Did you know that December 3 is an International Day of Persons with Disabilities? ♿ More than 1.15 million Czechs over the age of 15 have some form of disability or challenge that limits their everyday lives. I spoke about the issue with Tamas Méri, Co-founder and Business Development Director of Access4you, and Tewfik Sabongui, Managing Partner o…

This episode features a match-up between two top-tier economists on today's biggest problem: Inflation. Michal Stupavsky (Conseq) says the Czech National Bank could have tackled the problem more aggressively by raising interest rates higher and sooner. Mark Robinson (Encor Wealth Management) says the inflation earthquake of 2022 has had major conse…

What do you get when you combine falling real estate valuations with higher interest rates and lower LTV in an inflationary environment? You get a commercial property market where big transactions are scarce, and brokers don't know what price to list assets at. Savills' MD in Prague Stuart Jordan says deal flow will remain slow not because of psych…

Iain Fanthorpe (Bluehouse Capital) insists that property investments aren't just designed to protect against inflation...they deliver. That was true during the last decade when inflation lay dormant. But he says it will continue to do so even in today's challenging environment. Bluehouse is a value-add real estate investor focusing on Central and E…

The destructive tornado that wrecked four southern Moravian villages and hundreds of homes on June 24, 2021 unleashed a wave of solidarity from across the Czech Republic. Among those who felt a duty to contribute to the rebuilding was the Portuguese architect Marco Maio. He encouraged the villages to treat the catastrophe as an opportunity to re-im…

The fourth edition of the Czech Brownfields conference is nearly upon us. On June 16, investors, builders, banks and public officials will converge on Ostrava for two days of discussions and planning. On this edition of ThePrime Pod, Tomáš Kadeřábek (Association of Developers) says there's been plenty of theoretical talk at this point about brownfi…

Nick Cotton had lived in Kyiv for more than 20 years by the time Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February. This is the story of how the head of Cushman & Wakefield Ukraine found himself fleeing an advancing army -- what led up to it, how he made the painful decision to leave, and the exhausting trip itself.…

This was a genuine conversation with Clare Sheils, MD of CBRE's Prague office. And we were in one of the few available meetings rooms in the company's office on Nam. Republiky, not in some sound-proof studio. This will always be my default for ThePrime Pod, as I'm very much in favor of meeting people where they work. But it means you can hear the o…

Deep sustainable know-how is now a competitive advantage for developers, says Pavel Sovicka of Panattoni, on the debut episode of ThePrime Pod. Sovicka says his tenants have become masters of low-energy production. But they now demand the same level of sophistication from the buildings they occupy. It’s a fascinating look behind the headlines at Pa…

It's finally here! I've been promising to launch ThePrime Pod for a few months now, so I've finally taken the plunge and gotten things set up. Subscribe to make sure you're up to date with the only podcast to delve deep into the Czech & Slovak real estate sectors, the growing proptech industry and local urban planning. I'll be covering the wider CE…

Audio link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666 and our big farewell. Please have your glasses of alco ready to raise for our final toast. To our friend Havah for her help in creating the energy that led to the Galaxy 666 Podcast. Your enthusiasm and sense of fun gave this project the great initial boost it needed. It would not have happened…

Audio link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. Here is where we end it, the podcast of the worst novel ever written–an unbridled success. “Success” is a word like “tall,” it means different things to different people. You may be confused at my pronouncement of the Galaxy 666 Podcast as a “success” so I should probably spend a moment defini…

Audio link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. Our remaining time together is short. Don’t think me premature, but we must all start to form our post Galaxy 666 plans. We all knew, some prayed, that it would all come to an end someday, and that end is nigh. For me, I plan to move onto politics, work at my own form of nation building. If th…

Audio link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. Travel has always been an important feature of literature, either the journey to somewhere new or the arrival of something new. But why should it be so? Travel is movement to something new, the change from the static. It is that initial change that causes all pieces of an environment (especial…

Audio Link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. A time of sums and reckoning is upon us. At the end of our journey we must tally our results to see if our goals have been achieved, and I regret to inform you, my most devoted fans, we fallen far short of aims. The Italian Galaxy 666 political party, did not take off; the grammy for best Gala…

Audio Link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. We have reached the final chapter of Galaxy 666 and our journey begins to come to a close. Death, it is said, is only a end if you think the story is about you. A novel is the same. As it comes to a close, Spring continues to move into the Summer, the plans we made continue to unfold and unrav…

Audio Link Welcome back brave voyagers of Galaxy 666! Less than a month away from journey’s end–and what a journey it has been. My goal today is to ensure all of the local fan clubs that have sprung up worldwide based on this tremendous book and podcast are synchronized for their end-of-podcast parties. If we put too much strain on the catering sta…

Audio Link Welcome back fellow travelers to Galaxy 666. Today we ask “why?” No, not “why did we start this whole adventure in the first place,” ‘though we ask ourselves that a lot, but rather, “Why are we doing it?” The “it” is that thing you do because you feel you should, or because it matters. What does your “it” focus on? Is the “it” all about …

Audio Link Eight sessions left fellow travelers! We are ticking down quickly and so we are working fast to ensure we don’t loose the moment. Plans have started to move forward to create a memorial park and Galaxy 666 Podcast visitors center to ensure that this fabulous journey through 1963 pulp sci-fi will not be forgotten. I know many of you are s…