Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2020 | Page 52

As real estate consumes 40% of the
world’s energy consumption – and contrib-
utes in excess of 30% in annual greenhouse
gas emissions – it is clear that the real estate
industry cannot sit on the sidelines while
the fight against climate change is going on,
Durkin observed.
Wanted: Smart Cities
What does this mean for the industry, then?
– Durkin talked about “rise of climate infra-
structure” which is more carbon-wise, using
e.g. Big Data and connectivity to curb emis-
sions. “As technology is improving, moving
from “bricks to clicks” will eventually yield
a whole new breed of smart cities which
are – in addition to more sustainable – also
more connected and more personal,” Dur-
kin believes.
Also, Mika Anttonen, founder and
owner of energy company ST1, addressed
the issue of climate change. Anttonen talked
about the need to increase investments in
renewable energy, carbon sinks and Carbon
Capture and Utilization (CCU).
“We need to set CO 2 emission reduc-
tion obligations to companies and allow
them across the sectors – including carbon
sinks – and also in the countries outside of
EU,” said Anttonen.
Service Edge
Anthony Slumbers, Real Estate & Tech-
nology strategist, highlighted in his pres-
entation just how real estate is becoming
a service industry. He noted that an office,
for instance, that is designed around ‘old’
work is, or shortly will be, obsolete. At pre-
sent, only 57% of employees say their work-
place enables them to be productive (Lees-
man Index) and the average desk utilization
is around 40%.
“The future-proof office has to be
designed for ‘new’ work,” he said, adding
that offices need to catalyze human skills.
Improving the pleasure / productivity of peo-
ple is the “core value proposition” in all this,
Slumbers claimed.
CEO Nils Styf from Hemsö Fastighets AB
talked about how social infrastructure is sure
to take root simply because of demograph-
ics: Globally, the number of people 60 years
or older is expected to more than double
from 900 million in 2015 to more than 2
billion in 2050. Still, investment levels in
Social Infrastructure are low within the EU
(20% below the level of 2007).
While current European investments
in Social Infra have been estimated at EUR
170 billion per year, the gap in investment is
estimated at EUR 100-150 billion per year.
According to Styf, the benefits of
investing in Social Infrastructure are numer-
ous enough to give make it a serious con-
sideration. Creditworthy tenants, long leases
and low vacancies are characteristic of this
non-cyclical asset class. Furthermore, there
is low volatility of returns and sustainable
long-term demand, driven by demographic
changes. l
Getting Social
One up-and-coming real estate segment is
Social Infrastructure which includes e.g.
hospitals, nursing homes and health care.
Simon Durkin
from BlackRock.
52 Nordicum