The topping-out ceremony has taken place for the .KTW II office building in Katowice, which at 133 metres is the tallest building in the Silesian conurbation.

Dariusz Grzeszczak, CEO of Erbud, one of the largest construction groups in Poland talked to Property Forum about new contracts under pandemic-related circumstances, the situation on the labour market and the future of wooden modular construction.

FMCG discounters have been going from strength to strength throughout Poland in recent years and have attracted growing levels of consumer interest amid the pandemic. What are the growth opportunities for this sector? Jakub Sadowski from Cushman & Wakefield talks about the direction discount retailers are now heading in.

Colliers has started a cooperation with Stena Fastigheter and has taken under management Spark B, its office building in Warsaw’s Wola district.

Panattoni announces the largest lease in the CEP (courier, express and parcel) sector. The developer is to provide InPost with warehouses in eight locations with a total area of ​​75,500 sqm. The centres are to be built this year.

Cushman & Wakefield has won a double mandate to deliver property and asset management for Neopark, an office complex that has been recently acquired by French investment manager Amundi Real Estate. The complex consisting of two office buildings offers a total of 24,600 sqm.

CPI Property Group formed a joint venture with Aroundtown SA and announced a cash offer for the entire issued share capital of Globalworth that the JV did not already hold. The two companies currently own more than 50% of Globalworth’s issued share capital.

The retail park format was gaining ground before the pandemic and continues to grow despite it. Over the past 20 years, the share of retail parks in the entire pool of shopping facilities in the country has increased from 6% to 15% and now they occupy approximately 1.97 million sqm, according to CBRE data. Retail parks remain popular among investors, confirming their strong position, even in times of a pandemic. Their popularity is underpinned by their locality, concentration of stores providing basic needs in one place and a smaller number of customer contact points than in large centres. According to CBRE experts, the current trends indicate that by 2030 retail parks may constitute 28% of all shopping space in Poland.

In Świdnik, near Lublin, a cross-docking terminal of around 5,165 sqm was constructed and has now completed its BREEAM certification with a rating of ‘Very Good’. The centre is partially powered with electricity from renewable energy sources and with the application of sustainable solutions CO2 emissions have been reduced by around 30 pct and water usage has been cut by 67 pct. Almost PLN 50 mln has been invested in the project.

Publicly traded Hungarian real estate brokerage firm Duna House has released its metrics for the first quarter. Duna House started the year with record quarterly volumes in all of its core business lines in the middle of the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. After a series of record highs in 2020, the first quarter, which is usually weak seasonally, brought all-time records in both real estate and credit brokerage in 2021: franchise real estate brokerage grew by 36%, own office real estate brokerage by 37% and credit brokerage by 6% year-on-year.