CONFERENCE REPORT

Croatian Real Estate Newsletter
The Tenth Annual International Conference
on the Real Estate Market in Croatia
CONFERENCE REPORT
CREN Patrons:
Volume 93, April 2014
The Tenth Annual International Conference
on the Real Estate Market in Croatia
ZagRE
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CONFERENCE REPORT
Liverpool Waters
Campus Wu (Copyright: BOAne)
April 9 & 10, 2014, Esplanade Zagreb Hotel, Croatia
Partner Country
Main Institutional Patrons
United Kingdom of
Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
Organizer
Industry Partner
Green Dimension
Innovative Light Solutions
Ministry of Tourism
REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Tehnology Partner
Partner Agency
Bronze Sponsors
Green Sponsors
Official rent-a-car
Patrons
Silver Sponsors
Institutional Partner
Gala Reception Sponsor
Sponsors
Media Sponsors
Exclusive Media Partner
BIG THANK YOU
FOR YOUR COOPERATION
The Tenth Conference is a moment when we wish to thank all
the persons, who have supported us and thus given a huge
contribution to all the previous Conferences.
We would like to thank Madam Minister Anka Mrak Taritaš,
who has been a speaker at the Conferences for a number of
years, and whose expertise and consistence have ensured
credibility to these Conferences, turning them into a renowned
event for professionals.
We would also like to thank His Excellence, the Ambassador
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland,
Mr. David Slinn, and the UKTI team, headed by Nataša
Kalauz, and team members Martina Nikolić, Diana Manenica
and Renata Škalabrin. For a third year in a row, the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has been the
partner country of our Conference. We thank them deeply for
this honour.
To our deep regret, Mr. Branko Vukmir, Ph.D., passed away
on 28 February, after a long and difficult disease, at the age
of 87. Mr. Branko Vukmir was an exceptional man, a person
of top-quality, unequalled education, energy and professional
achievements. He has been a speaker at our Conferences
several times. We are deeply grateful to Mr. Branko Vukmir for
his cooperation. We will cherish the memory of our beloved
and respected Mr. Branko Vukmir for ever.
We would like to thank Professor Ljubo Jurčić, who has spoken
at our Conferences for years, and thus contributed with his
expertise, huge knowledge and eloquence to maintaining the
quality of the Conferences at a high level.
We would like to thank Mr. Vlaho Kojaković, who has made a
big contribution to a series of Conferences by his lectures, and
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
by moderating panels and his assistance in attracting highly
qualified speakers.
We owe special gratitude to our business partners, who have
been with us during all ten Conferences. They have been
our sponsors during all ten years – the American Chamber
of Commerce and the Austrian Foreign Trade Office. We also
thank our interpreters’ team headed by Ms. Mirna Jemrić
Kovačićek. For all ten years, our dear friend Garry Morell
from Europaproperty, our first and tenth international media
partner, has been with us. For nine years, exclusive media
coverage was provided by Jutarnji list.
And the best for last... Naturally we have not forgotten our four
aces, four gentlemen. Therefore, we placed them at the end of
our list of acknowledgements, because they have been with us
for all these past 10 years. Our big, cordial and special thanks
goes to our dear speakers and friends, who have been with us
from the First to the Tenth Conference. They are
Professor Tomislav Borić,
Mr. Goran Hanžek,
Mr. Dubravko Ranilović i
Mr. Arn Willems.
We thank everybody once again from the bottom of our hearts.
We apologize for not being able to enumerate other dear and
distinguished persons, who have been giving their contribution
to the success of our Conferences for a number of years. We
also thank our loyal and respected participants who attended
our joint Conferences.
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CONFERENCE REPORT
The Tenth Annual International Conference
on the Real Estate Market in Croatia
was held on April 9 & 10, 2014 at the
Esplanade Zagreb Hotel.
At the Conference there were 102 Croatian
and international speakers and altogether
more than 550 participants. There were
19 interesting panels and the main topics
of the Conference were: Commercial
real estate, Tourism, Housing, Urban
regeneration, Renewable energy, EU
Funds, Green building and Sustainability.
