The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) welcomed participants across the industry to the prestigious NYU Stern School of Business for the Annual World Built Environment Forum last Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 44 West 4th Street, NYU Stern’s Kaufman Management Center. The event boasted an exceptional lineup of industry experts and distinguished speakers, effectively bringing together thought leaders, practitioners and academics, allowing them to explore key issues and innovations in real estate. Sustainability, digitization and hybrid work were discussed in depth.
The conference opened with Ann Gray FRICS, global president of RICS. Gray began by reminding the audience of the profoundly disruptive nature of the pandemic’s impact on the built environment. Gray expounded on the creativity of the industry in being able to adapt quickly to new paradigms that include everything from the emptying of urban cores to a greater awareness of climate change.
The first panel discussion revolved around the dilemma with older, Class B and C buildings. “The average age of an NYC Building is 84 yrs, and asset managers are in great need of solutions for these buildings in order to survive”, said Cate Agnew, FRICS. Today, in a post pandemic world, tenants are willing to pay for Class A buildings that are sustainable and align with their own organization’s statement on sustainability
standards. Integrating ESG into normal capital improvement plans will begin to see savings in 3 to 4 years. The panel concluded that awareness is lacking. “Broad awareness by small to mid-sized landlords and from the public on Local Law 97 is severely lacking,” said Faciu. “Overall, investments that address ESG will bring the most value. Everything can be fixed with money.”
The conference panel on affordable housing underscored the fact that there is scarce legislation and absolutely no sense of urgency for developing affordable housing. Kirk Goodrich, President, Monadnock Development, stated, “If you did a Google search on each piece of legislation, only two apply to affordable housing, there’s no urgency in the matter.” While the topic has political popularity, “there is a paralysis at the state an local level in terms of action items on affordable housing,” said Matthew Murphy,
Executive Director of the NYU Furman Center. “The people who perform critical services and function as the engine of our city are those who are most in need of affordable housing. “Those individuals are often left out of the conversation and development plans,” added Goodrich.
Technology was a significant part of the discussion as digitization is taking place rapidly across all aspects of the real estate cycle. Managing data and being able to inform decisions has taken a prominent role now in the built world.
Andrew Min, SVP, Strategy & Digital Initiatives, RXR and Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh, Professor, Columbia GSB Real Estate participated in a panel discussion looking at the role of technology in the future of the built world. “The construction industry for one, has been fragmented. Technology can aid in capturing data in a way that is useful”, said Min. Technology consultants are now able to change the minds of architects to capture all data – this is the essence of digital transformation taking place across the built world.
Closing remarks were concerned with the role of ethical leadership in the future of the built environment. We are in the business of building products that must last 100 years and therefore we have to predict the future – it’s about time we developed some technologies that can help shape the future. “Overall, the ethical issues inherent in today’s discussion are reflected in the responsibilities of an ethical profession. If the US is not a leader on ESG, we, as a profession, must take that as a challenge and drive change,” said Chris Smith MRICS, Chair, RICS Americas Regional Board.
Other noteworthy hosts and speakers included Sam Chandan FRICS, Professor of Finance and Director of the Center for Real Estate Finance, NYU Stern School of Business and John Busi FRICS, President of Newmark Valuation & Advisory as well as numerous other distinguished industry leaders from across the nation, including:
● Vicki Been, Associated Professor of Public Policy, NYU Wagner and Boxer
Family Professor of Law, NYU School of Law
● Arpit Gupta, Associate Professor, Stern Finance
● Jonathan Miller, President and CEO, Miller Samuel
● Chris Smith MRICS, Chair, RICS Americas Regional Board
● Robyn Reiss, Executive Director, Commercial Observer
● Denise Berger FRICS, Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer/Senior Vice-President,
AECOM
Conference participants had the exclusive opportunity to hear from panels and engage in discussions around the most critical topics impacting commercial real estate today. The forum provided fresh perspectives on real estate, finance, policy, innovation, and the future of development.
The NYU World Built Environment Forum has always served as a platform for professionals, academics, and policymakers to explore sustainable development, urban planning, housing, and infrastructure. The annual conference is intended to foster further collaboration and shared thought leadership among those poised to influence the present and future of the built world.
