Dimitar Evgeniev - what is it like for you to be a financier in SAC?

How long have you been part of the SAC team? What is your role?

My name is Dimitar Evgeniev. I have been part of the SAC team for five years now. I actually started working with the new owner in 2016 and I deal with finances.

What do you think is the biggest advantage of SAC? What distinguishes Sofia Airport Center?

For me, the biggest advantage is the open space, that there is air for everyone. A big advantage is the parking, which is a big problem for Sofia and the good offices projects, the good environment.

What do you think are the key three advantages that companies look for when looking for a new office and SAC can offer them?

The advantage of SAC for large companies is that we can offer them a large area on one floor. We even have tenants who are on more than one floor, which is a great advantage, where they create their own indoor environment. In a sense, when a company inhabits an entire floor, it has the opportunity to make different reconstructions, it has the space to arrange things so that it is convenient and comfortable for the employees.

How has the office environment changed this year? How did this affect the SAC?

Oh, a lot has changed and I do not believe we will return in the next even 5, 10 years closely to the old way, the usual way of office environment. The most important thing that happened in my opinion is that the heads of the offices understood and made sure that the work could be done well and remotely. There were doubts before that the absence in the office will interfere with the work process, which is already a fact that it does not happen. Everyone adjusted to remote work, to remote rallies, and that's the first thing that changed.

That was the positive. On the other hand, the negative thing I see with telework is that the standard of living in Bulgaria does not allow us the comfort of working from home. Imagine a family that has to divide a living space into two different offices if there are two people working in different fields. Adding the students for whom you have to make one or two classrooms. This thing in the spaces we usually live in is very difficult to achieve and the comfort you have in the office is lost - to be independent, to have your own space in which not to be bothered by other people. By other people I mean people who are not directly involved in your work. This is a problem for me and I personally believe that very soon we will be able to return partially to the old way of working. This will contribute, firstly, to the social contact continuing to be as it was before and secondly, these inconveniences that the home office has for some, right, I say this is not for everyone, but in the mass case when families live in one home - this for me is a problem.

From a financial point of view, as you are a man of numbers, how does renting an office and working in an energy-sustainable building such as SAC, with all these functionalities that it has - how does this really affect a company's budget?

All systems that work in modern buildings; by comparing a building like Sofia Airport Center and we all know what the old socialist office buildings look like, with a different design, with these big corridors and so on - the difference is deadly. In a sense, the comfort that modern buildings and access control systems, air conditioning systems, contributes tremendously to the comfort of the occupants. At the same time, they are very energy efficient. What large tenants are looking for is very important to them and is predictable. We know how much it will cost us to heat and cool the building.

Tenants know that too. We work with them in trust, they have their trust, but we work in open policy ?, which means that they know what our conversations are like. In a sense, we present them to them, they are aware of what we are doing so that they can feel comfortable.

That is, you can advise, assist, consult if they want to change something?

We listen to their requests, right to be comfortable for everyone. We make the necessary adjustments as much as possible and the process is reciprocal - they want something and we try to achieve it.

If you had to describe to someone in one word or a maximum of three words, recommend SAC, say what is SAC, what is Sofia Airport Center, (who would they be)?

First we start with easy access, parking space, a very pleasant environment inside and outside the offices. My favorite place is the park environment, which for me is what makes SAC unique and different from all other offices, because the office complexes in Sofia have already become many, but there are only a handful of places that offer such an environment outside the offices, I say common parts.

You said that the park is your favorite place. Do you have a favorite pet from those of SAC?

Everyone likes it, of course. I am a nature lover. I like everyone, but as the most unique are perhaps our ducks, because they are rare in such an environment. This is their normal habitation, they like it, which is not the case, I have not seen it anywhere else except for parks, which are purposely built for this.

Would you add something else? 

What attracted me from the very beginning, when I started working in SAC, is the great potential of the complex and the challenge to be developed, because the potential is very great. I have lived abroad for many years and I know how the areas around the airports there are developed. With such mixed complexes, logistics buildings and offices, which is very popular all over the world. When I came here and saw these empty fields around us, I thought, yes, there is a lot of potential here.

These hopes are still going down and up the crises at the moment, but the fact is that sooner or later this thing will happen. I was very encouraged by the development of (??) the airport, where many projects were presented and different for the development of the whole area around the airport, which also affects the SAC. So I expect in the near future, not to say short term, but let it be the next 15-20 years, there will be no empty areas, no empty fields, everything will be built with very good infrastructure and it will also be modern.

People worry about the proximity to the airport that it is noisy.

No, it's not noisy. This thing in particular does not bother us in any way and in no way does the airport bother the residents and tenants.

And the distance from the center?

Well, I wouldn't say. I have this as an advantage, because from the eastern districts of Sofia you can get here, even by car in less than 10 minutes, which is also a big advantage for me. I wouldn't say it's remote. In Sofia, the airport, unlike many other capitals in Europe and around the world, is extremely close to the center. This is probably a precedent, in many of the places I've been to the airport is hours away from the center. This sometimes misleads people, because when they hear an airport they think it is terribly far away, but in the case of Sofia this is not the case.