News

We welcome them to the SHBE organization and wish them a lot of success in years to come!

Expo Real 2008, from 6^th to 8^th October – app. 40.000 visitors and exhibitors. 10 pavilions. Companies, institutions, countries, regions, cities from all over the world trying to promote themselves, find new partners and firm the connections with the existing ones.

The shadow overlying this event was credit crunch and uncertainty – what, who and in what magnitude will be next? The most important “spice” of doing business – confidence in the (possible) business partner(s) is on the lowest level in past years.

And the general task of the fairs is exactly that: finding a creditworthy partner.

Therefore the success of the new initiative - Holland Property Plaza (www.hollandpropertyplaza.com) was even a greater success, having in mind the current real estate circumstances. HPP – a plaza measuring more than 565 m2 was a home to SHBE European Real Estate Circles, Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency, the largest Cities in Holland Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and app. 20 other Dutch parties associated with the real-estate sector.

App. 2.000 people visited the stand and its participants and many also attended the expert meetings organized by HPP participants. One of them was SHBE Network picnic at the atrium of the fair – different and refreshing way of knowing new people, exchanging ideas and starting building the most important component – the trust.

As SHBE always tries to do in its activities.

Who knows, maybe that was the reason why HPP stand was one of the most visited, and most enjoyed stands of the fair..

EXPO REAL 2009 will take place from the 5th till the 7th of October. SHBE will be there again.

The European Real Estates Circles Regatta as an initiative of European Real Estate Circles network in Netherlands, Croatia and Germany was held, once again, in Croatia from 13th till 17th September.

The goal is to stimulate Euopean collaboration in real estate industry as well as improve and intensify the personal network of each participant. What a better way than through sailing? A complete different atmosphere, team working with a crew members from different countries, challenging competition, 3 days of physical effort, no internet connections, no hotel but a cabin in the boat, no room service or a spa treatment but beautiful nature and clear sea, gave the whole idea a new perspective.

Colourful crews made out of 40 participants from Germany, Netherlands as well as Croatia worked together while sailing from marina Kremik to beautiful islands of Hvar and Vis. Challenging routes, unusual weather conditions made the regatta demanding, sometimes thrilling, exhausting but also interesting and diverting.

This years winner was ineternational crew named One & Only (what just shows that the best teamwork can be found in the collaboration of international sailors).

Organization of the next years regatta is already on the way, so think fast, be quick, catch the wind and join us...

Expo Real celebrated its tenth anniversary last year, making 2008 the eleventh time that this international real-estate exhibition is being organised. And yet again, the trade fair is demonstrating strong growth.  Whereas up to now Munich opened six halls for the event, for the 2008 edition, there will be seven: a significant expansion, both in square metres and participants, but also in the number of expected visitors. Last year more than 23,000 real estate agents visited the more than 1,800 companies from 43 countries. The share of foreign participants (Europe, Russia, the Middle East and America) grew strongly as well, to more than 40% of the total. In 2008 this percentage will approach 50%.

21 Dutch parties associated with real estate will be gathered at, for it specially designed, stand under the name Holland Property Plaza, an initiative of Thijssen PR from Zeist and Maquet Macom from Rotterdam. There you can meet Amsterdam Airport Area, the Municipalities of Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht and Tilburg, as well as the Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA), Grontmij, Maasstede, LSI Project Investment, Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Rotterdam, De Groene Groep, PropertyNL/PropertyEU, Statement Real Estate, Ans de Wijn Bedrijfshuisvesting, Search, CMS Derks Star Busmann, SHBE European Real Estate Circles, Yield Plus, the Dutch Association of Real Estate Brokers and Real Estate Experts (NVM), van den Oever, Zaaier & Partners Architecten, Vastgoedmarkt and the Sustainable Dance Club. During the three days of the trade fair a whole series of activities has been planned that really focus in on the content. There are 3 ‘expert meetings’ for a limited number of people in a separate room in the convention complex, where the Netherlands and Germany will discuss the topic of the day from Holland, as a portal to Europe, to the Golden/aging generation and Sustainable green development.

Extensive program assures topics for everyone, picnics and cocktail parties again give a place for networking in nice and informal surroundings, while International Ladies Breakfast presents additional treat. So do not hesitate to visit us at hall C3, stand 440 and for complete program and additional information please visit www.hollandpropertyplaza.com or www.exporeal.net.

Croatia is faced with greying society, numbers that are showing current condition and future trends are crushing. The share of elderly people in the population is increasing, and the problems it brigs are not solved in a quality matter or fast enough.  Today’s system is partial to classical elderly homes but what is with the ones that are still active and want to live with quality, what is with the ones who had working for major part of their lives decided to live their golden age? Are there new and different solutions?

