Casafari x hugo ferreira – appii and the future of the real estate market
Posted: Tue Dec 10, 2024 5:11 am
Hugo Ferreira has been the president of the Portuguese Association of Real Estate Developers and Investors (APPII) since May 2021, as a result of the largest vote in history, elected by an absolute majority.
In this interview, Hugo Ferreira talks to us about the latest changes in the Portuguese real estate market, driven by APPII, taking a look at the new projects created by the institution and how he sees the future of the real estate market and the Association.
You were recently elected president of APPII, in the largest vote in history and with an absolute majority. What would you like to leave as a mark on the Association between now and 2024?
Since the post-financial crisis, the market has evolved and always in a positive way. It has emerged well from the pandemic. Despite everything, the real estate market has never come to a standstill. In fact, the Bank of Portugal has described it as one of the strongest sectors. We are able to move forward because it is a ship that has never stopped and there is not so much friction when it comes to undertaking activities.
But it is no less difficult. We must achieve a global economic recovery, with major commitments at European level, especially in terms of the environment, and therefore we have the so-called European Ecological Pact, the European Green Deal itself, which, in fact, is where our national PRC (Recovery and Resilience Plan) will come from. I would dare say that we have, even though it is a good time, very important challenges ahead of us. And some even with very tight parameters and objectives.
For example, one of our goals is to paint buildings green. Given the new European directives and the Green Deal itself, we have until 2050 or even less, until 2030, to convert our buildings into “N0” (Near Zero Energy Buildings).
It is a commitment that will require a lot from us, not only from the sector, but from our leaders, from all companies and from people, because 2030 is the future. Nine years is a very tight target for an activity like real estate, especially in the field of real estate development, where activities are viewed over 5, 10, 15, 20 years.
That is why I wonder whether this objective is realistic and whether we are going to take it seriously, because, although on the one hand I believe that we all have this commitment and are committed to it, on the other hand, especially on the part of public entities, nothing is being done. And I am not just talking about the fiscal point of view, but also from the financial and legislative point of view.
Another objective is to make the real estate market work well. This has been a product of the pandemic. For many years we have talked about environmental sustainability, but there is another chinese overseas africa database more important sustainability, which is human sustainability. And that was brought to us by the pandemic: people were dying every day, and many times, when we talk about sustainability, I think we forget to talk about our own. If we consider buildings as the main source of contact with human beings, I would say that they are one of the main agents of public health.
This is how, in the midst of the pandemic, we launched a platform together with the Portuguese medical university, NOVA Medical School, and founded what we call Living Lab APPII Real Estate Health, which is a platform to expose medical scientific knowledge to companies, to life and to civil society, and, ultimately, to be able to classify buildings as healthy. We have already achieved this with residential and office buildings, and I think this is one of the main challenges.
In your opinion, what is a healthy and unhealthy building in practice?
We have the certification we call Healthy Construction: a qualification awarded by experts and doctors from the NOVA School of Medicine, who enter the project with the architects and designers of the real estate developer, where they give instructions on how a project should be done.
For example, promoting the use of wider, more pleasant, attractive, easy-to-use staircases with wider openings, so that contact between people is less. Also, measures regarding energy efficiency, using materials that we believe are healthy, both for the environment and for health.
I would say that the qualification of a healthy construction will necessarily have a lot to do with environmental sustainability, apart from more elements at the level of the use of spaces, whether in a residential building or in an office, logistics or hotel building.
Is this where the humanization of buildings comes in?
Yes. Portugal has done a magnificent job in this area in recent years, in terms of urban regeneration. I think we still have a lot to rehabilitate, but that is the aesthetic part, the construction part. We have to humanize our buildings and make them more comfortable for those who live or work in them, but also ecological, complying with those very strict parameters.
I am not so worried about the higher end of the residential real estate market because I think that construction is going on quite well. Portugal is known in Europe as one of the countries that builds the best. For example, if we compare it with our Spanish neighbours, our constructions are much better.
But in addition to all this, I believe that we must try to introduce the fight for a greener real estate market here, ensuring that the entire chain, from construction to use, complies with everything that the European Union requires of us to protect planet Earth.
You recently launched the APPII Community, what do you expect from this exchange centre?
The APPII association is, in addition to being the voice of the sector, an exclusive and privileged point of contact for all real estate professionals involved in promotion and investment. It was logical to take a step forward and create what is so fashionable today: the communities .
It is a concept that is used as much as coworkings or colivings , which we have become accustomed to hearing a lot about lately. What I really wanted was for the association, apart from everything else, to be that, a unique, privileged and, today, digital point of contact.
