P3 launches a grant programme to better serve the local community.
One of the things that separate long-term owner and developer P3 logistics parks from the competition is its commitment to its core philosophies of innovation, sustainability and active involvement in the communities where it chooses to develop industrial real estate. Nowhere is this more evident than in the P3 Bratislava D2 park in Slovakia, where Peter Jánoši, Managing Director P3 Slovakia, engaged the mayor of the local municipality in a discussion about how best P3 could better serve the local community.
“We’ve had this idea in our heads for ages that we just don’t want to be somebody who contributes to the local village or local municipality only through property taxes, which is very significant income for a village, but we also want to be a good neighbour. We want to show the people that we are not just the logistic park behind the fence but someone who wants to live with the local community,” said Peter.
The new Mayor of Lozorno, Ľuboš Tvrdoň, suggested that perhaps the best way for P3 to become more involved was to create a competition for grant money in which the local residents would submit their projects and required funding and the public would be able to vote via a website on who should be awarded the funds. P3 offered up a total of EUR 6,000 in grant money and local residents submitted their projects.
“This was an idea of the new mayor of the village of Lozorno, about how we can involve the local public in this decision process and basically let them show us what their needs are and what as a village in cooperation with P3 we can do for people,” explained Peter.
Based on the feedback P3 received from the municipality, the public response was overwhelmingly positive and a number of projects were put forward.
“We want to show the people that we are not just the logistic park behind the fence but someone who wants to live with the local community.” - Peter Jánoši, Managing Director P3 Slovakia
“There were various ideas, all were different but all were very good,” said Peter. The first stage of the grant process involved working with the municipality to select the most viable projects and send them through to the second round for a public vote on the winners. The entire project was managed by the municipality and, due to the fact that all of the projects submitted came in below the total sum of the grant on offer, in the end three grants were awarded.
And the winners are…
“The winning project with 213 votes was the local sports club of majorettes in Lozorno. They are going for an international competition in Croatia and they asked for money for the accommodation, transportation and refreshments and so we are happy that we can support these young people in their activities,” explained Peter.
“The second was a really good idea to support the local community through the development of a childrens' suspension cableway,” said Peter, adding the project received 140 votes from the public.
“And third place, which was one of my favorites, was the decoration of the entrance to the village. Bringing a seasonal display and welcoming people entering Lozorno with a nice representative entrance to the village,” said Peter.
More than big boxes on the side of the road.
But P3’s commitment to being a good neighbour doesn’t stop there.
In light of the project’s success Peter explained that “we believe we can do the same in other locations where we are active in Slovakia and maybe extend the activities to do a little more. We are basically introducing new features to our parks where we can invite the public in to enjoy our park, not just to close the gate. We want our parks to be something more, something with a good connection with the public and the people. So, we are building a public park for people’s leisure time and people can come by and relax on the benches in the nice green areas. We are also implementing sports fields where young people can come and exercise, which P3 logistic parks are introducing for the first time,” said Peter.
Peter also explained that he is working on an idea to invite local schools to come and see what goes on inside the warehouses at the parks, to better educate a generation of young people and the wider public and hopefully even attract future employees for the park’s tenants.
“From the outside they only see big boxes next to the highway. But the inside is so various and so interesting that we want to invite the public inside and just show them how interesting it can be,” said Peter. In conclusion he added, “The message is to be a good neighbour and just to cooperate and communicate openly with our neighbours.”
The 237,000+ m2 P3 Bratislava D2 is located approximately 15 minutes northwest of Bratislava, adjacent to the D2 (Prague – Bratislava – Budapest) at the Lozorno exit, with great visibility from the motorway. The park is reachable from Bratislava by city bus. Construction began in March 2006 and currently consists of seven buildings. The largest customers of the park are Schnellecke, Whirlpool, Möbelix, Donaldson, HBPO, Faurecia and PTG Slovakia (now Gundlach Automotive Solutions).