We would like to especially thank the
Partner Country – the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the
Main Institutional Patrons – the Ministry
of Construction and Physical Planning
and the Ministry of Tourism, the Patrons
– American Chamber of Commerce in
Croatia and Advantage Austria, the
Institutional Partner – EBRD, The Industry
Partner – MIPIM, the Technology Partner –
Siemens and the Partner Agency – Agency
for Investments and Competitiveness. Also,
a big thanks to all the speakers, sponsors,
participants and media partners for their
personal approach and commitment and
with that, for their contribution to the
overall success of the Conference.
The speakers at the Conference opening
were Mr. David Slinn, His Excellency Ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland and Mrs.
Anka Mrak-Taritaš, Minister of Construction and Physical Planning.
After the introductory speeches we had
the opportunity to hear presentations of
some of the most interesting Croatian
and international projects.
Sava Zagreb, a multi-purpose project
that aims to protect, regulate and use
the River Sava and at the same time to
awaken its potential, was presented by
Leo Penović, Programme Manager. Edward Jervis, Sales Director, Real Estate
Division, MIPIM, MAPIC, MIPIMASIA,
presented MIPIM, the world’s largest real
estate fair in Cannes that celebrated its
25th edition this year.
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
4
It is an ambitious 30-year vision that
will have a significant beneficial impact
upon the structure and economy of the
city centre and wider region.
An extremely valuable urban regeneration project Liverpool Waters, that plans
to regenerate and transform 60 hectare
dockland site to create a world-class,
high-quality, mixed use space in the city
centre, was presented by Graham Olver,
Chief Operating Officer, WYG. Liverpool
Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development project on a historical location that
plans to create multipurpose and high
quality world-class neighbourhood in the
centre of Liverpool. The tallest towers
are proposed to be over 50 storeys high.
After the Conference opening and Presentations of major projects in the Emerald Ballroom, nine more panels were
Following was Prof. Ljubo Jurčić, Ph.D., a
professor at the Faculty of Economics &
Business of the University of Zagreb, who
spoke about The necessity of developing
the industrial strategy of the Republic of
Croatia. Natascha Ostermann, Sales Manager, Metros Europe and CIS, Siemens
AG presented the most advanced underground train in the world – the Inspiro.
On the second panel in the Emerald
ballroom of the Esplanade Zagreb Hotel,
called Presentation of major projects, international and Croatian major development projects were discussed. Prof. Bojan Baletić, Ph.D., Vice-rector for Master
Planning and Inter-Institutional Cooperation of the University of Zagreb presented the development of Borongaj Campus
in Zagreb, the biggest investment in education in the last 150 years.
The modern Campus WU of the Vienna
University of Economics and Business
was presented by the Project Manager Christoph Sommer. World-renowned
architects such as Zaha Hadid Architects participated in the campus development. The WU in Vienna is Europe’s
largest university focused on economy
and business with approximately 25.000
students and 1.600 employees. The
campus is composed of 6 building complexes on an area of 90.000 m2, where
about 100.000 m² is the buildings’ usable area. The building cost EUR 492
million and took 41 months to complete.
Chris Twinn, CEO and Founder, TwinnSustainabilityInnovation, held a presentation about sustainability called
Buildings that do not cost the Earth.
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
held in the Istanbul, Paris and Venezia
Suites, three by three simultaneously.
In the Istanbul Suite the following panels
were held:
• EU Funds, where the topics were: financing possibilities from the EU funds
in the period 2014 – 2020, how to prepare and apply a successful projects and
weather EU funds can be leveraged for
economic development in Croatia. Moderator of the panel was Tanja Marković,
Project Manager, Filipović Business Advisory Ltd. Panel members were Matija
Derk, Assistant Minister, Directorate for
Strategic Planning, Ministry of Regional
Development and EU Funds, Andrzej Dziurdzik, Head of Region – Europe, Southern Africa, Asia, WYG, Mirjana Samardžić
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Novoselec, Executive Director, Razbor
Ltd., Viktor Šegrt, Director, Regional Development Agency of Karlovac County –
KARLA Ltd. and Mirta Štrk, Director Deputy, Vukovar-Srijem County Development
Agency Hrast Ltd.;
• On the Urban Regeneration panel mayors and deputy mayors from several
Croatian cities joined by international
experts, talked about Croatian cities de-
velopment, importance and role of urban
regeneration and protection of cultural,
industrial and historical heritage. The
panel was moderated by Nataša Kalauz,
Director, UK Trade & Investment Zagreb,
British Embassy Zagreb. Panel members
were Denis Ambruš, M.Sc.Arch., Deputy
Mayor, City of Osijek, Željko Burić, Mayor,
City of Šibenik, Kevan Ward Carrick, Senior Partner, JK Property Consultants LLP,
Vlaho Kojaković, Senior Banker, Property
& Tourism Team, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Sandra
Švaljek, Ph.D., Mayor’s Deputy, City of
Zagreb and Andro Vlahušić, Mayor, City
of Dubrovnik;
• The panel Housing – Investment or Just
a Necessity brought a discussion about
initiating the housing construction, the
role of State and of sales professionals
in the housing sector, while one of the
topics was also development of the housing project in the UK. The moderator was
Dubravko Ranilović, Partner, Kastel Real
Estate, Zagreb and President, Real Estate Association at the Croatian Chamber
of Commerce, while the other speakers
were Una Barac, Director, Scott Brownrigg, Borka Bobovec, Ph.D., M.Sc.Arch.,
Assistant Minister, Ministry of Construction and Physical Planning, Ilijana
Jeleč, Management Board President, Erste Nekretnine d.o.o. and Prof. Josip Tica,
Ph.D., Department of Macroeconomics and
Economic Development, Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb.
