Coffee with Craig Show – daily CRE news covering the CEE region, Thursday, June 29, with Winston Norman, Editor and Chief of EuropaProperty.com.
Nearshoring shifts the focus of business to Poland
Cushman & Wakefield estimates that warehouse occupancy and operating costs in Poland are around 50 percent lower than in some Western European countries. This is naturally shifting the focus of business and nearshoring to Poland.
According to Cushman & Wakefield’s report Industrial Evolution – Nearshoring: Opportunities for Real Estate in EMEA, CEE is beyond doubt one of the regions attracting growing levels of interest from investors considering relocation of manufacturing. Countries such as Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Croatia, the Baltic states and the Western Balkans are geographically closer and offer greater business flexibility and resilience.
“In the aftermath of the pandemic and hostilities in neighbouring Ukraine, the relocation of assembly and manufacturing plants closer to the final production place or consumer markets is no longer just a buzzword but a real phenomenon which is expected to gain traction on the Polish warehouse market,” says Damian Kołata, Head of Industrial & Logistics Agency Poland, Head of E-Commerce CEE, Cushman & Wakefield.
“For European manufacturers, operating in Central and Eastern Europe means shorter delivery times, lower transport costs and faster order fulfilment. This benefits many sectors, including automotive, industrial and electronics” adds Adrian Semaan, Senior Research Consultant, Industrial & Logistics Agency, Cushman & Wakefield.
Panattoni to develop 34,000 sqm BTS for Fortaco Group
Panattoni is developing another manufacturing plant in the Silesia region. The developer is to provide a BTS centre to the Fortaco Group, a provider of heavy off-road machinery and maritime industry solutions. The €42 million project will improve the internal manufacturing processes at Fortaco. Savills advised the Fortaco Group during the selection process.
Marek Dobrzycki, the Managing Director at Panattoni, commented. “Fortaco Group already owns eleven factories including two in Poland: in Wrocław and Janów Lubelski. Now the development of yet another has been launched. This demonstrates the huge potential the country holds for international manufacturers that want locations in Central Europe with excellent connections to the most important markets on the continent.”
Segro announces expansion of executive committee and coo retirement
Following the announcement regarding the retirement of its Chief Operating Officer Andy Gulliford, SEGRO also announced that it has taken this opportunity to expand its executive leadership structure.
SEGRO is appointing James Craddock, Paul Dunne, Andrew Pilsworth and Marco Simonetti to its Executive Committee, reporting to David Sleath, Chief Executive.
David Sleath, Chief Executive of SEGRO, said: “The time is right to evolve our organisational model to take full advantage of the exciting opportunities ahead, and to ensure we continue to meet the expectations of our customers, shareholders, colleagues and other stakeholders.”
Velis receives investment to accelerate international expansion
PropTech company Velis Real Estate Tech has announced a significant investment from a group of international investors. Additionally, Velis’ leadership team will be strengthened by new management and an experienced Board of Directors.
“We are on a journey to improve and digitize all aspects of managing real estate assets, and we are just getting started,” said Adam Penkala, Co-Founder of Velis. “We are excited to partner with the team at Velis and focus on helping the Company fulfil its vision to become a global leader in providing best-in-class building and facility management software solutions, and advanced ESG reporting capabilities, to its global real estate clients,” added Pawel Malon.