ULI Portugal Novo chair wants to elevate its network to think tanks in the sector
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is the oldest professional association in the real estate market globally and has a new president in Portugal, a well-known face of the sector in the country. Francisco Rocha Antunes has nearly three decades of experience in the field and is the founder of + Urbano, whose portfolio includes emblematic works of urban rehabilitation in Porto, such as Mercado do Bolhão and Passeio dos Clérigos. Now, for a period of two years, renewable for another two, he has been appointed president of ULI Portugal and has already taken on the challenge of promoting a more active role for the professional association in national territory.
The ULI, established in 1936, in the United States, is an international organization with branches in Europe, America and Asia, dedicated to education and research in real estate, in order to provide good practices in the use of urban space and support prosperous communities in the world. It is a non-lobbying organization, which has more than 45 thousand members globally, including promoters, consultants, lawyers and architects linked to the field. In Portugal, Rocha Antunes wants to see the ULI, which has reached around 200 members and now accounts for 45, as a space for intervention in favor of the sector.
The manager and also a professor at Porto Business School wants the association to stand out as one of the main think tanks in the Portuguese real estate sector, placing the focus of the discussion on the search for good practices in a context of major changes in the industry, in matters such as sustainability and digitization are the engine of transformations, and emerging market trends, such as new residential formats and logistics. But not only. The responsible assumes the need to establish new alliances with public and private stakeholders, namely through the externalization of the experience of ULI members in the market.
“At a time when real estate is facing such relevant challenges as reducing its carbon footprint, digitizing society and profoundly changing citizens’ habits, ULI is the space for reflection and division of professionals who want to lead responsible change of the use of urban space”, he says. To the previously mentioned specifications, the new president adds the objective of increasing the number of members in Portugal, one of the paths being to support the expansion of ULI NEXT Portugal to members between 35 and 45 years of age and start the Young Leaders program for professionals under 35 years of age.
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As an example of the future intervention of ULI Portugal, Rocha Antunes points out the need to clarify with public entities what is the residential solution Built to rent (build to rent), already applied in several European countries, and to make them aware of the need for there is stability from a legal point of view for promoters to bet on this format.
According to him, “there are hundreds of millions of euros” in the international market available to invest in this product, but in order to raise this capital, changes to the general building regulations are needed. This is the case with areas: a dwelling cannot have an area of less than 35 thousand, but in the European model of Built for rent there are apartments of 25 thousand square meters. In his opinion, these projects must be seen by the public public, such as university residences, often built on land used for services.