OVERVIEW

Before Al Gore's blockbuster documentary “An Inconvenient Truth”, it was enough for developers merely to pay lip service to green issues. The movie's stunning popularity, however, has sparked a worlwide debate revealing the huge depth of concern about global warming and sustainability.

CEDEP Green is a new initiative by Roberts Publishing Media Group, which has been holding its Polish property conference since 2002. The new green focus of the event has been chosen in recognition of the reality that carbon neutral real estate development is no longer just the dream of activists, but is rapidly becoming public policy.

The implications for the property industry will be immense, and it's becoming clear that the approach we currently use in the designing and building of new projects will change radically over the coming decade. Residential and commercial buildings will be judged and valued in dramatically new ways by customers, tenants and investors.

CEDEP Green will feature a mix of panel discussions, case studies and talks that will explore not just how the approaches to environmental and efficiency issues are being transformed, but why, since moral arguments alone would be unlikely to win the day in profit-driven board rooms.

While focusing on the Central and Eastern European property markets, the discussions will draw upon experts from all over Europe and Great Britain, where tough sustainable development legislation is sparking exciting new ideas and growing expertise.