Property developers and project developers, property management companies and real estate companies determine the sustainability of a building from the initial planning through the life cycle for decades. The industry faces complex challenges if it wants to ensure attractive investments, affordable rents and more climate protection.

Property developers can develop into central drivers of the construction transition – with planning geared towards transformation and the long term and high-quality implementation that takes costs and sustainability aspects over the life cycle into account. More and more photovoltaic systems and green spaces are being installed on roofs, entire city districts are being planned using wooden construction and are supplied in a climate-neutral manner via heating networks. The circular economy offers opportunities with the planning and digital inventory of building materials for reuse, the extension of life cycles, the revitalization of valuable building fabric, serial construction, the reuse of industrial and commercial brownfields and densification instead of building on “greenfield sites”. It is always important to create affordable living space and use neighborhood approaches to promote climate-friendly, networked mobility and lively neighborhoods.

The modernization of existing buildings and the construction of new non-residential buildings as carbon sinks and as climate-positive energy producers offer great potential for climate protection. Transformation succeeds by maximizing the decentralized generation of renewable energies for electricity and heat while minimizing the overall energy requirement. Ultimately, it is also important to make the business and participation models of property developers and project developers sustainable – e.g. by involving tenants in building assets via innovative rent-purchase hybrid concepts and cooperative models.

The industry includes, for example, project developers and property developers as well as real estate service providers for neighborhoods and residential and non-residential buildings, including the development of land. It includes planning, development, purchase, sale, rental, leasing, brokerage and management of land, buildings and apartments.