The topics discussed in the Paris Suite
were:
• The panel organized by the Agency for
Investments and Competitiveness called
Institutional Support to the Realization of
the Investment Projects – Measures of the
Current Economic Policy, where we could
hear more about the institutional and
legal framework for encouraging investments in Croatia and some positive examples of investments. The moderator
was Damir Novinić, Managing Director,
Agency for Investments and Competitiveness. The panel members were Ivan
Mišetić, General Secretary, Atlantic Grupa d.d., Sven Müller, Director, Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency
Fund, Tomislav Pokaz, Head of Sector,
Sector for industrial competitivness, Department of Industry, Investment and EU
Programs and Projects, Ministry of Economy, Nataša Stilinović, Project Manager,
Milenij Hoteli d.o.o. and Renata Suša,
Vice President for Investments, Nova Europska Ulaganja d.o.o.;
• The panel Architecture – New Approaches, Familiar Challenges, where many interesting topics were discussed, such
as the architectural practice in the Re-
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
6
public of Croatia and the EU, protection of architectural cultural heritage
and education of architects. The panel
was moderated by Petra Škevin, M.Sc.,
Member of the Management Board, Filipović Business Advisory Ltd., while the
panel members were Boris Fiolić, Member of the Board of Directors, Croatian
Chamber of Architects; Director, Studio
BF d.o.o., Prof. Marijan Hržić, Ph.D., Director, Arhitektonski atelier Hržić d.o.o.,
Prof. Boris Koružnjak, M.Sc., Dean, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb,
Zrinka Paladino, Ph.D., Deputy Head, the
City Institute for Protection of Cultural
Monuments and Nature, the City of Zagreb, Alan Leo Pleština, Director, Pulsar
arhitektura d.o.o. and Siniša Staničić, Director, ACO građevinski elementi d.o.o.
Also, a team of students from the University of Zagreb, represented by Ivan Ivić,
mag.ing.aedif., Project manager and Tamara Jeger, univ.bacc.ing.arch. presented
the Concept Membrain – Self-Sustaining
House Project;
Filipović Business Advisory Ltd. and the
panel members were Zorana Baković,
journalist, Delo, Prof. Ljubo Jurčić, Ph.D.,
Faculty of Economics & Business, University of Zagreb, Prof. Krunoslav Šmit,
Ph.D., Department Head, Department of
Urban Planning and Landscape Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, University of Zagreb, Nikolina Markota Vukić,
Ph.D. student, CSR researcher, Banistra
d.o.o. and Hrvoje Vukić, M.Sc.CE., Re-
tion Act were discussed. The panel was
moderated by Petra Škevin, M.Sc., Member of the Management Board, Filipović
Business Advisory Ltd., while the other
speakers were Josip Bienenfeld, Department Head, Department of Legal Affairs,
Ministry of Construction and Physical
Planning, Danijel Meštrić, Assistant Minister, Ministry of Construction and Phys-
search Assistant, Faculty of Architecture,
University of Zagreb.
