According to Michael Klien from WIFO (the Austrian Euroconstruct member institute), 2022 was the second year of recovery for the European construction industry after the outbreak of the pandemic. The year-on-year growth rates of 3% were, however, much lower than in 2021 (+5.8%) owing to the sharp rise in construction costs, Euroconstruct reports in its latest press release.

Obermeyer Helika, one of the largest Czech engineering and construction consulting companies, is expanding its management. In the second week of January, the company appointed Jiri Kos as its new Chief Commercial Officer. 

The volume of land sales for commercial real estate projects in Romania (excluding for traditional industrial and logistics projects) reached around €450 million in 2022, down from almost €800 million euros a year earlier, according to estimates by real estate consultancy Colliers. 

Slovak construction company HSF System SK has completed the general delivery of two more shopping centres in Slovakia. In Kysucke Nové Mesto, which is located in the Žilina region, the shopping gallery Obchodná galéria Naša was opened to the public. In Košice, a new SIKO shopping centre was built.

Negotiators of the Council and the European Parliament reached an agreement aimed at taxing imports based on the greenhouse gas emissions needed to make the products, which would extensively cover the imports of construction materials. 

The EECFA 2022 Winter Construction Forecast Report has been released and yet another downward revision characterizes the forecast for both Southeast Europe and Eastern Europe. Southeast Europe could see shrinkage on the horizon. This, however, comes after a great period of construction between 2016 and 2021, so the market is foreseen to come down from a peak level. In this respect, the 3% decline until 2024 is no drama, in EECFA’s view. The drama is in East Europe where the peak was reached in 2018 and the market was around 10% below that peak level even before the Ukraine war began. Since then, EECFA has paused issuing forecasts in Ukraine and a status report has been prepared. Without Ukraine, the region is expected to reach its bottom in 2023.

Angelika Cieślowska, President of the Management Board of KB DORACO, one of the largest Polish construction companies, talked to Property Forum about the impact of the war in Ukraine on the construction industry, high prices of energy and raw materials and the possible scenarios of market development.

The investment groups Progresus and Halcyon have entered a strategic collaboration with the German firm GARBE Industrial Real Estate CEE. The first joint project will be the construction of an industrial hall in the Czech town of Klášterec nad Ohří covering 20,815 square metres of floorspace and valued at approximately €30 million.

CTP is constructing a brand-new office building in the premium office complex Vlněna, located on a former Brno brownfield site. It aspires to be the most modern building of this type in Central Europe. This 61-metre-high glass building will be located in the centre of the Moravian metropolis, will be completed by mid-2024 and will cost CZK 600 million (€24.65 million), the developer announced.

Josef Wiedermann, Managing Director of UBM Development Czechia talked to Property Forum about recent changes, ESG strategies and provided insight into the company’s ambitious plans for becoming the largest developer of timber buildings in Europe.