Panattoni BTS and Commercecon together support the establishment of the second Centaurus Foundation centre in Poland to provide a second chance for a thousand more horses and other animals

Panattoni BTS has supported the Centaurus Foundation for many years. Over the 16 years since its establishment, the charity has given a second chance to over 3,000 horses, 1,000 dogs as well as hundreds of cats and other creatures. As part of its support, the developer invited general contractor Commercecon to help out and the company has taken on a broad range of construction tasks as part of the establishment of the Bezpieczna Przystań centre in Modlimowo.

The Centaurus Foundation rescues horses destined for slaughter from breeding, sporting and leisure centres as well as farms, and private stables including horses that pull tourist carriages. Through the charity’s work, every year over 300 animals are given a new life. 

Even more help required

Because of the scale of the work carried out by the Centaurus Foundation, in 2022 the centre in Szczedrzykowice in Lower Silesia ceased to be meet their needs. The decision was taken to establish another centre called Bezpieczna Przystań in the Modlimowo district near Gryfice. With the help of numerous donations 140 ha of land has been purchased.

Experienced brands give their support

Key players in the real estate market were also involved in the development of the new centre. Marek Foryński, the Managing Director of Panattoni BTS invited Commercecon to work with them.

“I have been supporting the Centaurus Foundation for many years and have on many occasions seen the good that its work does. The life of every rescued creature is proof that the work is required and is of huge importance, so I took the decision to support the Foundation in its selection of contractors for the development of its new centre, a task that is hugely important to the growth of the organisation. The centre will provide asylum for yet more rescued animals. Together with Commercecon, we have already developed many superb projects and I know the people in the company to not only be fantastic professionals but also individuals with large hearts. For this reason, inviting the company to be the General Contractor seemed to me to be completely natural,” says Marek Foryński, the Managing Director of Panattoni BTS.

Commercecon is a general contractor for industrial property projects and the company has already completed over 280 developments both in Poland and abroad. The company is also well-known for its sporting charity and community work. (It is the owner and titular sponsor of the ŁKS Commercecon Łódź women’s volleyball team.)

“The need to give back to the community is deeply rooted in us, so we did not hesitate in taking on this project. For many years we, together with our ladies’ volleyball team, have supported an animal shelter in Łódź and we are well aware of the vast amount of help that such centres require. I have known the people in Panattoni BTS for many years and I am very glad that as well as working hand in hand professionally, we can also together support such a worthy cause,” surmises Hubert Hoffman, the owner of Commercecon.

In Modlimowo Commercecon fenced in a vast plot of over 14 hectares in its entirety by placing over 4,800m of fencing with safety netting and a mesh fence of 8,800m. The company has also taken on the preparation work for the construction of the new building on the site of the centre.

Comprehensive support rather than a one-time only action

This is not the first time that Panattoni BTS has been involved in helping those animals that are most in need. At the end of 2022, the decision was taken to launch a long-term programme. Now in those locations where Panattoni BTS constructs bespoke industrial buildings, the team also provides bespoke help to shelters for homeless animals. Through the involvement of the developer and its partners, renovation projects have already been completed for centres in Żary, Tczew and Gniezno, while a shelter in Boguchwała has received around a ton of animal food.