The first building of GUSTAVS business centre in Teika has been commissioned

According to the decision by the State Construction Control Bureau of Latvia, the first office building of GUSTAVS business centre has been commissioned. The modern building is located in the dynamic Teika neighbourhood, Gustava Zemgala gatve 73, and it has been built and equipped according to highest sustainability requirements of the BREEAM New Construction Excellent Fully-fitted certificate. The project is being developed by GALIO Development and construction works were carried out by the construction company Merks. The new building will soon become the new home for over 1100 employees of SEB Global Services centre in Riga.

The building has six storeys above the ground and two underground parking in two levels. The glazed roof, supported by wooden beams allows abundant natural light to enter the atrium. The building offers spacious, bright and multifunctional work areas, meeting rooms of various sizes, electric car charging facilities, as well as bicycle storage, showers and changing rooms in the underground parking lot.

“Our ambition is to create GUSTAVS as one of the most modern, inspiring and sustainable offices in Riga. We are looking forward to the second half of May when we will start moving to the new premises. GUSTAVS will be an activity-based office with an open plan and different work environments to offer employees the opportunity to choose the most convenient place for their tasks. The new building will become a platform that will allow us to continue the growth of our organization, while ensuring a lot of attention to the well-being of our employees,” emphasizes Aļesja Kirčenko, Deputy Head of SEB Global Services centre in Riga.

"We are truly satisfied and proud that the first building of the GUSTAVS Business Centre will soon be opened and will be able to accommodate more than 1100 employees, becoming a great addition to Riga's dynamic urban environment. This is another special moment for us as a real estate developer, as GUSTAVS Business Centre is our debut project in Latvia – we set a goal from the start to offer our tenants a modern, energy efficient, sustainable building and we have undoubtedly achieved this. Many thanks to SEB Global Services for their trust," says Kaspars Beitiņš, board member of GALIO Development in Latvia.

The total area of the building is 20 700 square meters, of which SEB Global Services will occupy approximately 11 000 square meters. In addition to comfortably furnished work areas, the new building will also provide employees with access to gym, game rooms, parents’ rooms, nap rooms, a meditation room as well as a roof terrace. To ensure employee well-being, a modern air quality and climate control system as well as biodynamic lighting system have been installed in the building.

“Business centre GUSTAVS embodies what the latest-generation office building should look like, and we are grateful to be part of this project team. While creating the new building, we thought not only about the well-being of its tenants, which is ensured by offering them a wide variety of amenities such as a meditation room or the rooftop terrace, but also about the use of green and sustainable solutions like installing 50 solar panels on the roof of the building,” says Andris Bišmeistars, board member and construction director of SIA Merks. “The most challenging part of the entire construction project was the zero cycle, during which we build the underground floors of the building in six months, and only then we could start the construction of the building frame. Thanks to our teamwork and successful cooperation with our partners GALIO Group and SEB Global Services, we managed to overcome all obstacles and create a innovative building which corresponds to the highest requirements of BREEAM Excellent certificate.”

“We are grateful for the opportunity to represent and support SEB in GUSTAVS project. This project is one of the significant milestones for Colliers Technical department, strengthening our leading market positions as fit-out project managers and technical consultancy experts,” comments Valentīns Nozdrins, Colliers Project Management, Construction supervision and Fit-out management department Business Development Director.

Construction of the first GUSTAVS business centre building was started in the summer of 2021. The project of the business centre envisages the construction of three office buildings.

SEB Global Services centre in Riga delivers business functions such as transaction services and cash management, global custody and sub custody operations, compliance and risk, private banking operations, trading operations and trading control, financial crime prevention, IT development and maintenance to other SEB companies in Scandinavia, the Baltics and other parts of the world.

Galio Group is a Lithuania-based company engaged in sustainable real estate development.