BREL forum to highlight trends and challenges in the Baltic real estate sector

Next month, on 3 November, the annual Baltic Real Estate Leaders Forum for the real estate industry will take place at the National Library of Latvia. As part of the forum, industry leaders will meet to discuss current market trends. Internationally recognised experts will discuss various important industry-related issues and challenges throughout the day, as well as forecast the sector’s future development and promote understanding of attracting foreign investment. Anyone interested is invited to register for the forum by 1 November by completing the application form on the website http://www.brelforum.com/.

One of the forum’s keynote speakers will be Baiba A. Rubesa, Chairwoman of the Management Board and Chief Executive Officer of RB Rail AS, who will provide information about the Rail Baltica project, address the legal aspects of property acquisition, and analyse the project’s impact on the economy, construction and the real estate market. The topic of the workplace as an accelerator of progressive business will be examined by Colliers International EMEA Workplace Solutions head JanJaap Boogaard, who develops new workplace and office concepts on a daily basis that influence organisational goals such as collaboration, productivity, efficiency and employee wellbeing. Meanwhile, Francois Duchastel, Managing Partner of the Finnish consultancy Voodoo Associates, will give an informative lecture at the forum on “The Future of Retail in the Context of the New Urban Environment”, focusing on innovative and consumer-oriented technologies. His aim is to explore how traditional retail spaces will retain their relevance in the future and how high-street retail and shopping centres will need to develop in order to overcome future challenges.

The speakers at the Baltic Real Estate Leaders Forum will also include other leading experts from the Baltic real estate market in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia: Luminor Chief Economist Jekaterina Rojaka, CERTUS Board Member, Dr. sc. pol., researcher and Associate Professor at the University of Latvia Daunis Auers, Professor of Econometrics at the University of Latvia Mihails Hazans, Linstow Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the OSU Board Pēr Mortensen (Per Mortnesen), founder and Chief Executive Officer of Projects Partners International John Banka, Head of Aecom in the Baltic States Arnis Kākulis, Lumi Capital Managing Partner Raiko Uri, East Capital Real Estate Chief Executive Officer Madis Raidma, Capitalica Chief Executive Officer Andriuss Barštis (Andrius Barštys), partner and head of the Real Estate and Construction Practice Group at Sorainen Lelde Laviņa, Chief Executive Officer of New Hanza Capital AS Andris Kovaļčuks, Deputy Head of Pillar RE Services Guntars Cauna, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics of the Republic of Latvia Juris Stinka, Chairwoman of the Management Board of the Akropolis shopping centre Saule Zabulionīte (Saule Zabulionyte), and others.

The BREL programme is, as usual, divided into four distinct sessions, each of which will examine in depth the sector’s most important and topical issues. The first content block will focus on macroeconomics and its development, as well as the demographic and political aspects that the Baltic and European countries face on a daily basis, examining how these factors affect the real estate sector. The second session will be devoted to investment, with local and foreign investors sharing their experience and views of the real estate market in the Baltic region. The forum’s third session is related to the office segment and will examine and summarise global workplace trends, address the topic of SSC (Shared Service Centres), and discuss the significant potential of the capitals of the countries in this region. Finally, the topic of the forum’s fourth and final session will be retail, with a focus on innovative and consumer-oriented technologies. Experts will offer their views on the impact of e-commerce on traditional retail spaces. Interactive panel discussions and networking activities will also take place after each session.

The forum will be moderated by Ģirts Rūda, Chief Adviser at RB Rail AS and Chief Coordinator of Rail Baltica, and will be held in English. The event is organised by Colliers International in cooperation with iDEA HOUSE events. The forum’s main partners are ABLV Bank, Hanner, Linstow, Luminor and the National Alliance of Real Estate Developers (NNĪAA).

ABOUT COLLIERS INTERNATIONAL: Colliers International Group Inc. (Nasdaq:CIGI) (TSX:CIG) is an international commercial real estate (CRE) consultancy with 396 corporate offices in 68 countries worldwide. Colliers International employs more than 16,000 real estate professionals and brokers. The company has operated in the Baltics since 2004, providing clients with a full range of services—from comprehensive real estate concept development, investment advisory and corporate services to project supervision, valuation, property management and brokerage services. In 2016, the influential financial magazine Euromoney named Colliers International the best real estate consultancy in Latvia for the twelfth consecutive year.