Several large Polish real estate companies have joined forces to help refugees in Poland that are fleeing the war in Ukraine under the #Property4Ukraine initiative. The companies will provide a temporary home for 3,000 refugees from Ukraine. They are already moving into four buildings belonging to Echo Investment, Grupa Archicom, Globalworth and Skanska.

There is increased demand for all categories of property assets in Romania, with office and industrial set to continue their growth streak this year. Property Forum talked to Victor Constantinescu, Managing Partner of Kinstellar’s Bucharest office and Co-Head of the firm-wide Real Estate practice, about the impact of the pandemic on Romania’s real estate market and how the country’s property investment potential can be harnessed in the next years.

Reducing carbon emissions is surely becoming a top priority for landlords especially since numerous investors have committed to reaching net-zero emissions. At the same time, they’re also discovering that digital tools can help improve occupancy in office buildings which often stand half-empty these days due to widespread remote working. It’s high time for the industry to use disruptive technology and invest in digitization to improve utilization of space and reduce carbon emissions, says a new report on ESG and digitalization in the office market by workcloud24.

CBRE Group announced a decision to discontinue most of its business in Russia in response to the horrific attack on Ukraine. The company has begun the process of exiting its office in Moscow, which provides leasing, investment, property management and valuation services, and terminating two existing affiliate relationships in the country. Consistent with its contractual obligations, CBRE will continue to manage facilities and provide other essential services for existing multi-national clients that are operating in Russia.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted such a unified response from the international business community that has probably not been observed since the creation of the internet. Companies across the world are standing with Ukraine, discontinuing their operations in Russia and taking their part in helping the victims of the war. Real estate companies in CEE have also stepped up to donate money, space and other resources to those in need. We’ve compiled a list of the humanitarian efforts announced by local and global companies. Luckily, the list below is not complete as many new announcements are made every day. We’ll keep updating it.

VGP has announced a charitable contribution of €3 million to support refugees from Ukraine in Slovakia, Hungary and Romania.

Futureal-Cordia-HelloParks Group and its employees have made a number of commitments to help refugees from Ukraine.

CPI Property Group has committed to significantly reducing its portfolio’s carbon footprint and, at the same time, encourages its tenants to do the same. The Group also invests heavily in special building management systems to reach sustainable operation even faster, says Mátyás Gereben, Country Manager at CPI Hungary who talked to Property Forum about the company’s asset management strategy on the local market.

CTP has committed €10 million to the UN refugee agency UNHCR to provide humanitarian support for more than one million people, mainly women and children, who have fled the war in Ukraine into neighbouring countries.

There is scepticism in the market regarding the correlation between sustainability and financial performance but it is beneficial to be sustainable if you consider the overall life-cycle of the building, explains Oana Stamatin, ESG Chief Officer | CEE & Romania at Colliers. She talked to Property Forum about the challenges and opportunities owners of real estate face in striving for ESG compliance.