Halfway through Building’s interview with the Czech entrepreneur Marek Dospiva, a besuited colleague pokes his head into the room. “We have an update for one of our potential London acquisitions, and you need to catch a flight,” Dospiva is informed.

The deal in question could be related to the central London office scheme which Dospiva, co-founder of Penta Investments, had earlier said he had just secured a handshake on – promising it would be the “crème de la crème, like this”, with a gesture at his firm’s huge Zaha Hadid-designed headquarters in Prague, in which we are currently sitting. 

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