Green debate gets real at Mipim

A marginal topic just two years ago, sustainability was very firmly on the agenda at this year's Mipim property fair. In one of a series of talks on the link between sustainability and property at this years event, chaired by the Intelligent Building Group, the discussion moved to a whole new level, to buildings that not only cut carbon emissions but may very well drastically change the way we live in cities.

Desina Katsikakis, chairman of DEGW, said changing demographics will lead to a radical rethink of the way we view the urban environment. This will include breaking down the boundaries between the traditional division of work, home and leisure. Urban planners will have to accommodate the next generation of workers, who are internet-savvy and demand more flexibility, she said.

Companies will want buildings that reflect and eve reinforce their culture, she said, noting that her company was currently redesigning all the offices of internet company Google. But going even further, Katsikakis said new designs will have to take into account that in the future many non-residential buildings will have to be multi-use, rather than lie empty for large parts of the day. She noted that DEGW had designed a space for oil company Royal Dutch Shell, called the Shell Learning Centre, which is transformed into a Holiday Inn at the weekends.

This will also be accompanied by a concomitant transformation of the role of our homes. Already 32% of the world’s workforce works regularly at home while many more work at home occasionally. The way our homes are designed will have to reflect this.

Chris Luebkeman, head of Director for Global Foresight + Innovation at Arup, manages to take this one step further. The new urban environment will effectively change the way we live, he said:. 'We simply cannot continue living he way we live now, if we want to preserve our planet’s rapidly diminishing resources. How we interact within the spaces in which we live and work will become as significant as how buildings impact on the environment.'

The way the industry responds to rapid urbanisation - by 2020 some 60% of the world's population will live in cities - will have to be different in different parts of the world, Luebkeman added. 'Change is constant, but context changes. In other words, what we design and the solutions we come up with will depend on where we are.'

The property industry will play a crucial role in these development, and the sooner they start thinking about it the better, he said. 'I always say that the future is oversold and under-imagined. For that very reason we need to properly consider the things that will make the built environment a better place.'

At another conference on the subject, Liz Peace, chief executive of the British Property Federation, told the audience that the BPF has set out a green action plan on behalf of the industry to create a clear agenda and cut through the many uncoordinated initiatives being levelled by politicians and action groups. 'There is a tremendous amount of will to achieve real change within the commercial property industry', she said.