tant Minister, Ministry of Construction
and Physical Planning;
The Venezia Suite hosted the following
panels:
• The panel Project Financing, that brought
a discussion about availability and terms
of financing, as well as the future for
developers and investors in Croatia. The
moderator was Dominic Burke, Head of
Valuation and Professional Services Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia & Herzegovina,
• The panel organized by the Ministry of
Construction and Physical Planning, where
the new Legislation: Physical Planning
Act, Building Act and Building Inspec-
ical Planning and Davorin Oršanić, Assis-
• The panel Analysis and Prognosis of the
Croatian Social and Spatial Development,
presented an overview of the current
state of education, financial opportunities and developmental traits in Croatia,
current state and perspective of urban
planning, architecture and infrastructure, while trying to determine whether
Croatia has a chance to become “a large
successful building site”. The moderator
was Bojana Mikelenić, Project Manager,
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
7
Jones Lang LaSalle. The panel members
were Nicholas Frankopan, Managing Director, Oak Investment Management Group,
Zlatko Gregurić, Principal Banker, Property & Tourism Team, European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, Alexander Petritz, M.Sc., Petritz Development
Network, ISD institute for structured
development and Paul Suchar, Partner,
Taxation, Regulatory & Bookkeeping Services, KPMG in Croatia;
• The Secondary Real Estate Market panel
posed the question “Is there an exit for
developers?”. We could also hear about a
typical cycle for a developer and the importance of a liquid secondary market for
further development. The moderator was
Vlaho Kojaković, Senior Banker, Property & Tourism Team, European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development, while
the other speakers were Sotiris Bakagiannis, Group Asset Manager, Bluehouse
Capital, Branimir Markota, Director, Mani
d.o.o. and Arn Willems, Country Manager
Croatia, GTC S.A.
After the official part of the first conference day, representatives of the Partner
Country, Institutional Patrons, Patrons,
Sponsors, speakers, participants and
other guests were invited to the Croatian
Music Institute for the Gala Reception.
The Gala Reception started with a short
but very sophisticated concert by young
Croatian musicians. After what we be-
Nizić, Owner, Hotel Vestibul Palace, Miroslav Plišo, Owner, Meneghetti Hotels
and Igor Skelin, Managing Director, Daikin Hrvatska d.o.o.;
lieve was an amazing musical delight for
everyone, an elegant gourmet dinner was
served, while the musical background
was arranged by a DJ.
proach to the revitalization of towns and
cities, modern energy concepts in archi-
• REdevelopment & REconstruction – Urban Planning and Architecture in Direction
of Sustainable Development, where the
topics discussed were: an integrated ap-
The Conference continued on Thursday,
April 10, 2014, when the following panels were held in the Istanbul Suite:
• Tourism – Impact of Management Companies and Hotel Associations on Investments
into Tourism, where we could hear about
the current state of investment in tourism in Croatia and about the advantages
and disadvantages of the arrival of new
hotel brands. The moderator was Goran
Hanžek, Director, Arte Hotel Management d.o.o. The panel members were
Silvije Eugen Barišić, Director, Beta Ulaganja d.o.o., Ivana Budin Arhanić, Management Board Member, Valamar grupa
d.d. (Valamar Hotels & Resorts), Zlatko
Gregurić, Principal Banker, Property &
Tourism Team, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Nenad
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
8
tecture, new technologies in energy and
water consumption and fire protection.
The panel was moderated by Željka Hrs
Borković, Member of the Management
Board, Planetaris d.o.o.; President,
Croatian Association of Energy Assessors while the panel members were Teo
Budanko, President, Zagreb Architects
Society; Director, ABWD d.o.o., Sandra
Jakopec, President, Association of Croatian Urban Planners, Željko Špiljar, Technical Director, Invento Pro d.o.o., Dr.
Ing. Volker Zang, Worldwide Director of
Vacuum Sewage Sector, Bilfinger Water
Technologies GmbH and Goranka Tropčić
Zekan, Director, Klimaproing d.o.o.;
• The Commercial Real Estate Market panel gave a brief overview of the past 10
years, accentuating the opportunities
in Croatia today and the role of the real
estate advisors in today’s challenging
market. The moderator was Arn Willems,
Country Manager Croatia, GTC S.A.,
while the other speakers were Patrick
Franolić, Director, Spiller Farmer d.o.o.,
Tomislav Gregurić, Independent Real
dent, Real Estate Association at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. The panel
Estate Expert, Vlaho Kojaković, Senior
Banker, Property & Tourism Team, European Bank for Reconstruction and
Development, Charles A Lewis, Director –
Private Sector, Europe, WYG and Vedrana Likan, Director, Colliers International
Croatia.
