Generally

The Building and Property sectors are the single most significant players in the drive towards a Sustainable Society. Over 50% of the material and energy flows in Society are accounted for by the Building and Property sectors.

Research shows that these sectors also generate a significant environmental impact in the form of hazardous waste, air pollution and the depletion of natural resources

During the next decade, the European construction and property sectors will increasingly witness two major structural changes:

• The European market will transform from being a foreign to becoming a domestic market for European companies.
• The increasing conversion from traditional to European-wide sustainable building methods, 'life-cycle' management systems and sustainability-oriented planning processes.

Together, these events represent the most important and dramatic changes for these otherwise conservative sectors for over a century. The implications of this development will stretch from the micro level (the planning, design, construction and operation of individual buildings) to the macro level ( the more sustainable usage of land, the more efficient utilisation of collective transport systems, the broader deployment of sustainable energy systems etc).

Even the relative market values of sustainable and non-sustainable properties will be of increasing significance as tenants seek to align their individual values and/or sustainable corporate policies with the buildings which they occupy.

This situation represents both a challenge and an opportunity for companies. What is clear, is that to survive, develop and protect the interests of their shareholders, companies must adapt to this changing situation by developing a European Sustainability Strategy founded upon sustainable building, sustainable property development and the implementation of a sound Ownership Policy.