Expanding the Green belt
ropertyEU widens its radar to focus on Europe’s city custodians
for the Green Thinker Award 2010 We’re building momentum. Last year’s focus on Green Thinking developers clearly tapped into a burgeoning element within the industry. The overwhelming response to our call for green-minded real estate thinkers in 2008 has prompted PropertyEU to widen our scope and horizons. In response, the Green Thinker Research Programme 2010 is broadening its remit and will seek to reveal the greenest city or region in Europe. The Green Thinker Award, launched at Expo Real 2008, was never intended to be a one-off prize. PropertyEU intends to keep the discussion on sustainability alive. Last year’s Green Thinker Award winner, Portugal’s Sonae Sierra, has gone on to take the European Commission’s Sustainable Energy Europe Award in the Market Transformation category in acknowledgement of the company’s ‘Green Centre’ concept and solid commitment to sustainability.
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With legislative measures on energy efficiency increasingly
tightening throughout Europe, it is not just businesses that are
sharpening up on green issues. Cities are competing for investors,
employers and the skilled, educated labour force crucial to both. To
attract the cream of the crop, city planners are ever more mindful
of creating clean, green and smooth-running municipalities which
will appeal to and retain a healthy demographic mix and attract the
large cultural, sporting and conference events crucial to city
coffers.
Engines of economic development
For the first time in history, the majority of the world’s
population lives in cities (UN-Habitat ‘State of the World’s Cities’
2006/2007). Cities, as the main engines of economic development,
have a crucial role to play in shaping the modern world. In
‘auditing’ European cities and regions Green Thinker will
acknowledge the leading lights, but also create a comparative base
of current and future thinking on the subject. To better assess each
of the candidates, we have drawn up nine categories highlighted in
the index below. Winners from each category will receive a Green
Thinker Award, with the ultimate winner, Green Thinker 2010,
selected from the finalists.
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Features on each will be published in a special edition of
PropertyEU Magazine in October 2010, with the Awards ceremony taking
place at next year’s Expo Real in Munich. Our expert jury will be
led by William McDonough, cofounder of the Cradle-to-Cradle concept.
Urban idyll
The European Commission’s 2007 State of European Cities Report,
compiled by Jan Maarten de Vet of Ecorys provides a base for the
Green Thinker research. We have selected 250 initial candidates from
this report, and Jan Maarten de Vet will take on an advisory role on
the Green Thinker panel. The Green Thinker Research Programme 2010
will showcase the cities and regions which are transforming,
re-inventing and re-branding themselves to provide a smart,
sustainable example of the urban idyll. On our travels from Hamburg
to Glasgow, Toulouse to Cork, Mälmo to Helsinki we hope to inspire
and reveal to you the shaping of a cleaner, greener Europe.
Celebrating our new environmental awareness
REEN IS THE NEW COLOUR of the European real estate industry. In 2008, every self-respecting investor, developer and financier is actively thinking about its corporate environmental strategy. To be sure, some companies are further advanced in their thinking – and communication – on this subject than others. In fact, a small number were already developing green strategies long before Al Gore sounded the alarm bell in 2006 with his documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Others are more recent newcomers to the green property circle but are no less zealous in their mission. ¶ The Green Thinker Award is a direct response to the recent proliferation of debates, seminars and conferences focusing on sustainability issues within the European real estate industry. Over the past 18 months, there has not been a single real estate event which has not touched on the subject. While this is in itself commendable, it is not always easy to separate the serious ideas from the greenwash. ¶ The Green Thinker Award endeavours to do just that. Who are the Green Thinkers in the European property industry? Which green thoughts work well for a company and what can others learn from their pioneering efforts? EXPO REAL and PropertyEU have developed a unique research project that looks at the environmental strategies of the leading real estate developers in Europe. The aim: to pool existing thoughts and ideas on this very vital issue and steer the discussion in a clear direction.