members were Aleksandar Opsenica, Director, REBEC Events, Jože Podgoršek,
President, Slovenian Real Estate Association – FIABCI Slovenia, Alexandar Samonig, Owner, Ecovis Confidas; Managing Partner, Ecovis SEE and Maho Taso,
Partner, BIH Director, Prostor d.o.o.;
In the meantime, the panels held in the
Paris Suite were:
• Comparison of Regional Real Estate Markets, where we could hear an overview of
Slovenian, Serbian and Bosnian real estate markets, as well as a dialogue about
• On the Football Stadiums – Developmental, Urban and Social Phenomenon panel,
the design and finance of modern stadiums were discussed. We could also learn
about quality management that can
increase the stadium’s broader social
the investment potential of the region
and possible points of cooperation. The
moderator was Dubravko Ranilović, Partner, Kastel Real Estate, Zagreb; Presi-
benefit. The panel was moderated by Andrija Filipović, Project Manager, Filipović
Business Advisory Ltd., while the panel
members were Marko Dabrović, Partner,
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
9
3LHD d.o.o., Prof. Neno Kezić, Director,
Arhipolis and Maurizio Teora, Director,
Europe Region Board, Arup;
• The Green Building panel brought
an interesting discussion about the
challenges of current green building
projects in Croatia, opportunities and
obstacles for realization of more green
projects and the experiences from British
and Slovenian markets when certificating
green projects. The moderator was
Snježana Turalija, Executive Director,
Croatia Green Building Council. The
panel members were Ivana Bakunić,
Project Manager, Meridian 16 Business
Park, Terence Beckett, Associate Director
for BREEAM and LPCB, BRE Global,
Goran Božić, Director, TECE d.o.o., Miran
Gajšek, Department Head, Department
for Urban Planning, City of Ljubljana,
Hrvoje Kvasnička, President, Croatia
Green Building Council, Prof. Saša
Marenjak, Ph.D., Director, PPP Centar
d.o.o. and Robert Smodiš, President, GBC
Slovenia.
transactions. The moderator was Prof.
Tomislav Borić, Ph.D., Professor, Institute
for Austrian and International Corporate
and Commercial Law, Faculty of Law,
University of Graz. The panel members
were Prof. Tatjana Josipović, Ph.D., Professor, Institute for Civil Law, Faculty of
Law, University of Zagreb, Mirela Mlinac,
Partner, Law firm Borić & partners d.o.o.,
Zagreb and Petar Orlic, Partner, McGuireWoods;
• The Renewable Energy panel brought a
discussion about de-risking energy supply in a challenging world, increasing
the sustainability of energy supply and
improving access to indigenous energy
resources. The moderator was Ira Saul
Rubenstein, Senior Partner – International Business, Traficon, while the other speakers were Vesna Bukarica, Ph.D.,
Head, Department for Energy Efficiency,
Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund, Damir Jandriček, Managing partner, Estate Investments, Gaetano
Massara, CEO, General Electric South
East Europe, Mario Opačak, Director,
Vaillant d.o.o. and Bojan Reščec, Country
Manager, RP Global projekti d.o.o.
The panels held in the Venezia Suite
were:
• Law – How to Achieve Legal Certainty
in Real Estate Sale and Purchase Transactions?, where we heard about the
methods of achieving legal certainty,
legal structure and entering into agreements in real estate sale and purchase
We would once again like to especially thank all the partners, speakers,
sponsors, media sponsors and participants of the Conference!
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
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PUBLISHER:
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10000 Zagreb – Croatia
Tel: +385 1 481 69 69
Fax:. +385 1 483 80 60
e-mail: cren@filipovic-advisory.com
It is our wish that the Croatian Real Estate Newsletter / CREN be a source of speedy and quality information for all who are active in the real
estate sector – developers, planners, contractors, mediation agencies
etc.
Please send your comments, proposals and opinions to
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Editorial staff:
Vladimir Filipović – editor-in-chief, Natalija Kordić, Tanja Marković,
Bojana Mikelenić, Marija Noršić and Petra Škevin.
Croatian Real Estate Newsletter, April 2014.
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