ULI Greece & Cyprus successfully held its third Annual Conference on 30th November 2021. The event was hybrid and was, attended by professionals from various disciplines of the Greek real estate industry and abroad, including investors, financiers, lawyers, architects, valuers, and real estate consultants.

The title of the conference was “Meta-pandemic re-alignment: the user in the epicenter of space re-design”. The conference explored how people and cities will adjust to the post-pandemic ‘normal’, in the face of climate change, social concerns and the threat of future health crises. We also presented and reflected on the results of the ULI and PwC annual survey ‘Emerging Trends in Real Estate®: Europe 2022’. The conference was moderated by Stelios Bouras, Journalist and Blogger, GreekGuru.net.

The opening keynote speaker Rosie Haslem (online), Director, Place Strategy, Streetsense, commended and analyzed the human behaviour and explored what will change and what will stay the same in the Meta Pandemic Era.

The session was followed by a dual interview of representatives from the cities of Porto and Athens. The City of Athens was represented by Vasileios-Foivos Axiotis (in-person), Vice Mayor for Urban and Buildings Infrastructure and City Planning, City of Athens and the City of Porto was represented by Pedro Baganha (online), Councillor for Urbanism, Public Space and Housing, City of Porto and Ricardo Valente (online), Councillor for Finance, Economy, and Employment and for Tourism and Commerce, City of Porto and was moderated by  Pavlos Gennimatas, Managing Director, European Living, Hines Europe and Co-Chair, ULI Living Product Council. In this session participants and moderator investigated the impact of the pandemic on cities and discussed the shift in perceptions and a rethinking of urban planning strategies.

The following session was the presentation of two case studies that promote the re-thinking of land uses focusing on Blended Uses, Repurposing and Flexibility. Annie Roussou (in-person), Architect at Divercity Architects presented a new project of offices in Athens and Luke Treasure (online), Director, Design and Construction Management, Hines Spain, presented the Timber 3, a Hines Spain wooden office project.

In this section of the conference, we talked about the shift in the way we use space following the coronavirus crisis. We explored what are the new priorities and how do they influence the design of homes, offices, shopping, leisure, and green spaces We also discussed the impact of the ESG agenda on real estate development.

Sophie Chick (online), Vice President, Research & Advisory Services, ULI Europe then presented the “Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2022®” report revealing the results of the ULI and PwC annual survey on the emerging trends in real estate in Europe for the coming years. The panel discussion that followed was moderated by Eri Mitsostergiou (in-person), Chair, ULI Greece & Cyprus, Director of European Research Savills, and the panelists were:  Maurizio Grilli (in-person), Director, Property Funds Research and Research Fellow, University of Manchester, Damian Harrington (online), Head of EMEA Research, Colliers, Eleni Vrettou (online), Executive General Manager and Chief of Corporate & Investment Banking, Piraeus Bank and Sophie Chick (online), Vice President, Research & Advisory Services, ULI Europe. The discussion reflected on the results of the survey and focused on the short- and long-term outlook of the real estate markets and the role of developing markets, such as Greece, in future investment strategies.

The conference was generously sponsored by Hines, IWG, Orilina Properties REIC Piraeus Real Estate and Potamitisvekris Law Firm.