How would you assess the development of the logistics and industrial space market in the first three quarters of 2021, especially against the background of the Covid-19 pandemic?
We started the year 2021 with a lockdown, but the uncertainty of companies was much lower than a year ago. Over the course of the year, we are seeing increasing demand for modern logistics facilities and we are currently at an all-time global high.
This is due to the so-called Global supply chain disruption, which was caused by a pandemic. It revealed how subtle were the material flows that were torn, companies do not get to the input materials, they have to stop production and this slows down the resumption of economic growth.
What projects is CTP currently working on in Slovakia?
This creates the mentioned pressure on new logistics premises, but on the other hand, we are limited by several factors. The permitting process in Slovakia is one of the oldest and slowest in the Eurozone. And when you manage to get it, you struggle with higher construction prices and outages of building materials for the same reasons as I mentioned a moment ago.
Therefore, we have allowed most of our sites and we order construction capacity for several years in advance. In order to be ready for our clients, I dare say that we have the largest speculative construction in Slovakia, we are currently building approximately 95,000 m2 of halls. We clearly live an exciting time.
The change in the client's behavior has led and is leading to increased tenant demand for warehouse space. What changes in demand, supply and changes in client behavior do you perceive in comparison with the pre-pandemic situation and the situation today?
Retail has long been in a digital transformation, and the pandemic has only accelerated this transformation. Purchasing is moving to the online world and E-Commerce Fulfillment faces several challenges, such as next-day delivery, which has a significant impact on the need for storage space. Another positively affected segment is definitely Urban Logistics. We record more and more demands for express and parcel services, micro-fulfillment centers, pick-up locations. It is very important that they are closer to the city center because Last Mile costs make up a significant part of the cost of delivery and clients pay for the apartment closer to their customers.
What does CTP's real estate portfolio currently look like (m2, number of logistics parks, cities in which it is located)?
In total, CTP has a portfolio of 6.6 million m2 of industrial halls in 9 countries in the CEE region.
What are CTP's logistics and industrial development plans for 2022?
We call our goal 1023, which means that we want to have 10 million m2 of halls by 2023. So far, all indicators suggest that we will succeed.
I would also like to point out that, as developers, we have a significant impact on the environment in which we live, and therefore we also feel a huge responsibility. Therefore, we have certified all our buildings according to BREEAM and all newly built buildings are in the BREEAM Excellent standard. We are installing photovoltaic cells on the roofs of our buildings, we are currently at 5,800 MWh. Our entire operation is already Carbon Neutral, but we don't just want to be Carbon neutral, we want to have a positive impact on the environment.
In Slovakia and the Czech Republic, more than 50 percent of forests are monocultural, which makes them vulnerable to climate change and attic pests. That is why we bought 5.6 million square meters of forest in the Czech Republic. We have been revitalizing this forest since 2019 by planting more than 108,000 trees in 16 different species.
