ULI Greece & Cyprus held its Annual Conference on 27th June 2023. The event was attended by over 100 professionals from across the Greek real estate industry and abroad, including investors, financiers, lawyers, architects, valuers, and real estate consultants.  

The conference took the theme “Renew Reuse Rebuild or Become Obsolete” with several experts in a variety of subject areas sharing their market insights, exploring how the principles of renew, reuse, and rebuild are shaping the industry in the face of large changes and headwinds from the global economy.  

The event welcomed Stelios Bouras, Journalist and Blogger, GreekGuru.net| BusinessDaily.gr as conference moderator who, together with Konstantinos Santikos, Chair, ULI Greece & Cyprus and Managing Director, Santikos Collection, opened proceedings. 

In his opening Keynote, titled “Resilience through Reuse. A Vision for Sustainable Urban Landscapes”, Dan Ringelstein, Director, Cities Planning and Design | Urban Design and Master Planning, Arup, highlighted that “by celebrating the inherent identity of our communities, we unlock incredible social value. With an impending change expected in 60% of the world’s building stock in the next two decades, we’re on the brink of a massive transformation, powered by economic, environmental, and placemaking incentives”. 

The keynote was followed by a presentation titled “Retail reborn: Futureproofing the Retail Space”. Tom Whittington, Director of Retail & Leisure Research, Savills explained that “the journey to reutilise legacy stock might be arduous, but it’s essential for our sustainable future. The link between underprivileged areas and environmental impact is too significant to ignore. The way forward lies in aligning environmental sustainability with economic growth”. 

A panel discussion, titled “Rethinking Spaces: The Motives and how it is done”, followed with panelists including Dan Ringelstein, Director, Cities Planning and Design, | Urban Design and Master Planning, Arup, Eleni Polychroniadou, Co-Founder, Sintali, and Tom Whittington, Director of Retail & Leisure Research, Savills, moderated by Stelios Bouras. The panel agreed on the importance of education, leadership, and partnerships in creating sustainable and inclusive urban environments, from tangible project implementation to understanding perception barriers and human-focused design.   

Following a short break, a case study session was held online, titled “Reinventing Spaces in Greece and Europe”. Nectar Efkarpidis, Director, Molonglo emphasised ‘problem spotting’ as an opportunity for innovative urban space transformation. Meanwhile, Cristian Meister, Managing Director, Hines, in his presentation on ‘The Aer, Munich’, showcased how sustainability and tenant engagement can be boosted through lifecycle analysis and smart utilisation.  

The Panel “Capital Markets: Is smart money letting Dinosaurs die?” discussed how global economic and geopolitical uncertainties are affecting investment and returns. The panelists included Adam Alari, Head of Living Research & Strategy, Europe, Savills Investment Management, Damian Harrington, Director – Head of Research: Global Capital Markets & EMEA, Colliers, Evgenios Dendrinos, Real Estate Director, Temes S.A. and Ioannis Orfanos, Partner, Arbitrage Real Estate and Executive Committee member, ULI Greece & Cyprus moderated the discussion.  

The main conclusion was that “in a climate of market correction, increasing capital costs, and insufficient government actions, our panelists stressed the need for strategic capital utilisation to seize transformational investment opportunities and foster sustainable growth”. 

The conference was generously sponsored by: 

Gold Sponsors: Costa Navarino Residences and Hines

Bronze Sponsors: Cushman & Wakefield – Proprius, Daskalakis and Associates, Deloitte, Orilina Properties, Potamitisvekris Law Firm, R.E.D.S and Zoia. 

Our mission and events as well as our Annual Conference are generously supported by our Annual Partners: 

Gold Partner: 8G Capital Partners,  

Silver Partner: Anicon 

Bronze Partners: Arbitrage Real Estate, Danos, Enterprise Greece, OTE Estates, Stirixis Group