Notice

On 12 April 2025, 08:00 BST, we will be disabling logins for specific member-facing platforms to improve internal processes. We expect this to finish 12 April 2025 at 17:00 BST.

Help us improve the WBEF website

We value your feedback. Take a quick survey and tell us what content matters most to you and how we can enhance your experience. Your input will shape the future of the World Built Environment Forum.

 

Shaping the debate with industry leading insights and a diversity of opinion

A more equitable future is within reach. First, we must harness the enormous potential of the 21st century’s people, places and spaces. #WBEF

Digital Transformation

Digitalisation is transforming our interactions and transactions, habits and habitats

Markets & Geopolitics

The climate emergency is reshaping the world of politics and finance.

Natural Environment

Climate disaster cannot be averted without transformational action across the sector.

Urbanisation

For cities to remain engines of growth, opportunity and prosperity, there can be no more business as usual.

Latest Megatrend Insights

From waste to value: how circularity is reshaping real estate and construction

What if buildings could become material banks, storing resources to be reused and repurposed for future projects? In a recent webinar with Drees & Sommer, experts explore how circularity is transforming the built environment.

Climate contracting in real estate: the role of greener deals in reducing global carbon emissions

Climate contracting integrates decarbonisation and sustainability goals into legal agreements. In a recent webinar, in partnership with The Chancery Lane Project, a panel of experts discuss how climate clauses can be effectively implemented into contracts.

Why does the timing of carbon emissions matter in whole life carbon assessments?

Could professionals consider the time-value of carbon when making project-specific decisions? Anil Sawhney, head of sustainability at RICS, and Will Wild, Senior Engineer at Arup, examine the principle that emissions today should be valued differently from those emitted tomorrow.

RICS survey calls the bottom of the UK commercial real estate market as yields harden across sectors

Does improving sentiment from the RICS Global Commercial Property Monitor signal an early upturn for the UK real estate market? Patrick Scanlon, Senior Director of Market Analytics, CoStar, examines the evidence.

Indexing resilience can help protect buildings against climate disasters

With the growing frequency and intensity of natural disasters, the need for building resilience is increasingly apparent. WBEF brought together experts at a recent webinar to offer insight on resilience and discuss a tool developed to increase the property market’s awareness of the concept.

AI representation

Professional conduct and the responsible use of AI

The awareness and use of AI across the land and property life cycle has steadily grown in recent years, bringing both advantages and risks to professionals and their clients.

Wicked problems in construction: managing the risks posed by using AI

What risks are associated with using AI in construction? In the final of this three-part series, four industry experts explain the steps industry can take to manage AI-related risks while capitalising on its benefits.

Wicked problems in construction: the main problems that AI can help solve

How will artificial intelligence improve construction productivity and health and safety while also reducing its environmental impacts? In the second if this three-part series, four industry experts discuss the potential to tackle these ‘wicked’ problems using AI.

Can increased data transparency improve house affordability in Europe?

Can improved access to more accurate data help to counteract property price inflation in Europe? Nils Henning, CEO and Co-founder of CASAFARI, examines how data availability impacts housing markets in the region.

European Commission’s work programme 2025

In a period of global uncertainty, the European Union is taking decisive steps to shape its economic and regulatory landscape.

Wicked problems in construction: how the intelligent use of AI can help

How can artificial intelligence benefit the construction industry? In first of this three-part series, four industry experts examine the considerations necessary for construction to capitalise on the benefits of AI.

Fibre optic data cable

Data centres: can innovations reduce the environmental impacts of this asset class?

As the demand for data centres grows, how can their environmental impacts be mitigated? In the second of this two-part series, Tarrant Parsons, RICS head of market analytics, examines the innovations that could help reduce the carbon and water intensity of this real estate sector.