Help tailored to measure: Panattoni BTS and Dekpol Budownictwo join forces for a shelter in Gniezno

Panattoni, the world’s most active real estate developer, and general contractor Dekpol Budownictwo have once again carried out an initiative in support homeless animals, this time for an animal shelter in Gniezno. The centre has undergone a complete renovation at a cost of around EUR 50,000. Both companies are currently developing a BTS factory for Maxcess in Łubowo.

“Supporting animal shelters is our way of making a positive contribution to the local communities in the places where we work on our development projects,” comments Tomasz Harasimowicz, BTS Project Manager at Panattoni. “An on-site visit to the shelter in Gniezno showed us the enormous scale of the needs. It is with great satisfaction that together with Dekpol Budownictwo we have managed to carry out extensive work that will completely change the lives of the animals in care while improving the working conditions of employees. We also bought a range of goods that according to the management the shelter most needed.” he adds.

“Our shelter hadn’t been renovated for decades, which is why the scale of the challenge was huge. We faced leaking roofs, draughty windows and doors, no warmth and ineffective heating as well as the wear and tear of time and all of this made it harder for us to help the animals in our care,” says Katarzyna Fikus, the manager of the Gniezno shelter and she adds, “The layout of the space itself also presented problem. It was a real sore point for us not to have a place for cats or an essential quarantine area. The modernisation of the building is going to make our lives much easier and will help us maintain hygiene and a sanitary regime to ensure safety, comfort and appropriate conditions for our animals and workers.”

As part of the assistance, the centre was thoroughly renovated. The work began with demolishing and dismantling the old installations followed by construction and finishing work, including bricklaying, plastering and painting the building’s walls and its pens, placing partition walls, constructing insulated suspended ceilings, repairing the roof, installing doors and windows, rewiring the electrics and plumbing work. The renovations took a month and were completed on February 9^th.

“It has been a great pleasure to once again bring assistance with Panattoni BTS to those who cannot ask for help themselves. One of our key values at Dekpol Budownictwo is responsibility, which we show not only on the building site and to our clients but also to local communities and for the environment,” says Mariusz Niewiadomski, Operations Director and Member of the Management Board at Dekpol Budownictwo. “The renovated shelter in Gniezno will certainly represent an improvement to the conditions not only for the animals that live there but also for the workers who look after them. We would like to thank everyone who was involved in working on this worthy cause.”

“There are many ways to support our shelter other than donating money and items. We require more volunteers. More hands to do the work are needed, such as someone to walk the dogs. The time to file tax returns is also approaching so this is the ideal time to support our operations, for which we would be sincerely grateful,” adds Katarzyna Fikus.

An assistance programme and not just a one-off. The comprehensive renovation of the animal shelter in Gniezno is part of a larger programme that was begun at the end of 2022 by Panattoni BTS. In the locations, where BTS projects are developed, the developer working with its clients and general contractors supports those shelters most in need that provide asylum for animals in distress. The pilot project was the OTOZ Animals shelter in Tczew, where the developer was extending a complex for Flex. Later the city animal shelter in Żary was completely renovated and a shelter in Boguchwała near Rzeszów received 500 kg of specialist food for cats and dogs. “I am proud that the enthusiasm, engagement and sensitivity of our team and our business partners have led to the creation of a long-term assistance plan for animal shelters in the locations where we build our BTS buildings,” surmises Marek Foryński, the BTS Managing Director at Panattoni.