Romanian furniture market-estimated at over EUR 750 milion – has resumed growth for a couple of years and there are encouraging signs that the trend will maintain in 2016 as well, say industry representatives.

As in the years before, the pick-up of construction works on the residential and office segmets is the main enginebehind this evolution,  with an additional boost coming from incresed consumer confidence.

The overall positive evolution of the furniture market in 2015 made many local players feel like this was the year when they could finally „breathe” Alexandru Rizea, the general director of locar manufacturer Lemet, told BR. The pick up of the residential and office markets was and will continue to be an important growth engine for the local furniture market after years of decline in the aftermath of the real estate crash.

Office segmants soarts ahead

With office space delivery going up over the past years and many companies in the process of relocating , the office furniture sengent has been posting positive results for the past years.

“Since 2014, The Romanian office furniture and fit-out market is experiencing accelerated growth.

2015 confirmed it and we look at 2016 and 2017 to keep doing so,” Christophe Weller , managing partner of Corporate Office Solutions (COS), told BR.

This positive trend has also been reflected into the company’s turnover. COS posted an all-time record level of sales of EUR 16.2 million in 2015 and plans to increase the level by 25 percent to EUR 20 million this year. “The delivery of a large number of Class A office space in 2016, along with the wish of many companies to relocate to new facilities and the entry of newcomers in Romania offer this large potential,“ explained Weller.

Indeed, a whopping level of some 360,000 sqm of office space is scheduled for delivery this year in Bucharest as a part of 17 office rojects, say real estate consultants. This level is the highest since 2009 and is good news for companiesc offering office furnituresolutions. Growth also comes from companies that are upgrading their office as a means to attract and retain employees.

“The workspace is now considered as a key element in developing  and retaining talents and boosting employee engagement. Companies are fully aware that the office space needs to be offering well-being to the employees, in order for them to perform better and feel happy at work,” he added. Some global trends in office design that are already applying in Romania include a focus on acoustic alongside the interior design itself and solutions to help employees maintain focus. Physical activity as well as simply standing up can help bolster  creativity so the use of stending-height furniture or ergonomic chairs designed for mobility are anouther trend.