Challenges, Opportunities and Risks

Challenges

• Municipalities, associations and tenants expect us, as a landlord with 40 million m² of outdoor space, to create “green habitats” in urban areas. The local population, however, often fails to understand the logic behind the necessary measures, such as cutting down trees or professional pruning. As a result, there is a need for more intensive process monitoring and continuous adjustments.

Opportunities

• The company’s own areas and skilled workers offer a considerable lever for making the portfolio more eco-friendly and resilient.
• Efficiency and cost advantages can be realized by developing standardized residential environment modules, such as playgrounds and waste disposal sites. The same applies to the standardization of procurement processes.
• Support for positive neighborhood development and greater awareness of climate protection among fellow citizens is encouraged. Moves to make neighborhoods and buildings more visually appealing as well as measures to rid the neighborhood of areas that feel unsafe lead to more customer satisfaction.

Risks

• Changing environmental conditions, for example, the increase in longer periods of warm weather and a higher incidence of downpours and storms, could lead to damage to vegetation, infrastructure failure and an increase in the associated insurance costs.
• Greater public and political awareness could lead to more stringent property management regulation, making construction work more expensive and time-consuming.
• The personnel outlay and financial expenditure involved in maintaining green spaces are on the rise.