The start of the year saw the launch of the ULI / PwC Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2015 Europe report. Published every year since 2003, the report provides an outlook on European real estate investment and development, real estate finance and capital markets, as well as trends by property sector and geographical area.

The 2015 report highlighted a surge in popularity for real estate investment opportunities in a number of cities that were hit particularly hard during the last market downturn, including Madrid, Athens, Birmingham, Amsterdam and Lisbon. The report also found that in spite of economic uncertainties in Europe, property remains fertile ground for investors with 70% of investors expecting more equity and debt will flow into their markets during 2015. The biggest problem investors anticipated was a shortage of assets, ahead of the challenges of regulation or the cost of finance.

In February, following a retreat and conference in partnership with the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, we published the Tomorrow’s City Centre: Glasgow Agenda report. The report investigated how constantly evolving technologies would influence consumer behaviours and potentially impact the Glasgow city centre experience over the next five years.

The Technology, Real Estate, and the Innovation Economy report, published in the summer, looked at how the innovation economy and disruptive technologies will affect the real estate industry. The conclusions of the report suggested that real estate needs to revolutionise its modus operandi if it is to effectively service and profit from the innovation economy. It can no longer rely just on bricks and mortar; these changing patterns add up to a fundamental change to the business model for real estate.

Density has been the focus topic of ULI Europe’s two latest reports. The first report titled Density: Drivers, Dividends and Debates examined what we mean by the term density, how it’s been delivered in different places around the world and what we can learn from different models to help equip us for the new generation of global cities. The report included views from ULI members, city experts and industry leaders on whether the case for living more densely has long term benefits to people, the environment and on investments.

The second report in the series, The Density Dividend: Solutions for Growing and Shrinking Cities, looked at the current state of good density across European cities and how urban change and the different challenges involved in population growth and shrinkage impact this while at the same time looking at how density can play a role in adapting and building strategies for future cycles. Birmingham and London featured as case studies in the report and roundtables organised by ULI UK in both cities fed in to the research.

The UK has had a successful year in the ULI awards programme.  Kings Cross Station, developed by Network Rail, was selected as one of the 10 winners of the Global ULI Awards for Excellence alongside Swedbank Headquarters in Stockholm and 12^th Avenue Arts in Seattle.  And internationally renowned architect, Lord Richard Rogers, was just announced as this year’s winner of the JC Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, the Institute’s highest honour.

ULI UK also launched a brand new prize in partnership with The Journal of Economic Geography and Oxford University Press. In an effort to forge collaborative links between the commercial and academic worlds, the Urban Land Institute Prize will be awarded annually to the author(s) of the best JOEG paper published online.  The 2015 prize was awarded to a team of urban economists from the Netherlands for their paper on high rise buildings and office rents.

Looking ahead to 2016, The theme of density will be continued with a study, in partnership with The New Climate Economy, to improve understanding and awareness of the link to improve understanding and awareness of the link between compact, connected and accessible urban centres and long-term value for investors.

Vanessa Hale, Partner, Research, Strutt & Parker

ULI UK Executive Committee – Research and Programmes