EFL looks back to an amazing conference in Berlin, taking place between November 2 -4. Hosted by housing companies ‘GEWOBAG’ and ‘1892’ , the attendees participated in a highly interesting and diverse program of top speakers, site visits, workshops and topic group presentations.

Wednesday November 2nd offered a really outstanding line up of speakers:

• Dr. Philip Bouteiller, CEO of the Tegel Project GmbH highlighted the future developments of Tegel Airport. Tegel Airport will be closed. The fascination remains: a research and industrial park will be built – for the city of the future. This is where founders, students, investors, industrialists and scientists meet to develop the cities of tomorrow together. In Berlin TXL solutions and products are developed for the challenges of urban life.
• Marc Vlessing , CEO of Pocket Living (London) introduced the audience to the fastest growing London based developer of affordable compact homes (for sale). A great solution for European cities to keep young professionals preserved for the city. The people who make a city can also make it their home. 20% cheaper than the surrounding market rate.
• Robert Bruchner of TESLA , famous for it’s electric cars, presented the Powerwall. The Powerwall is a  battery for residential use and is currently the strongest storage option for electricity produced by Photovoltaic panels. 
• Dirk Lehnhoff of DGRV (Federal Organisation of Cooperatives) . The cooperative link-up group is by far the largest economic organisation in Germany in terms of members, with over 22 million members. Of these, 3.8 million are members of housing cooperatives which are organised under the umbrella of the DGRV.
• Barbara Lemke and Michael Kogelschatz of the European Investment Bank (EIB) gave a highly informative presentation about the funding arrangements the EIB can provide to social housing companies.

In the afternoon the group visited Urban Nation. Since 2013 the initiative URBAN NATION, under the direction of Yasha Young, has been inviting international luminaries and aspiring talents of Urban Contemporary Art (UCA) to Berlin to show their works within the urban fabric of Berlin: building façades, house walls and shop windows.

On Thursday 3 November, the official General Assembly took place. As major result of this meeting, the members agreed on the relaunch of EFL Expertise and extension of the shareholder base. EFL’s European consulting company.

Key Notes were provided by:

• The Berlin Secretary for Building and Housing Prof. Dr. Engelbert Lütke Daldrup introduced the European audience to the city developments of Berlin. As one of the fastest growing cities in Europe it has a huge  challenge to make the city creative, sustainable and very smart ! 
• Henrik Baumunk of CBRE presented the outcomes of their European Residential Market Report 2016. 

During the internal program of EFL members on Friday November 4th, members have been updated about the progress of Topic Groups and Projects.