So I caught up online with Tomas Kaderabek of the Asociace developerů on Friday afternoon to get his take on the huge planning changes recently.

He says the biggest shift for planners and developers would result from greater simplicity and the embrac of density. That’s because the new Metropolitan Plan is far less granular, moving from dozens of land-use functions to just four. This allows for increased density and height, which are essential for creating more economical and ecological urban environments.

Also, the modernized decision-making process under the new construction law will move permitting from fragmented municipal offices to a state-managed agenda. This shift ensures the state is 100% responsible for the process, promoting consistency and reducing the administrative burden that has historically held back infrastructure project.

Municipalities should win, however, because contrary to concerns about a loss of democracy, local councils actually gain more power over their own land-use plans, says Kadeřábek. They retain the right to decide what they want for their communities, even if that means blocking a specific development.

The post Tomáš Kadeřábek (Assoc. of Developers): A giant leap for planning! first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

That flat structure underpins how Demaco has evolved: from service provider into a developer holding its own long-term portfolio. “We are really a full-scope developer. We start from sourcing the land, permitting, looking for the client, leasing, construction — and even after completion, managing the properties,” Raus says.

The conversation ranges across the shocks that have defined the past few years, from the pandemic through interest rate volatility, and the nearshoring wave now pushing manufacturers to anchor supply chains in Central Europe. Demaco’s answer is proactive risk management and a strengthened internal infrastructure to carry its growth targets through 2026.

The post New podcast episode! With Demaco’s new CFO Zdeněk Raus first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

“The growth of the company naturally brings the need to strengthen the structure and responsibilities within the group. Zdeněk has been a long-term partner in managing the company and his entry into ownership is a natural outcome,” Budař said.

Raus said the step reflects his deepening commitment to the group. “I know Demaco in detail — from a financial standpoint, to its management and individual projects, and it makes sense for me to take on ownership responsibility,” he said. “This means above all a commitment to contribute to the group’s further growth while maintaining financial stability and sustainable financing.”

The company will continue as a family-run firm in which partners bear direct, personal responsibility for decisions. “The   family character isn’t just a marketing label for us, it’s the way we run the company. Behind every decision there are specific people who bear responsibility. We want to preserve this principle regardless of how much the company grows,” said Kaizr.

Demaco now operates seven industrial parks with more than 60 tenants and a portfolio exceeding 180,000 sqm of industrial space across Kolín, Ostrava, Pardubice, Valašské Meziříčí, and Brno. It’s also carrying land capacity of over 100,000 sqm that’s earmarked for development. As a general contractor, the group is currently delivering projects worth CZK 2 billion. It focuses on manufacturing and technologically demanding facilities under its Design & Build model.

Demaco has been built without external capital and currently maintains a group-wide LTV of approximately 41%. It covers the full project cycle (design and permitting, construction plus asset, property, and facility management) with a team of 19.

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The post Zdeněk Raus named equity partner at Demaco first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

As Pavel Novak (Head of Office Agency at Savills Prague) told me more than 55% of Prague’s office stock was built before 2010. And only 12% of the market has been built since 2020.

“You have more than 200 buildings that are more than 20 years old,” he told me on ThePrime Pod. “I think that’s a bigger issue right now than the lack of new development. That’s just some of the background to the current situation, in which new lease deals are longer than ever and renewals dominate new leasing.

Companies face a brutal choice between costly relocations and ageing space — and some global occupiers are starting to ask whether Prague still makes sense at all. The situation plays into the hands of real estate investors interested in a sector with a miniscule amount of new stock. But it’s not helping build Prague as a dynamically growing place to do business.

The post New podcast! Pavel Novak (Savills) on the worsening office squeeze first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

The issue isn’t whether this or that tariff is justified, he argues. The problem is elsewhere.

“You’re destabilizing currency markets, you’re destabilizing government bond markets, you’re destabilizing credit markets, you’re destabilizing equities. In doing all of that, you’re upending financial modelling to a certain extent. And that then does affect real estate investment.”

“This risk-free rate in dollars is becoming unstable. And as it does that, it automatically makes financial markets more volatile.”

But at least he’s got good news for real estate landlords and investors with assets in place.

