Thoughts

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The Future of Sustainability In The Commercial Real Estate Sector

Thoughts

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    EVORA

The Future of Sustainability In The Commercial Real Estate Sector: A Summary of the 7th Annual 40 Percent Symposium


Read this post if:

  • you had wanted to attend the Symposium but were not able to make it
  • you’d like a quick overview of the key points of discussion throughout the day
  • you heard something about the link between frothy beer and the value of data (?!)
  • you’re interested in the feedback of this year’s attendees
  • you’d like to express your interest in attending the next Symposium in April 2018

Introduction

On Thursday 3rd November, approximately 60 senior commercial real estate and sustainability professionals gathered at the Regent Hotel in Berlin for the 7th Annual 40 Percent Symposium.

Founded in 2011 by John Pike, the aim of the Symposium is to create a one-day, high-quality conference which gives delegates a complete overview of current sustainability issues as they affect commercial property both from an investor’s and occupier’s perspective.

“To attend a 40 Percent Symposium is to join a committed and thoughtful audience of like-minded property and investment professionals who understand the need to deliver a sustainable future in property. The 2016 Symposium was our most successful event yet.”

John Pike, Founder and Managing Director, The 40 Percent Symposium

After having been held in London in 2015, this year saw the Symposium make a welcome return to Germany, where the event has always been held in high esteem, not least for the fact that it manages to attract attendees from a broader spread of countries.

This year, we were delighted to welcome attendees from more than 7 countries including the UK, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, The Netherlands and the USA, all eager to network with their peers and share best practices.


Keynote Address

“Let’s pay more attention to the optimisation of existing buildings’ energy performance…”

The day was kicked off by Martin Brühl, Managing Director of Union Investment and RICS Past President 2015/2016. Mr Brühl delivered a catchy keynote address in which he stressed the importance of optimising the energy performance of existing buildings in addition to the weight that is often placed on the credentials of new builds.

“Today’s 40 Percent Symposium will mark one essential step towards making sustainability our business as usual… Each of us can contribute to that today, embed what we learn from others in our business routine and tell our clients about it. So our work is cut out and we must succeed. This should be an exciting day.”

Martin Brühl, Managing Director, Union Investment


The Outlook for Political Change in the CRE Sector

The first session of the day saw four experts exploring the following topics:

  • European Union carbon dioxide targets and an outlook on the corresponding regulation changes in Europe and Germany.
  • Thoughts on opportunities and challenges of green policy in the commercial real estate sector.
  • Market perspectives on landlord and tenant relationships and legal implications. Examples beyond pure regulation.
  • How to get tenants on board. Launch of a new sustainability survey to get feedback from real estate users.

The audience showed their engagement early on, with several questions to the panel on the social side of sustainability, including the UK’s Modern Slavery Act, on which one of our sustainability consultants, Louise Russell, has written this informative and well-received blog.

Attendees were also particularly keen to hear more about the work that ECE has done across its shopping centres, which includes collaborating with Philips to develop a new lightbulb.


Economics, Opportunities and Risks, from an Investor Perspective

Next up, these four experts delivered engaging presentations on the following topics:

  • The investors’ long-term risk: without green investment, performance improvement is not possible.
  • How does the enhancement of health and wellbeing in the built environment affect value in real estate?
  • How can the GRESB Assessment support the industry to optimise risk/return profiles of real asset investments?
  • Update on market value of green building certified assets in Europe.

The audience was particularly eager to ask as many questions as possible to Dr. Whitney Austin Gray, Executive Director of Research and Innovation at Delos, following her presentation on health and wellbeing. Health and wellbeing is a topic that is gaining ever more interest each week; is it ‘the next sustainability’?

GRESB was also discussed at length during the panel session and the networking breaks, with many attendees asking us about the support we have provided on multiple GRESB submissions through the combination of our consultancy expertise and our sustainability management software, SIERA.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the 40 Percent Symposium, especially the well-balanced mix of investors, developers and other organizations.”

Kay Killman, President, German Green Building Association


Best Practice From Across Europe, Focusing on Innovation

The final session of the day, split into two parts, saw these seven speakers present on the following subject matter:

  • 2050 climate goals for apartment buildings built and realised in 2014.
  • Spondability: Sponda’s signature of responsibility, which takes economic, social and environmental aspects into consideration.
  • Creating green value.
  • How data delivers sustainable value.
  • Turning global challenges into business opportunities.
  • The underestimated energy saving potential: premature pump replacement in existing buildings.
  • Harnessing consumer power.

In many ways, this session is what the 40 Symposium is all about – attendees learning about best practices from their peers.

The audience remained highly engaged right up until the close of the final presentation, keen to learn more about everything from water pump replacements to how seriously Sponda, the Finnish real estate investment company, takes CSR measures.

It was also our chance to shine, with our Managing Director, Chris Bennett, delivering a highly entertaining presentation on the value of data to commercial real estate firms. If you’d like to learn more about the relationship between frothy beer and well-managed sustainability data, you’ll have to get in touch! To whet your appetite, you can watch a short clip of Chris’ presentation in the embedded Tweet below.

“For my colleagues and I, this was a fantastic event; well organised and with top content. We had many interesting discussions!”

Frank Räder, Head of Customer Training, Grundfos


The 40 Percent Symposium Will Return in April 2018!

We’re delighted with how well this year’s Symposium was received by all attendees. So much so, in fact, that a placeholder date has already been set for the next one in April 2018!

Based on the excellent feedback of attendees saying that they valued being able to get to Berlin very easily and the opportunity to meet colleagues from all over Europe and beyond, the Symposium will once again be held in Berlin.

Here’s what our partner, Dr. Birgit Memminger-Rieve has to say:

To host the 40 Percent Symposium and bring it back to Germany as an international sustainability conference has been a great experience. Very many thanks to John Pike, who moderated the conference with ease and charm and to the EMA Events team that made sure that our schedule was followed with no delays. I’ve talked to a lot of attendees to get their feedback, which I’d like to summarize here.

The Regent Hotel was a great venue and everyone felt at ease during the day, enjoying and discussing versatile and interesting topics with great speakers from various countries. They say they appreciated having this international symposium in Berlin, giving them insight to the actual political framework, current sustainability studies, and best practice experiences. More practical examples would be good to learn about next time. They also emphasized the excellent networking opportunity during the breaks and at the drinks reception in the evening.

All in all, we’re looking forward to the next Symposium in April 2018.”

Dr. Birgit Memminger-Rieve, Managing Partner, ES EnviroSustain – German consultancy partner to EVORA


To register your interest in attending the next 40 Percent Symposium in Berlin in April 2018, click here now.


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