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NEWS
China’s move from manufacturer to consumer is good news for UK
I CTP’s Remon Vos: Czech Republic developing into a high-skills location
CTP TARGETS €3BN CZECH PORTFOLIO CZECH Republic developer CTP is on schedule to have a property-asset portfolio of €3bn by 2017, according to CEO Remon Vos, who said the country is benefiting from its high-skills reputation and Central European location. Much of CTP’s expansion has come through a 10-year co-operation with the city of Ostrava, where the company has constructed a number of industrial and office buildings and is currently working on the second phase of a major business park, due for completion this year. Tenants will include Italian brakes specialist Brembo and tyres giant Continental. “We have invested around €300m in the city so, as you can see, Ostrava is a very important location for us,” Vos said. “At the same time, our tenants have brought 5,000 jobs to the city, which has developed from a low-cost centre to a high-skills location. The local authority has also invested in infrastructure to connect Ostrava to other key cities, including Katowice in Poland.” Vos said he is at MIPIM to talk to current and prospective tenants and also to meet banks with a view to discussing development finance in the Czech Republic. He added that CTP would have assets of circa €2.5bn by the end of the year.
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T’S NOT too much of a problem that China’s growth is currently in decline. Nor is it necessarily a problem that the UK economy is dominated by London and the South East, said economist Jim O’Neill, honorary professor of economics at Manchester University, in a speech on the Manchester stand yesterday. According to O’Neill, China is declining as a manufacturer — hence its current drop in growth rate from the high double-digit levels of recent years — but it is increasing as a consumer. “China is slowing down, but we need to see that the future of China is as a consumer and importer rather than a manufacturer,” he said. He added: “The effect of a China slowdown as a producer is threefold. Firstly, it means more manufacturing is done in the UK; it means more manufacturing is done in places such as Mexico; and it means China is importing more. It’s beginning to look like China will be a net importer of goods by 2027.” ookin c oser to home ei i entifie cities as the main driver of growth round the world. “We no longer see as strongly as we did growth moving from north to south, nor even so much from west to east,” he said. “What we see most strongly is that cities round the world are the drivers of growth. What is driving the economic growth of the world is the movement of people into cities and the growth of those cities.”
Manchester University’s Jim O’Neill: “cities are the drivers of growth”
And looking even closer to home, O’Neill i entifie cities in the that ha e the potential to be drivers of growth. “These cities can look to London as the model. They can follow the areas where London works and do the same. And they can also see what strengths they have that London lacks and build economic strength on those assets too.”
Excellent result for Ghelamco’s Spire DEVELOPER Ghelamco was yesterday presente with its ce ent certification for its new Warsaw Spire scheme, which the company is previewing at MIPIM. Ghelamco CEE managing director Jeroen van der Toolen said this was the largest project by
Ghelamco’s Jeroen van der Toolen is presented with BREEAM certification for Warsaw Spire by BREEAM’s Martin Townsend
the com an to ha e achie e certification he amco now has ei ht certifications for its work. “We were the first developer in Poland to et certification an a so the first e e o er ast ear to et office certification an er Too en a e s we as the arsaw ire a s m office scheme an an s m retai roject in various districts of Warsaw, Ghelamco is understood to be working on a potential contract with Polish state railway operator PKP to redevelop the Dworzec Gdanski station The ea which cou e worth n Polish zloty (€0.28bn), would be the biggest public-private partnership in PKP’s history. The project would see the redevelopment of 4.7 ha of land located north of Warsaw’s CBD. Van der Toolen said he could not comment on the PKP deal.