Although the Czech property investment market continues to boom, it is likely that the total investment volume for 2018 will be lower than it was in 2017. Omar Sattar MRICS, Managing Director of Colliers International Czech Republic shared his predictions for the future of the Czech investment market.

Just because technology can do something does it necessarily mean that we want it to? This was just one of the many topics that Czech professionals discussed at the latest RICS event in Prague which analysed the rapidly evolving relationship of property and technology.

A new report by Colliers International and international law firm CMS has found that one-third of professionals in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) believe their workplace will change over the next 2-3 years. The firms’ second annual report, ‘CEE Office Real Estate Compass: Is your workplace Millennial-ready’, looks at the changing nature of the workplace in CEE and includes a survey of 72 CEE-based professionals drawn from the spectrum of geography and seniority.

Carrefour Poland presented an overview of the chain’s activities in 2017, the strategical objectives for 2018 as well as the actions that will be undertaken as part of the transformation plan of the Group, called “Carrefour 2022”.

The pace of change in property is undoubtedly getting faster. The way real estate is being built, managed and valued is being digitised which means that sooner or later many of the current job titles will disappear. Property Forum reports from MIPIM where a discussion held on the Colliers International boat provided a deep insight into the future of the property business.

The key obstacles in the way of technological advancement in the property business are the lack of collaboration and transparency. Property Forum visited the International Property Technology Summit in Moscow, Russia.

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.