Building Industrial Parks for Living, for the Future

REGION Building Industrial Parks for Living, for the Future Contera was established in 2009 by respected experts in development, project and construction management. The company owns and operates industrial parks all over the Czech Republic, focusing on logistics, production, and wholesaling. Contera builds and rents industrial parks for leading Czech and international companies. “We design them as customised premises, based on the clients’ detailed requirements. The priority of our enterprise is the perfect solution,” says Mr Dušan Kastl, CEO at Contera. “We believe that we can deliver the right solution to match our clients’ ideas and wishes in each and every sense,” Mr Tomáš Jirků, CEO at Contera, adds. We interviewed with both co-owners to find out more. Tomáš Jirků, Partner, CEO Mr Tomáš Jirků is experienced in managing grand construction projects. Before Contera was founded, he had worked for nearly a decade as a construction CEO with a leading industrial developer, finishing over a million square metres of commercial buildings, mostly industrial, administrative, and retail premises. Mr Jirků is mainly responsible for the general strategies of Contera Group. Dušan Kastl, Partner, Chief Executive Managing Director Dušan Kastl is a skilled civil engineering expert and project management with over eighteen years of experience. Before Contera was established, he had worked for an international developing enterprise, being responsible for development projects in the Czech Republic. Mr Kastl is typically responsible for the team management in Contera, and for new development projects. Text: redakce Foto: archiv CONTERA Management s.r.o. www. contera.cz Contera specializes in the revitalization of brownfields. How successful are you in bringing back meaning and life to those areas, and do you feel that local authorities care enough? D. Kastl: Our company does not specialize in the regeneration of brownfields, yet we rank among the few who are willing to take all the risks and consequences related to the regeneration of those areas. Large parts of current brownfields are situated in interesting locations, near city centres, which demands good connectivity to motorways, railway and local public transport. That brings a range of benefits, and is the reason why the locations are so attractive and deserve to be revitalised, even though their new functions will differ from the previous profile. T. Jirků: We are experienced in revitalizing brownfields in various parts of the Czech Republic. Generally, the attitude of local administrations and governments is very positive. However, this does not apply to the attitude of some institutions and bodies of public administration, that is where there is definitely room for improvement. You have acquired the development area of Hrušov in Ostrava. What should this offer? T. Jirků: We have already revitalized the brownfields of the former Cemos cement mill in Ostrava–Kunčičky. From 2013–2019, over 16.5 ha of area was revitalized to house a modern industrial park with about 70,000 m2 62 ǀ POSITIV 3/2019 of area to be let. The area is used by clients such as DB Schenker, IKEA, Adler, Chassix production company, etc. As the park is fully contracted, we were looking for more opportunities for development in this region. D. Kastl: In 2018 we entered a contest of the Council of Ostrava, who decided to sell the real estate in Hrušov. We won the contest and now work on the project which will offer our clients modern industrial premises complying with the highest demands. The total area of the park is approximately 35 ha, where we intend to build up to 140,000 m2 of industrial, wholesale, and administrative facilities. Besides production halls and warehouses, we plan to build an “incubator” for small businesses and a technology park to house technology and development companies. Contera seems to invest a lot in Moravia and Silesia. What are the principal reasons for that? T. Jirků: Generally, our current investment is spent on promising areas in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. We consider Ostrava, and all the Moravian-Silesian Region, to be a strategic region. Our clients make use of locations profiting from excellent traffic serviceability, strategic situations, opportunities to service the local market, and to reach Poland and Slovakia easily too. Another benefit is the qualified workforce, who win attractive jobs thanks to our projects. It is also very important that investments in the region have strong local support which enhances the development of all the area. Even developers nowadays emphasize the open-esterior aesthetics of the architecture in the construction of business parks. How does Contera respond to these trends? D. Kastl: Most of the real estate we work on and create is commercial buildings for rent. This is why they should offer good qualities, including an overall good environment where people are supposed to work. We collaborate with leading architects who participate in our projects from the very beginning to the final finishing stage, very often including the operational period too. Even though many believe that an industrial building is nothing but a “box”, and there is nearly nothing aesthetic about it, I think to the contrary. An industrial building is considerably governed