Answer to these and other questions as well overall view over Croatian reality gave and presented owner of a private elderly home Mr.Jozo Tolić, representative of citizens initiative Zlatna dob Mr. Dragutin Vujić, manager of elderly home in City of Koprivnica Mr.Darko Ledinski as well as CEO of management company Terra Conceptus Mr.Mauro Hervat.

Mr.Jozo Tolić presented all the problem which private person face when starting an elderly home, all legal regulative, necessary papers, regulations which can for sure prolong the work. Also investment return can be expected in 10 to 15 years while the investment in start is 40% costlier than investing in classical residential construction so for impatient investor it is quite uninteresting, even thought the demand for home, rooms and apartments, even when prices are high, is exceptional.

Waiting lists are long not just for public but also for private elderly homes which is the case also in Koprivnica County home. That home, according to Mr.Darko Ledinski is not gathering the members of the home but all elderly people across 11 municipalities in sort of a club , spaces of the home can be used by all elderly people in the County.

Activities that the club promotes and develops in cooperation with volunteers, schools and associations are bringing versatility and upraise in the quality of life. Koprivnica model is a perfect case to show that even public sector can do a lot in raising the quality and stop the idea of public elderly homes as places where you go to die.

But people should also change the idea of themselves, added Mr.Dragutin Vujić presenting the Zlatna dob concept, the idea of the association is to assure to the elderly people to live in a quality matter in their own spaces and if necessary use the help through service centre. Their project is based upon construction of residential facility with units adapted to vital seniors in whom they could raise the quality of life and housing through different social programs.

Mr.Mauro Hervat through their project of Senior City in Istria, a tourist project that will offer all exclusive facilities to the users but also through service centre take care for all clients needs, presented more exclusive kind of elderly housing.

The demand for projects of this kind is high, where they are exclusive or less exclusive but there not many who will enter in it.

SHBE EREC seminar was held on the 15th April 2008 and for the first time it was held in Croatian. Reactions of participants as well as media were exquisite, which can be seen from the following text published on SeeBiz web page 15th of April 2008.

Author/source: Marina Šunjerga, SeeBiz.eu

ZAGREB- 83% of existing buildings does not fulfill the heating and energy efficiency requirements. Energy consumed in heating of one old house can heat up to 8 passive houses.

The participants of the seminar Sustainable development in construction sector that was organized by company Iktus under roof organization SHBE European Real Estate Circle, agreed that low-energy and passive construction are the future, but overall conclusion was that there is not enough information about that method of construction.

Low-efficiency construction became the worldly standard that is constantly improved. Seminar presented few innovations inside cradle-to-cradle principle, in fact principle in which all is produced in the manner that it can be used again. The most known example, which is even in Croatia more and more popular, are green roofs, the usage of land dug out during digging of foundations for roofs.

Mrs. Margareta Zidar from Energy Institute Hrvoje Požar, stressed out how innovations in construction should be directed towards decrease of energy consumption. Zidar also promoted the IEE Green Building project which supports projects which have decreased the energy consumption for 30%.

Fund for environment protection and energy efficiency, represented by Irena Dubravec, has numerous activities in the sector of sustainable construction. Fund manages with the budget of 100 million kuna for 2008 and with it; it can, through different models, finance projects which can with their documentation prove that they are a part of sustainable construction. Fund can co-finance the project in amount of 40% of total investment and that after project is realized.

Mrs. Irena Dubravec mentioned that in spite long deadline of the public tender, just few projects applied for the Fund’s assets. “ A lot more had to be done on the promotion of sustainable construction, as well support that kind of construction because in Croatia the limiting of energy consumption is not a well known subject, concludes Dubravec.

Executive director of Kapital Konzalting, Ivić Pašalić, added how we have to take into consideration how price is the one that affects the buyers when choosing the real estates. Every investor has the profit on the first place, so the incentive for sustainable construction has to be in a form of certain preferences to the investors.

He presented the project Odra zavrtnica- settlement enriched by oxygen, first low-energy settlement in Croatia. It is consisted of 40 buildings integrated in existing local community which was constructed by principles of energy efficiency.

Contact and experience with buyers ensured us that low-energy construction can be sold just in combination with high quality construction and reasonable price. To the buyers, low energy consumption is not primary, concluded Pašalić.

Zagreb was a place of a yet another SHBE European Real Estate meeting, this time with the topic Housing of elderly people – is that segment of the housing market recognized?

