CzechInvest and AFI announce the 2008 Business Properties of the Year

 Business Property of the Year 2008 – winners:

• Industrial Zone of the Year: Pod zelenou Industrial Zone, Český Těšín
• Brownfield of the Year: ZOK System, Havlíčkův Brod
• Science and Technology Property of the Year: INBIT Biotechnology Incubator, Brno
• Industrial Park of the Year:  Panattoni D5 Logistics Park, Stříbro
• Industrial Agent of the Year:  Cushman & Wakefield
• Manager of the Year: Věra Palkovská, Mayor of Třinec, Manager of the Třinec-Baliny Industrial Zone

The award for the best brownfield regeneration project went to the company ZOK System of Havlíčkov Brod, while the brokerage firm Cushman & Wakefield won the prize for Industrial Agent of the Year, a newly added category in this year’s competition. Věra Palkovská, mayor of Třinec and manager of the Třinec-Baliny industrial zone, was named the Business Property Manager of the Year.

“In order for the Czech Republic to attract new investors, it needs top-quality business properties. And today we are honouring such properties,” saysAlexandra Rudyšarová, acting CEO CzechInvest. “At the close of the year interest in new investments in the Czech Republic clearly revived alongside the slump in the global economy. Thanks to high-quality business properties available throughout the Czech Republic, we will be able to satisfy this interest.”

“It is very pleasing that in the current, complicated macroeconomic conditions the Czech Republic is able to flexibly respond to demand for spaces required for industrial projects as well as service and R&D centres. These are often projects involving advanced technologies with high added value. Investors are less interested in greenfield investments and are rather looking for existing spaces that they can rent. This trend was substantially bolstered by projects nominated for the 2008 Business Property of the Year awards,” emphasises Jan Bobek, chairman of the Association for Foreign Investment.

As in past years, the ninth annual Business Property of the Year competition was organised by CzechInvest in cooperation with the Association for Foreign Investment (AFI). The competition’s general partner was ČEZ, while the partner was the ČSOB financial group. The celebratory announcement of the awards took place in the industrial environment of the DOX Centre for Contemporary Art in Prague’s Holešovice district. Fittingly, the centre arose through the regeneration and conversion of a former factory into a modern exhibition, gallery and event space.

This year’s edition of the Business Property of the Year awards featured a new category – Industrial Agent of the Year, which recognises the person or business entity that mediates the greatest number of high-quality and successfully completed leasing and acquisition transactions with investors in the areas of manufacturing, repair centres, shared-services centres or research and development. The Industrial Agent of the Year award for 2008 was presented to the industrial team of Cushman & Wakefield.

“For this year’s awards, we symbolically chose the industrial spaces of the DOX centre, which had housed a blacksmith’s shop until 1989. The building, which is practically in the centre of the city, was then abandoned, and was finally revitalised at the beginning of the new millennium. We are endeavouring to maximally support the regeneration and more intensive use of such brownfield sites,” says Alexandra Rudyšarová.

Thirty business properties located throughout the Czech Republic were entered in the latest edition of the competition. Their final ranking was determined by an expert committee composed of representatives of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Czech Republic, CzechInvest and previous winners. Eligible properties were those whose preparation was realised during the course of 2008 or for which in the same period an investment was announced by at least one investor in the area of manufacturing, business support services or research and development.

The awards ceremony was attended by three hundred guests from a range of development companies, owners and lessees of business properties, members of parliament, senators and other important personalities. The event was hosted by Nora Fridrichová.

2008 Business Property of the Year awards:

Industrial Zone of the Year

1st place: Pod zelenou Industrial Zone, Český Těšín
2nd place: Černovická terasa Industrial Zone, Brno
3rd place: Chlebovice Industrial Zone, Frýdek-Místek

Brownfield of the Year

1st place: ZOK System, Havlíčkův Brod
2nd place: LAKOVNA HAJDÍK, Jablůnka, Vsetín region
3rd place: POINT CZ, Medlov, Brno region

Science and Technology Property of the Year

1st place: INBIT Biotechnology Incubator, Brno
2nd place: South Bohemian Science and Technology Park, České Budějovice
3rd place: CTPark, Brno

Industrial Park of the Year

1st place: Panattoni Europe – D5 Logistics Park, Stříbro, Plzeň region
2nd place: CTPark, Brno
3rd place: VGP Park, Liberec

Industrial Agent of the Year

1st place: Cushman & Wakefield
2nd place: CB Richard Ellis
3rd place: DTZ Czech Republic

Manager of the Year

Věra Palkovská, Mayor of Třinec and Manager of the Třinec-Baliny Industrial Zone

For more information please contact the CzechInvest Press Centre

Lucie Kocourková, spokesperson, phone: +420 296 342 538, lucie.kocourkova@czechinvest.org