Philippe Cayol, General Director for Poland at Bouygues Immobilier, talks to Krzysztof Pawlik.

¡ö What is the Bouygues Immobilier Group?
Bouygues Immobilier Polska belongs to the French Group Bouygues which is one of the major construction groups in the world. There are five major areas covered by Bouygues activities: telephone, television (Channel One in France and partially Eurosport in Poland), construction (with projects at Saski Park or Teatralny Square), Colas in the road construction sector, and Bouygues Immobilier in the developer sector. Each of the five parts, though it belongs to the same group, is independent in its operations. Our company, Bouygues Immobilier, as I have already mentioned, plays the role of the Group¡¯s developer.

¡ö How long has the Polish subsidiary been operating? How do you perceive the Polish market as compared to Western Europe?
Bouygues Immobilier began its operations in Poland in 2001. Bouygues Immobilier is known to the French market for over 50 years now and is currently a market leader. We began our European expansion 15 years ago by founding our subsidiary in Spain. Following Bouygues Immobilier¡¯s success on the Spanish market, in the next years we established four more European branches¡ªin Portugal, Germany, Belgium and Warsaw. Today we have 21 branches in France alone and we coordinate our European operations by the means of the five branches that I have just mentioned.

As for the reasons behind entering the Polish market, I can simply say that it was the result of following our general investment policy. We have three major conditions that we always investigate before entering any foreign market: first, that there are normal business and market conditions in the place; second, that there are long-term credit possibilities available; and third, that we will be able to introduce something new to the market. The fact that Bouygues Immobilier has successfully operated on the Polish market since 2001 proves that Poland has fulfilled all three conditions.

¡ö How important for your company is the fact of holding an ISO certificate?
Our company has always put a strong emphasis on the overall quality and customer service. Our motto has always been, ¡°Do everything to satisfy our client.¡± Basically, the model that we have created and try to follow is placing our client in the central position of any process, surrounded by our company¡¯s collaborators working together in order to fulfill all the needs of our customer.

The ISO 9001 certification reflects the great devotion that our company has for following its four key values¡ªattentiveness, quality, innovation and audacity.

¡ö What are your current and future projects?
Now we are mainly focusing on the residential property market in the Warsaw area. We are following our objective which is to develop top quality and attractive housing for not necessarily the highest price, but with regard to the financial status of Poles and the situation in Poland. We have a few very nice projects in Warsaw, including one in Kabaty district and one on Dobra Street. Our main goal for the future is of course increasing the range of our offer. At first we would like to become a recognized developer in Warsaw. Next, we plan to use our financial resources, as well as our know-how, to develop operations with other investors, potentially also with other developers.