Around 17% of Croatian population is older than 65 years, waiting list for Elderly homes in Republic of Croatia at this point has 13 000 candidates. The question is how to solve that problem in a quality matter having in mind that public sector is not strong enough to solve it by itself.

Representative of Dom Tolić talked about obstacles which private investors face and proposed solutions by which the process of getting all necessary information would be simplified by connection and harmonization of regulations and he also proposed that institutions at local and state levels initiate the incentive programs, for instance subvention of credit interest rates.

Even though the investment in private homes is profitable and it brings a certain number of working places but the investment itself is 40% costlier and investment return can be expected in 10 to 15 years (longer than investment into classic residential construction). Because of it, it is not so attractive to (impatient) investors.

Zlatna dob association presented the new housing concept and they are looking for a partner to realize it. It concerns a residential object with apartments adapted to vital older people in which they would through different social programs raise the quality of life and housing.

Concepts of elderly housing which exist in Western Europe, in fact concepts of Dutch company Ymere, were presented at the end. They have presented new concepts of elderly homes which are adapted to residents individually- to the ones who want to stay in their homes are offered video and tele-monitoring over residents as well as over household itself, for the ones that are willing to live in spaces surrounded by the persons of the same age or interests there are whole cities with 2000 to 4000 units (from social apartments to luxurious villas) with appertaining facilities and central service centre. It is also insisted upon especially organized spaces for the persons with different disorders or illness which would be integrated in the neighborhood and have a smaller number of users but numerous staff and 24-hours care. Idea is to adjust to the wishes of the user and not ask of them to adjust to given space and schedule.

19th of February Zagreb was a place where another SHBE European Real Estate seminar was held and yet another interesting topic was presented. This time we decided to base our meeting on congress tourism and its possibilities in Zagreb.

Zagreb annually hosts between 200 and 220 MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Congresses, Exhibitors) events and is on the 43rd position among European cities according to the number of congress delegates.

According to the latest figures, presented by Mr.Dražen Hochecker from Convention Board Zagreb, congress participants spend EUR 344 per day which is three times more than individual tourists. Zagreb has good potential for congress tourism although the current situation shows a need for changes. One of them is construction of a congress centre together with raising awareness of what congress tourism includes as well as making Zagreb a brand name which are both long-lasting processes.

The new Congress center Zagreb, for which the plans have been made and are waiting for the City of Zagreb to publish a tender for selection of investors, should cover 11,500 square meters on the corner between Pijerotijeva and Jukićeva streets in the vicinity of Hotel Westin. It is an ideal design made by architects Mr. Zvonimir Prlić and Mr.Damir Mioč who discussed the position and location, the traffic infrastructure, and all necessary to revitalize and justify the mentioned location.

Ellen de Ranitz from the Dutch firm Ellen de Ranitz Consultancy, as third speaker, stressed that building a congress centre which will be used only for congresses in small towns is not the best solution. “They should also include cultural and other urban content to be profitable”, she added. One of the key factors is branding a city and identifying its possibilities. Afterwards, data on number of events, their size and kind, structure of guests, their motivation to choose Zagreb for holding a congress, number of employed in tourism should be collected to define a strategy for developing congress tourism based on these figures.

De Ranitz pointed out that Zagreb could turn to the EU for funding. Currently there are 15 PCO (Professional Congress Organizes) and DMC (Destination Management Company) firms registered in Croatia, said Mr.Dražen Hochecker on one occasion. He added that these terms do not exists in our legislature and that perhaps only 5 companies are actually providing these services while all others are just ordinary travel agencies.

The overall conclusion  is that Zagreb is in need of good branding.

This year again SHBE European Real Estate Circles will be present at MIPIM, the world's premier real estate summit, that will be taking place in Cannes, France on 11 until 14 March 2008. 28.000 international participants including developers, investors, consultants, architects, bankers, urban planners, hotel groups and operators are expected.

MIPIM functions as a international market place where decision-makers meet to establish new business contacts, to transact business and to showcases their latest projects.

Mrs. Christa Thijssen, director of the European Real Estate Circles, will attend the fair during the exhibition days, she would like to meet you in person and arrange a personal appointment in advance.

Please do not hesitate to contact us on phone no. *31- 30 699 1863  or via Email

Another SHBE European Real Estate Circles seminar was held on the November 12th 2007 in Düsseldorf presenting yet another very actual and interesting topic ”US mortgage crisis”.

Mr. Fabian Fritzsche from Collineo Asset Management presented mentioned problem to the guests and thanks to him the whole presentation is available for a download. So if you are fluent in German and want to know more about this subject, do not hesitate to download the presentation.

