them from 2017 to 2019. Discounting the new participants, this is nearly 5% higher than the total delivered in 2016-2018.

The top three developers – Skanska, Altarea Cogedim and AXA IMRA – account for nearly half the total space delivered, illustrating how the market is dominated by a handful of players.

PropertyEU’s annual ranking of the Top Office Developers in Europe measures not only how much office floor space has been delivered over the past three years, but also how many square metres are in the pipeline for the coming three-year period.

This rolling research provides an interesting snapshot of developers’ plans. This year, the 13 companies that took part in our survey reported plans to develop nearly 6 million m2 of office space (see chart) in the coming years. Of this, close to 2.2 million m2, or 37%, is already under construction. The pipeline volume compares with just over 5 million m2 recorded last year, when 10 companies recorded their plans.

As in previous years, the bulk of the planned developments are in the hands of just a few players. CEE developer HB Reavis stands head and shoulders above the rest with nearly 1.1 million m2 planned, followed by similarly CEE-focused Skanska at 976,191 m2, AXA IMRA (927,461 m2) and Altarea Cogedim (864,700 m2).

The full ranking plus profiles of the top 3 developers and accompanying article on the Future of the Office appears in PropertyEU's September issue