FMJ.CO.UK CORPORATE REAL ESTATE FOCUS
APRIL 2022 37
considered a financial asset and a source
of return and diversification, appealing for
investors.
Courtney Fingar, Editor-in-chief at
Investment Monitor, chaired a
conversation with Laurent
Lavergne, Global Head
of Asset Management
& Development
at AXA; Neil
Slater, Global
Head of Real
Assets at Abrdn;
Aleksandra
Njagulj, Global
Head of ESG
for Real Estate at
DWS and Aida Feriz,
Executive Director at
Wimmer Family O ice.
The panel agreed that, from
a sustainable perspective, the industry
needs to do more than just put solar
panels on a roof, and that sustainability
is increasingly linked to financial
performance as it is virtually impossible to
sell a non-compliant asset.
As a result, ESG criteria is being
factored into investment calculations.
“The question of ‘who is the tenant in
our building?’ is coming up more o‰ en in
conversations. It is a challenging question
for landlords from an ESG point of view,”
said Njagulj. “We need to accept that ESG
criteria are changing constantly. We need
to be ready for this and have policies and
approaches which are flexible because ESG
is constantly changing.”
Slater added: “If you compare real
estate today to how it was 20 years
ago, how we think about it, and
how we measure it, it has evolved
significantly, and that makes the
asset class well positioned for
the next five to 10 years in an
inflationary environment.” Slater
also reiterated that the way online
transactions are done is going to
result in significant structural shi‰ s
in major cities, such as London, Paris,
and Amsterdam.
LONDON – LEADING THE WAY IN
DECARBONISATION
With significant investments going into the
climate and building technology required
to deliver the London Mayor’s ambitious
roadmap to net zero, the capital is world
leader in the decarbonisation agenda.
Edith Blennerhassett, Director,
Buildings Engineering, ARUP; Abigail
Dean, Global Head of Strategic Insights,
Nuveen Real Estate; and Philip Graham,
the debates. Stephen Brown, Senior Vice
President Global Market Development at
the International WELL Building Institute
(IWBI), revealed that ESG drives most of
his conversations with clients and large
developers in the investment community.
“It’s amazing to see,” he said. “The
pandemic has reminded everybody that
you can’t achieve anything unless you have
happy, healthy, engaged people.”
A recent report from RICS also suggested
that, collectively, we must change the
way that we evaluate real estate’s worth
and its contribution to the wider society.
Speaking at the conference, Paul Bagust,
Head of Property Standards, RICS, said:
“The occupation of commercial buildings
has changed radically over the past couple
of decades. Technology has wrought
enormous change; business models and
consumer habits have been transformed;
environmental concerns have come to
the fore; attitudes to health and wellbeing
are evolving rapidly; expectations of the
workplace are far more sophisticated; and
the role of real estate in corporate planning
is changing rapidly.”
REAL ESTATE – MUCH MORE THAN JUST
AN ASSET
MIPIM revealed that real estate is now
The occupation of commercial
buildings has changed radically over
the past couple of decades. Technology
has wrought enormous change; business
models and consumer habits have been
transformed; environmental concerns
have come to the fore; attitudes
to health and wellbeing are
evolving rapidly...”