Retail is changing rapidly with e-commerce having already brought on the death of several shopping centres overseas. Europe is not exempt from this phenomenon, even though the market in general strongly differs from that of the U. S. An interview with Savino Natalicchio MRICS, Director of the Retail Business Unit at Duff & Phelps Real Estate Advisory Group’s Advisory and Valuation Department in Milan, who talked about the future of retail and changing shopping centre valuation practices.

Prologis announced a successful pilot with Platio, a Hungarian start-up that provides aesthetic and space-saving renewable energy systems by integrating high-performance solar cells into sidewalk paving elements made of recycled plastic. Prologis Park Budapest-Harbor has become the first logistics park in the world to integrate this green technology into its daily operations.

Skanska’s commercial development business unit in Central Eastern Europe will be the first developer worldwide to cover office buildings with semi-transparent perovskite solar cells on a commercial scale. Saule Technologies will be the technology provider. The initial implementation tests are planned for 2018 in Poland.

Panattoni Europe has completed the construction of another e-commerce logistics centre for Amazon. The facility with total useful floor area of 161,500 sqm was erected in Kołbaskowo, near Szczecin. More than 3,000 robots have been put in place to support the employees, using Amazon Robotics technology. The investment was developed to comply with the requirements of BREEAM environmental certification.

According to Property Forum’s survey, real estate professionals in CEE are not afraid of future technologies and they think that just because the way we work is changing that doesn’t mean that we will need less office space in the future.

We live in the era of smart phones, smart watches, smart cars and smart homes. But are we ready for super smart office buildings? An article by By Stefania Baldovinescu, Senior Partner, Real Estate Management Services at Colliers International Romania.

JLL has launched a report exploring the impact of technology, data and digital disruption on work spaces and real estate investment strategies. The report focuses on the office sector over the next 15 years, looking at how occupiers, developers and investors will need to view real estate differently and adapt in order to enhance investment returns and create work spaces that are fit for purpose in a rapidly changing, highly-connected world.