“It isn’t just during the pandemic that large letting deals shake the market, and the Kaunas office market is no exception. However, the IT sector is one of the most resilient to this crisis, and due to vast competition, it is setting the highest standards for staff welfare and workplaces. This deal once more recognises the BLC business centre, whose 13-floor building will now be fully occupied by tenants and its combined 20,000 square metres of space will reach 90 per cent occupancy,” says Urban Inventors board chairman L. Šepetys.
The Blaster cluster, which was founded five years ago, comprises four well known IT companies: TeleSoftas, SneakyBox, Adeo Web, and Tandemum. According to L. Šepetys, clusters such as Blaster are an engine for the entire city, because at the global level, companies offering IT services are rapidly growing, and a constant hunger for good specialists.
“With the global situation changing, we must be flexible and change our working style and communal habits. When the lockdown ends and we move into the new premises, TeleSoftas’ staff will still be able to choose a combination of working remotely and at the office. The arrangement of the office’s internal spaces was prepared with a focus on ensuring a healthy and safe working environment – we will abandon open planning, each floor will host no more than 2-3 teams,” Algirdas Stonys, CEO at TeleSoftas, commented on the company’s decision to move into the BLC business centre.
“Furthermore, we have ambitious plans for the future – we wish to grow and contribute to the development of Kaunas city. We aim for Kaunas to be the place where the best software in the world is created, and our team can be constantly supplemented by specialists of the highest class. We have been on the lookout for new spaces, which would not only allow us to continue expanding our team but would also foster a sense of community. It is symbolic that the new office’s windows open up into Vienybės Square, which allows combining work and leisure. In the future, we plan to welcome international guests, and so we are glad we will be settled in a strategically convenient and appealing location in the very heart of Kaunas.”
“As we are currently responsible for Blaster’s operations, we are certain that the move to the BLC business centre will open up new opportunities for the cluster’s members to create together. We also hope that the new spaces will grant more opportunities to present our work to the public and involve it in new initiatives related to IT and digitalisation,” explains Liudas Ubarevičius, head of the studio SneakyBox and coordinator at Blaster, explained, “It is excellent that this will already happen this year and given how we at Blaster are partners of Kaunas 2022, this will be an excellent opportunity to contribute to the European Capital of Culture programme, and offer unique activities for both our staff members and guests.”
According to Urban Inventors commerce head G. Muliuolis, the opinions of the tenants’ staff members in choosing offices are gaining increasing traction, and feeling positive at work and in the office is one of the most important motivating factors.
“Caring for your staff members, their working conditions, their rest and health is something that is becoming a concern not only for the tenants but also for office developers. The BLC business centre looks to become Lithuania’s first to receive Fitwel certification, which recognises that the building focuses on the staff members’ physical and emotional health,” Giedrius Muliuolis, the head of the Urban Inventors commerce section, says. According to Muliuolis, the new offices will be furnished for the Blaster cluster at BLC by summer.
The BLC business centre in Kaunas near Unity Square, which was renewed by SBA, is being developed by the company Urban Inventors, which manages the Green Hall business valley in Vilnius. SBA has invested around 40 million euros into BLC 2 and Unity Square.
About Blaster
The Blaster cluster was founded in 2015, and is currently comprised of the following companies: TeleSoftas, SneakyBox, Adeo Web and Tandemum. Combined, they employ over 300 IT experts.
The cluster brings together rapidly growing IT companies, which create high added-value tech products and services. Blaster has set out to increase the potential of innovations, international competitiveness and sales volumes, and to develop a package of appealing products and services for various clients. The solutions developed by the cluster’s members are used in various industries: telecommunications, healthcare, logistics, financial services, education and elsewhere. Blaster is a community for creative tech specialists who enjoy challenges that help realise their ideas.
About SBA
SBA is one of the largest business groups in the country. It includes real estate innovation company Urban Inventors, which is developing the Green Hall business valley in Vilnius and the BLC business centre in Kaunas, it also includes the investment management company Capitalica Asset Management, which manages the business centre Kauno Dokas in Kaunas, Vilnius’ 135 and is developing the modern office complex Verde in Riga’s Skanste district. The SBA furniture manufacturing group is comprised of SBA Baldų Kompanija, which manages Klaipėdos Baldai, Šilutės Baldai, Germanika, Visagino Linija, Mebelain and Laminn, as well as the soft furniture manufacturer Kauno Baldai. The SBA textile sector is comprised of Utenos Trikotažas, as well as Šatrija and Mrija.
