How Germany Is Stealing London’s Thunder As A European Powerhouse

Tishman Speyer co-head of Europe Bernard Penaud is a Frenchman living in London and managing investments across Europe, with a significant focus on Germany, France and UK. We talked with Bernard about how to make the most of investing internationally and why Germany's a better bet than London.

Tishman Speyer recently purchased the Pressehaus on Berlin's Alexanderplatz, a 292k SF office let to media company Bertelsmann, one of Germany's oldest and largest publishing houses. The purchase is the company’s second in Berlin (after The Q last year) and underscores Bernard’s view that Berlin is a European hotspot.

“Berlin is moving in the right direction,” he says. Like Paris in the 1930s and New York in the 1960s and 1970s, artists arrived first after the reunification as property was cheap and intellectual life rich. They were followed by the creative industries, then the tech companies and ultimately any company looking to attract young talent. Berlin is now a vibrant and creative place to live and work.

Millennials are happy to relocate to Berlin—London doesn’t necessarily stir quite the same level of excitement at the moment, he says. London has had a lot of ups and downs since Brexit and now it’s mainly wait-and-see.

Bernard has worked in different countries and cultures for nearly 20 years. His team, he tells us, consists of 24 nationalities—so he knows a thing or two about cross-border collaboration.

While a developer will always bring his culture with him into any market he’s active in, working with local teams and partners will always give you an edge, Bernard says, allowing you to adopt a more tailored approach and adapt concepts to the local communities.

Hear more about Bernard's approach to international working at Bisnow's London State of the Market event on Nov. 17 at the InterContinental Hotel. Details and tickets are available here.