Future

The future

What will happen in the next five years.... and how to grow towards 2015

We have set a value strategy for our projects and minimum quality standards. All contributors have to accept the platform strategy and intents and work, just like us, in full transparency on the improvement of the asset. Base upon the general business principles of sustainability and continuity. It is no longer just about profit making. Anybody who can and wants to commit to our platforms and who is willing to contribute to its wellbeing is welcome.

The new real estate customer:
Real estate customers will become much more demanding. They want flexibility, quality, reliability, safety and all that for less than what they paid for it yesterday.

We like to describe our approach to our clients as “the answer is yes, so what’s the question?” This was new for the European mar¬ket. Real estate is seen as a complicated, expensive and time-consuming process with little room for specific customer demands. This has changed quickly, however, as the market is now totally demand-driven and will stay that way for a long time.

We need to adapt ourselves to these knowledgeable customers and offer more than just a building. What we offer will always be a combination of a building, supporting services, flexibility, ICT, security and mobility solutions etc. We offer comfortable, functional and safe environments. This calls for a different kind of Real Estate Company. We must ensure we have the experience, ability and knowledge to be the new generation full service real estate supplier.

Changing role of government:
We have always depended strongly on government agencies to realize our projects. In Western Europe, public regulations control every aspect of the real estate industry. Local governments often act as co-investor and/or landowner, besides their primary role as controller. This has had an enormous impact on the busi¬ness logic of the real estate industry. Not market demands but political demands govern the European real estate process and that leads to accidents.

But the next 10 years will see radical changes. The dynamics of society are in flux. The actual economic situation will make it necessary for governments to switch from being initiators to quality surveyors, form pivotal elements in the urban development process to inspirators. This puts pressure on the real estate industry to come up with its own answers to market demands.

All this sounds complicated and some may feel nervous about the changes, but we see it as a great op¬portunity: more competition, shorter development time, more transparent entitlement procedures, etc.

Major demographic changes:
The demographic explosion of the post-world-war period has stopped and the global migration of people from poorer to richer countries has dropped off tremendously. These factors retard the growth of many European economies and affect the demand for real estate products. The industry is moving from construction projects to redevelopment and value-management - which is a lot of fun too.

Products versus context:
Our approach in projects has always been product-driv¬en. Before designing a building we define the concept and its market potential. In the years ahead, real es¬tate development will be defined as the creation of an environment and less as the production of a building. The emotional relationship between our clients and our products will become an important factor for success. The key is providing a sense of security, comfort, of feeling at home, etc. Understanding this and develop¬ing the skills to produce this kind of environment will be vital to our success in the coming years. The challenge in the coming years will be to connect these products with the large amount of dysfunctional and non-performing real estate assets. TCN want to be a leader in the business in this respect.