News
06/23/05: 5. European Research Seminar “Rise to the retail challenge”, Westin Grand Berlin, November 3-4, 2005
Chaired by Ralf Koschny, Board Director BulwienGesa AG
Speakers:
Álvaro Portela, CEO Sonae Sierra; Melvin Davis, Retail Director, Broadway Maylan; Mike Torrance, MD Europe, Carbtree&Evelyn; Lars Richter, Head of retail development, DIFA AG
This year’s research seminar in Berlin from the European Research Group in behalf of the ICSC focuses on the different stages of retail developments. The aim of the seminar is to provide retail driven professionals with new insights on retail developments in Western and Central Europe. Furthermore the seminar gives professionals useful information about the interpretation of research work in terms of conception and sustainability of retail projects.
Researchers will find important information about new trends in retail developments, requirements for expanding retailers and of course significant aspects of socio-economic issues. The entire seminar exhibits as a platform for discussions, exchange of information and an input of new retail aspects. Attendees come from a broad professional spectrum including developers, researchers, retailer, architects and investors.
Participants will get information about recent shopping centre developments in Germany and Central Europe. The seminar will comprise topics about the early stage of retail developments as well as how to deal with existing retail agglomerations like shopping centres, big boxes and neighbourhood centres. Participants will learn about experiences from experts who are in charge with new and existing centres. They get ideas about the shaping of the market in terms of consumer behaviour, declining spending versus future migrations and the changing retail landscape.
The seminar concentrates on the development of new retail schemes and new aspects of retail developments with contributions of experts from development companies, research institutions and architects who are involved in the early phase of a project. Subjects include the implementation of research results in the conception of projects, the influence of research on the shape of a retail project and experiences of developers who are in charge with the realisation.
A debate about the leisure factor of shopping centres will mark the beginning of the afternoon session. Here a leisure expert and an investor will discuss if shopping centres should be more attractive for consumers in terms of leisure and the effects of this approach on the investment risk. Participants are encouraged to take part at this discussion and share their points of view and experiences.
Following the debate a retailer has the opportunity to explain his view about the shaping of retail and his reaction to the ongoing market requirements and the role of market research in this procedure.
The complete program and registration form is available here: www.plan4-21.com/images/research_brochure.pdf
05/18/05: Opening of the representative office of plan 4 21 in Poland
With a population of 38 million, sustained economic growth and a location as a bridge between east and west, the Polish market is increasingly attracting the attention of foreign companies. Poland represents the largest market of all the new EU member states, with a great deal of EU funding particularly meaning that hopes are high for interesting projects and collaborations. Through its members, plan 4 21 has been operating in Poland for a long time now already, and so the decision to open a representative office there was both a logical step and the consequence of its activities to date. The representative office of plan 4 21 moved into offices in Gorzow Wielkopolski (Landsberg/Warthe) on May 1 of this year, sharing the premises with the Polish branch of Berendes & Partner. Among the many advantages of the location are the proximity to the border and the fact that the German-Polish Wirtschaftsförderungsgesellschaft (business development corporation) is situated practically on its doorstep.
We should like to invite all those who are interested to visit our office in Gorzow. We are situated in Mlynska Strasse 4. Our telephone number is +48 95 720 47 89, and our email address is gorzow@plan4-21.com. Our staff (native Polish and German speakers) will be pleased to arrange an appointment for you and to answer all your queries. You can also contact directly the office manager, Mr Joachim Schaller (his cell phone number +48 601 69 59 39).
04/01/05: "Developing conversion sites in shrinking markets", plan 4 21 seminar - Hamburg, Germany, June 13, 2005
Developing innovative and marketable concepts for the sustainable development of conversion sites is becoming increasingly difficult in view of the rising number of sites becoming available, coupled with a continued economic slump and a decreasing population.
Apart from the standard derelict industrial and commercial sites, there are frequently underused or completely unused sites of various sizes within local municipal areas. These consist primarily of abandoned barracks, along with post office buildings, work yards and depots, plus railway company sidings and tracks. These sites are chiefly located in central city areas, but are increasingly found on the problematic outskirt areas of towns as well.
plan 4 21 invites you to come and find out first hand about recent developments in the area of conversion sites:
When: Monday June 13, 2005, 9:30 – 5 pm
Where: Hamburg, Gastwerk HOTEL HAMBURG
The seminar will reveal step-by-step how to take an innovative concept through to successful implementation. Some of the issues the seminar will deal with include:
- What kind of innovative urban planning approaches to revitalizing conversion sites are out there?
