World trends of industrial construction. Mipim 2018 as an inspiration for Czechia

The prestigious MIPIM Conference, held every year in Cannes, France, has presented hundreds of exhibitors from around the world this year with a number of innovative real estate development projects and solutions. Industrial theme number 1 is currently the effective use of available land, especially in large cities, with an emphasis on the development of city logistics.

"We are seeing a growing emphasis on spatial planning and sustainable urban development. In the context of industrial construction, this is reflected in efforts to reduce transit traffic and ensure efficient urban supply, ie city logistics and the last mile delivery concept," notes Jakub Holec, Managing Director at 108 AGENCY, which focuses on real estate consulting and participates every year in the fair.

This status is also reflected in the announcement of the winners of this year's MIPIM Awards, where the Best Industrial & Logistics Development won the sophisticated multimodal logistics centre of Sogaris company, located in the very centre of Paris. The multi-story building of 45,000 square meters offers sporting activities and landscaping on the roof, the congress centre with the hotel on the upper floor and at the same time serves as a logistic warehouse funnel with a direct connection to the railway. An interesting feature of this project is that Sogaris is 80% owned by the Paris city government.

In the Czech environment, such a realization is still a science-fiction topic, also in view of the to-date missing concept of city-logistics development, which is currently being developed by the Institute of Planning and Development (IPR Praha). The opportunity for Prague is mainly the complete redevelopment of a number of brownfield areas, but currently, industrial projects cannot find their way in comparison to residential projects. "A number of brownfields are located in attractive locations close to the city centre, making them financially more attractive to developers, especially for residential and retail development," explains Jan Hospodář, a partner at 108 Investment Advisory.

Another innovation that gradually moves from Asian megapolis to America and Europe is the construction of warehouses to a height. While in Asia there is no newly completed Panalpina's 6-floor Singapore warehouse of 30,000 sq m, the leading US developer Prologis in Seattle is currently finishing the construction of the first 3-storey 54.777 sq m warehouse complex. In the Czech environment, this type of construction can not be anticipated so far. This is due in particular to an incomparably lower price of land in the area, which does not force developers to reach for more expensive multi-storey construction. In view of the growing demand for warehouses, which increased by 12 percent year-on-year in the Czechia, the development of big-box warehousing projects, such as the 4PX Express distribution centre in Jeneč with more than 66,000 square meters, or 73,000 square meters of Tchibo's Cheb distribution centre.

"Multi-storey industrial construction is a matter of land price. In a situation where prices become unbearable and cannot be reflected in the rental price, it will be necessary to proceed to high-rise construction. This is a sensitive topic, and such implementation must be based on general consensus of the professional and lay public with regard to spatial planning. I personally think that we will wait a long time in the Czech Republic for a multi-storey warehouse, if ever the issue will be up to date, " summarizes Martin Polák, Senior Vice President, Prologis Regional Head CEE.