A date to remember

Mathematics can be pleasantly surprising. Indeed, you can even play around with it. Unfortunately, this is a day that won’t be remembered with any fondness. Today the world was turned upside down, when iron-cast rules were simply cast aside and the most important use of maths became counting tank divisions and aircraft squadrons. On February 22nd 2022, Vladimir Putin, after a perverse announcement full of lies, occupied Ukraine’s Donbas province, and so Europe once again stands on the brink of war. At moments like these we are all Ukrainians. That means everyone – and especially us at Eurobuild, who have been following and cheering on the positive economic changes in the country, having once even organised a conference in Kyiv for the country’s rapidly evolving investment market. All we can do today is follow the news and, in spite of it all, continue to hope for better developments. Слава Україні!

The March copy of Eurobuild that you are now reading is actually an international edition for other reasons. Mainly because it is to be distributed at this year’s MIPIM conference in Cannes, which our editorial staff have, for many years, regularly attended (except during the dark lockdown period). The magazine opens with a highly optimistic analysis of the investment market for the CEE region, and this is supplemented in the text that follows by a case study on the dynamic Romanian market. Moreover, this month we are the only publication to exclusively publish a unique report compiled by Hotel Professionals on the recovery of the Polish hotel market. And, especially for you, we also take a deep dive into the secret world of dark stores, which have recently been popping up like mushrooms after the rain, even though you rarely get to see them. Alongside all these mushrooms, it’s impossible not to notice the thousands of Żabka shops across the country – and even more are set to open. In an exclusive interview with the CEO of Żabka Property, he tells us all about the plans of the grocery store chain to enter other market segments. In the architecture section we take a look at changing rooms, otherwise known as accessibility toilets, and why there are still too few of them. And one of our reporters even went so far as to climb up onto the roof of a warehouse to find out more about why they are always being topped off with solar panels. The security guards didn’t even stop him! So, enjoy your read and we’ll catch up with you in Cannes.