- How can sustainable markets be identified?
- What new opportunities for reuse are resulting from leisure time offerings?
- How important is infrastructure for the development of these sites?
- Do limited-period transition solutions have a role to play in reuse?
- What are the requirements from the point of view of marketers?
- What forms of cooperation have proven themselves when sites are being developed?
The complete program and registration form is available here: www.plan4-21.com/images/p20050613.pdf
Target group: Heads of department, management staff and experts from the urban development, real estate and business development sectors.
02/18/05: Health spas, thermal baths, wellness retreats – management symposium for decision-makers, managers and leaders – Hamburg, Germany, April 21-22, 2005
Over the past few years the performance of the health spa industry has increasingly run counter to the rest of the economy: While traditional indoor and open-air pools have become run-down as they line up to be renovated, health spas, water parks and thermal baths of all kinds have experienced an economic boom.
Yet some of the newly-built centers have not always proven successful – many projects simply failed to live up to expectations. The rapid expansion has over-saturated some of the market segments and consequently resulted in much tougher competitive pressure. The health spa market is experiencing change on a scale never witnessed before.
To help planners, operators etc. avoid dramatic wrong decisions (and investments) in future, the management symposium will be focusing on:
- Market developments
- Concepts
- Financing
- Opportunities, risks and prospects
Top-class speakers will be passing on the knowledge they have acquired through their research and practical experience. The two-day management symposium is taking place in Hamburg, Germany, on Thursday, April 21, 2005, and Friday, April 22, 2005.
The complete program and registration form is available here: www.plan4-21.com/images/programmsymposium2005.pdf
The joint event organizers have day-to-day experience of the problems outlined, backed up by decades of expertise in the German health spa market: Wenzel Consulting Aktiengesellschaft, Hamburg, is a consulting company specializing in the leisure market and with a special consulting focus on the public pools segment. And SIZ Care GmbH, Bönningstedt, is a human resources consulting firm. The symposium is being organized with the support of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für das Badewesen e.V. and the BUNDES-FACHVERBAND ÖFFENTLICHE BÄDER E.V., Essen, Germany.
Featuring numerous technical presentations, the symposium is particularly aimed at public and private sector health spa operators, planners and finance partners. The venue for the event is the Elbkuppel (River Elbe Dome) in the Hotel Hafen Hamburg, Seewartenstrasse 9, Hamburg.
01/03/05: BulwienGesa AG’s New Business Segment – Property Rating
As previously announced in the press, BulwienGesa AG has now moved into property rating as a new business segment.
The primary driver behind this development was not the discussion on Basel II and its financial requirements, but rather the increasing internationalization of the property business and the necessity of being able to compare both among properties as well as property vis-à-vis other asset classes.
The rating will focus on key aspects: On properties in their macro and micro locations, the competitive environment, the sustainability of the investment and the quality of furnishing and fittings, combined with financial parameters such as the credit-rating of the tenant and cash flow. It is based on the database of BulwienGesa AG RIWIS on the one hand, and also on the specific know-how of CBP Consulting Engineers GmbH and the URA Unternehmens Ratingagentur AG., which has been operating independently in the market for a long time now. These have been pooled into the recently established DIRA AG.
This is the first time that this comprehensive process, initiated by the SCOPE Group, has been used when rating open property funds. The process has attributed a suitably higher value (35 % proportion of the valuation) to properties for the first time..
In combination with other factors, the rating presented on September 15 this year led to an almost complete turnaround in the discussion on transparency. Whereas this first round saw just 2 funds providing BulwienGesa AG with the necessary individual data, current figures for the second round (cut-off date Dec. 31, 2004), which is due to be announced in April, show there will be around 20 (of 30) funds involved, and with DB, CGI, DIFA and DEGI these include the largest companies on the German market.
With the recently founded DIRA AG, BulwienGesa AG will be offering individual project and property ratings at different depths starting January next year, as well as ratings for whole portfolios of every structure at the national, European or international level for all kinds of use and business segments, plus ratings for particular types of offer such as closed property funds or property corporation.