It is not just the meetings we have between members, but the good atmosphere within the association: the closeness, the interaction, the understanding and, above all, something that I have always seen and that I am glad happens, the sharing of knowledge, ideas, business.
In this interview, Hugo Ferreira talks to us about the latest changes in the Portuguese real estate market, driven by APPII, taking a look at the new projects created by the institution and how he sees the future of the real estate market and the Association.
You were recently elected president of APPII, in the largest vote in history and with an absolute majority. What would you like to leave as a mark on the Association between now and 2024?
Since the post-financial crisis, the market has evolved and always in a positive way. It has emerged well from the pandemic. Despite everything, the real estate market has never come to a standstill. In fact, the Bank of Portugal has described it as one of the strongest sectors. We are able to move forward because it is a ship that has never stopped and there is not so much friction when it comes to undertaking activities.
But it is no less difficult. We must achieve a global economic recovery, with major commitments at European level, especially in terms of the environment, and therefore we have the so-called European Ecological Pact, the European Green Deal itself, which, in fact, is where our national PRC (Recovery and Resilience Plan) will come from. I would dare say that we have, even though it is a good time, very important challenges ahead of us. And some even with very tight parameters and objectives.
For example, one of our goals is to paint buildings green. Given the new European directives and the Green Deal itself, we have until 2050 or even less, until 2030, to convert our buildings into “N0” (Near Zero Energy Buildings).
It is a commitment that will require a lot from us, not only from the sector, but from our leaders, from all companies and from people, because 2030 is the future. Nine years is a very tight target for an activity like real estate, especially in the field of real estate development, where activities are viewed over 5, 10, 15, 20 years.
That is why I wonder whether this objective is realistic and whether we are going to take it seriously, because, although on the one hand I believe that we all have this commitment and are committed to it, on the other hand, especially on the part of public entities, nothing is being done. And I am not just talking about the fiscal point of view, but also from the financial and legislative point of view.
Another objective is to make the real estate market work well. This has been a product of the pandemic. For many years we have talked about environmental sustainability, but there is another chinese overseas africa database more important sustainability, which is human sustainability. And that was brought to us by the pandemic: people were dying every day, and many times, when we talk about sustainability, I think we forget to talk about our own. If we consider buildings as the main source of contact with human beings, I would say that they are one of the main agents of public health.
This is how, in the midst of the pandemic, we launched a platform together with the Portuguese medical university, NOVA Medical School, and founded what we call Living Lab APPII Real Estate Health, which is a platform to expose medical scientific knowledge to companies, to life and to civil society, and, ultimately, to be able to classify buildings as healthy. We have already achieved this with residential and office buildings, and I think this is one of the main challenges.
In your opinion, what is a healthy and unhealthy building in practice?
We have the certification we call Healthy Construction: a qualification awarded by experts and doctors from the NOVA School of Medicine, who enter the project with the architects and designers of the real estate developer, where they give instructions on how a project should be done.
For example, promoting the use of wider, more pleasant, attractive, easy-to-use staircases with wider openings, so that contact between people is less. Also, measures regarding energy efficiency, using materials that we believe are healthy, both for the environment and for health.
I would say that the qualification of a healthy construction will necessarily have a lot to do with environmental sustainability, apart from more elements at the level of the use of spaces, whether in a residential building or in an office, logistics or hotel building.
Is this where the humanization of buildings comes in?
Yes. Portugal has done a magnificent job in this area in recent years, in terms of urban regeneration. I think we still have a lot to rehabilitate, but that is the aesthetic part, the construction part. We have to humanize our buildings and make them more comfortable for those who live or work in them, but also ecological, complying with those very strict parameters.
I am not so worried about the higher end of the residential real estate market because I think that construction is going on quite well. Portugal is known in Europe as one of the countries that builds the best. For example, if we compare it with our Spanish neighbours, our constructions are much better.
But in addition to all this, I believe that we must try to introduce the fight for a greener real estate market here, ensuring that the entire chain, from construction to use, complies with everything that the European Union requires of us to protect planet Earth.
You recently launched the APPII Community, what do you expect from this exchange centre?
The APPII association is, in addition to being the voice of the sector, an exclusive and privileged point of contact for all real estate professionals involved in promotion and investment. It was logical to take a step forward and create what is so fashionable today: the communities .
It is a concept that is used as much as coworkings or colivings , which we have become accustomed to hearing a lot about lately. What I really wanted was for the association, apart from everything else, to be that, a unique, privileged and, today, digital point of contact.
It is not just the meetings we have between members, but the good atmosphere within the association: the closeness, the interaction, the understanding and, above all, something that I have always seen and that I am glad happens, the sharing of knowledge, ideas, business.