The post New Podcast with Mark Robinson (EnCor Wealth Mgmt) first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

The post ThePrime Pod: Karel Stransky on the regionalization of supply chains first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

The post ThePrime Pod: Michal Stupavsky (Conseq) first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

Earlier in the year, CTP and DHL Supply Chain completed the transformation of a warehouse in CTPark Pohořelice into a carbon-neutral facility. It was done in line with the tenant’s ESG commitments to going carbon neutral as quickly as possible. Constructed in 2004, the original hall ran on gas heating and older lighting systems.

DHL approached CTP with its request to upgrade the warehouse in order to meet its carbon neutrality targets set for 2025–2030. They provided CTP with specific requirements, outlining the energy efficiency and carbon reduction goals they needed for their building. CTP installed heat pumps and upgraded the warehouse’s lighting and control systems, ensuring through a variety of studies that the project would attain maximum efficiency.

Michal Dospěl (CTP) says that project with DHL will serve as a pilot project in how to establish partnerships with other tenants with similar requirements. And he’s hopeful that the return on this type of investment will improve as such projects become more common. “As the demand for technology that we use to retrofit these buildings grows, the price will come down,” he says. “So, as time goes on, that investment in that equipment will be more economically interesting than it is today.”

The post From Gas to Green: Inside DHL’s Warehouse Upgrade with CTP first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

“The problem investors and developer all face is that they are overwhelmed with information . . .

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The post Digitization of real estate and construction gaining steam first appeared on ThePrime.cz.

That just sounds like a lot of extra work.
It was extra work, but then it was well rewarded on site because as a result, the construction work happened with a minimum of clashes.

Isn’t that one of the biggest advantages of building with 3D digital project models? Minimizing mistakes and re-work?
It is. Another principle on that project site was no “hot works”, meaning no alterations were allowed. Everything had to be prepared off site. It had to be so well-designed and so well coordinated that we could just put it together. Everything had to fit. It was all about time, safety and money. Saving money, being faster, and saving material by doing the work right from the beginning. You invest more in the preparation, but then it pays off.

That was in 2005. When was the next time you worked on a 3D model that way?
It was with a project for Skanska Property in Ostrava. An office building that never actually got built because of various issues. That was one of the first office projects developed in a 3D model and was designed by Hutni projekt Frydek Mystek. They had experience designing Indian manufacturing facilities and steel factories and keen to apply it to a real estate project.

Manufacturers seem to be far more progressive about their production methods. Elon Musk got rich by re-thinking what cars do and how they’re built. Why are the construction and property sectors so slow to adopt new methods like digital twins?
Construction isn’t as complex as the assembly of a car. If you invest in a 3D model of a car, you know you’ll save huge amounts of money and effort because you’ll use it to produce 5 million of them. Whereas each building is unique, and you change them along the way. But I agree that the industry is behind. We’re trying to catch up very quickly.

What’s holding up change?
One problem is when you ask suppliers if they work with BIM, they all say yes. But when it comes to the actual work, you realize that only 2% of them really understand it. The second problem is the implementation. If you develop a commercial building before you know who the customer is, you end up making changes along the way. Changing the 3D model is not as easy as changing 2D drawings. But it’s possible. The main challenge is to stay ahead of construction with the model. Very often, construction gets ahead of model creation.

The real value of a digital model or digital twin comes when it’s kept up to date all the way until handover. Especially if it’s connected with all the technology installed in the building.
You get as much out of the model as you put in. But you have to understand that it’s not just a 3D model. It’s best to think of it as a 4D model with the fourth dimension being the information you add. So, if the model shows a pipe, it should also include information about what it’s made out of, or what pressure it can withstand. With moving parts, you need to know how often to check them. When parts break, you can tell from the model exactly what’s broken and what you need to replace it with. That information should be part of the model.

With your buildings, are you using digital twins to embed live data? For example, operational data from the HVAC system? Will you be using augmented reality or virtual reality applications to view the model?

It’s not there yet. The question is whether that’s the goal and what the visualization should look like. I don’t know if it should be about 3D goggles or if that’s a bit of science fiction. We should be careful to supply the industry with technology it will actually use, according to what’s feasible. We’re already providing a web-based interface for our customers, so they can see the performance of the buildings they lease from us. We give them the numbers and the graphs, but it’s their responsibility to analyze it and figure out that they left the heat on during the weekend.

We tend to think that everything has to be automated and controlled. I don’t think that’s the way forward. We’ve got to learn how to use data to our advantage and decide how we should adjust our own activities.

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