Download presentation

On Tuesday, November 6th, our forth this years SHBE European Real Estate circles seminar was held with the topic – Logistics centers. There were around 30 professionals in any matter involved in real estate and logistics centers market. Since our long negotiations with Mrs. Valerie Vanviervliet from company Goodman International failed, Iktus team had to instead make a short presentation as an introduction to the subject where we tried to give a short summary about logistics centers market and its future development in Croatia especially because logistics centers market is the less developed segment of the real estate market in general.

Mrs. Katarina Jarža from Iktus presented some general information about logistics centers, what are they, what is their meaning in a modern life, which conditions have to be fulfilled to make them completely effective. Croatian road infrastructure has been greatly developed in the last ten years but what makes an obstacle for us to become the international logistic hub is the outdated infrastructure and lack of suitable facilities. In spite of that, logistics centers market is developing and during this and by the end of next year 200 000 new m2 shall be delivered to the market which means doubling the current stock.

Mrs. Nina Vukošić from Trade and investment promotion agency was our second lecturer. She based her presentation on a project of International transport logistics center which should be built at the marshalling yard in Zagreb and should be finished by the end of next year. Since the mentioned project is in its development phase, for that reason Mrs. Vukošić couldn't reveal any more details so beside the exact location and plot size her presentation was more pointed to explain the strategic meaning of that project. International transport logistics center Zagreb will become the center for storage, transfer of cargo and distribution of goods within intermodal transport system. The location of ITLC Zagreb has significant strategic value regard to East and Southeast European market because the route connects East and Southeast Europe with Western Europe

Our third lecturer Mr. Goran Lakatoš from company Primat – Logistika, gave a presentation trying to inform all attendees how modern technology implicates the logistics centers development.  Primat - Logistika d.o.o. is a leading Croatian firm for designing and development of logistics systems. The main activity is designing, developing and production of logistics and warehouse systems, informatics systems for support in logistics proceedings in the warehouse and distribution. It is the only Croatian company giving complete warehouse and transport technology solutions.

SHBE European Real Estate Circles, under which Thijssen-PR/Iktus d.o.o. also acts as the platform for the knowledge, experience exchange and networking between local and foreign partners, participated also this year as the exhibitor at the fair Expo Real in Munich in the period 8-10 October 2007, at Holland Region booth.

This year City of Zadar joined us as the co-exhibitor with the same goal – to promote its capital projects and find reliable partners. It was a success for all parties, as Expo Real is Europe’s biggest trade fair for commercial property – here are few facts and increase compared to 2006:

• 23,800 visitors: + 13 %
• 1,823 exhibitors: + 11 % (some 15,000 representatives from the exhibiting companies were also present at the fair. This brings the total number of participants to over 39,000.)
• 63,000 m2 exhibition space (6 halls): + 20 %

Companies from outside Germany accounted for over one third of this total. Including the international spectrum of companies – from Europe, Russia, the Middle East and the United States of America.
The top ten countries of origin among the visitors – after Germany – were (in this order): Great Britain, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, France, Poland, the US and Italy.

In the 100 or so individual events in the conference programme accompanying EXPO REAL, 400 renowned experts discussed the latest developments in the property market.

The next EXPO REAL, an international platform for networking on projects, investment and finance, takes place from 6 to 8 October 2008 in Munich.

• 33 Real estate professionals on the managing positions from various countries,
  
• sailing boats, sea, sun, light wind and good restaurants,
• ultimate informal network opportunities
  

Who says that networking could not have a different shape?

In the period from 14-18 September the foundation SHBE European Real Estate Circles organized a sailing competition for their members and invited European real estate professionals. The participants were teamed up at 10 sailing boats, and the team of Innvire Innovators from Holland (on the picture) took away the winning challenge cup, given by the vice mayor of the City of Zadar at the award winning ceremony hosted by the Zadar Tourist Board.The participants (many of them visited Croatia for the first time) were enthusiastic about the city of Zadar and its archipelago, especially Kornati national park.

These were 3 days of intensive team working, networking and making friendships, and the fact that already 6 teams applied already for the Regatta 2008 (13-17 September 2008) shows the success of the event.

We truly hope this will bring even more professional connections between Croatia and foreign partners.

If you are interested, working as a RE professional on management level in your company, to receive information on the next year SHBE regatta, please feel free to contact us or meet us at Expo Real in München.

SHBE Rela Estate Circles Regatta 2008 will be held from 13th -16th of September in Zadar , Croatia.