Hanover.The Real Estate Arena is just under four weeks away from its premiere: The new trade fair for the mid-sized real estate industry and the B and C cities is sold out in terms of booth space. The conference program with almost 100 speakers on two stages is ready; and Federal Minister of Construction Clara Geywitz has accepted the invitation and will speak on the current real estate policy of the Berlin traffic light coalition.

More than 160 companies will participate as exhibitors in the premiere of the Real Estate Arena in Hall 23 at the Hannover Exhibition Center. The organizers, Deutsche Messe AG and Real Estate Events GmbH, had expected around 100 exhibitors in advance. The response shows that the market is reacting very positively to the focus on the medium-sized real estate sector and the B and C cities. The organizers had developed concept and orientation of the fair together with more than 35 industry representatives in a so-called Co-Creation procedure and had aligned thus closely to the interests of the enterprises. 3000 visitors are expected.

In addition to the presentations by more than 160 companies, the conference program with its six focus topics will be at the heart of the Real Estate Arena. "Our aim is for all participants to be able to take away strategic impulses, different perspectives, but also concrete approaches to solutions from practice on the six focus topics," said project manager Hartwig von Saß from Deutsche Messe.

Specifically, the focus is on housing, sustainability, the future of work, retail and city centers according to Corona, as well as the digitalization of the real estate industry and innovative mobility concepts.

After the opening by Hanover's Lord Mayor Belit Onay and Lower Saxony's Minister of Construction Olaf Lies, the Real Estate Arena gets straight into the two-day conference program. Axel Gedaschko, President of the GdW, will kick things off. With his keynote speech, he will open the conference panel on housing construction. It is precisely the question of greater energy efficiency that is driving the housing companies, especially in view of the extreme increase in prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine. This will then also be discussed on the panel and addressed in the best cases, for example when it comes to serial construction.

Energy efficiency is closely related to sustainability - the second topic on the Real Estate Arena conference agenda. Dr. Christine Lemaitre, CEO of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für nachhaltiges Bauen addresses the "complicated relationship of the real estate industry to sustainability" in her impulse. Various approaches to solutions - also with a view to the framework of ESG requirements - will be discussed in the panel. The mayor of the Bavarian municipality of Wunsiedel, Nicolas Lahovnik, will also outline that the energy transition is already possible in municipalities, as the motto for Wunsiedel is: "Everything on green!" - Energy transition for businesses - already a reality in Wunsiedel."

When the Corona pandemic came to Germany, office landlords also wondered what would happen next in the face of an unstoppable trend toward home offices. After two years of the pandemic, many are seeing things more clearly - and according to Carsten Knop, publisher of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Eike Becker, the architect of the new FAZ Tower in Frankfurt, all of this also has to do with the "social responsibility of architecture with a view to new worlds of work and life.

Day two of the Real Estate Arena will continue with a topic that is currently of intense interest to experts in the real estate industry, but also far beyond: What will happen to our city centers? Here, too, the pandemic has only exacerbated a development that has been spreading for years. In many city centers, stores are standing empty, and new concepts are needed for the future of the city centers, especially in B, C and D cities. Raoul Roßmann, spokesman for the management of the Rossmann drugstore chain with more than 4,300 stores in Europe, will discuss the role that retail will play in this. Afterwards, Rostock's mayor Claus Ruhe Madsen will talk about his vision of the "Smile City Rostock". How can the many demands on the development of city centers be reconciled in such a way that an economically viable and equally livable future is created for the city centers of B and C cities?

Technology is then on the agenda: Prof. Nik Hafermass from Graft Brandlabs deals with a "new perception in the digital age: thoughts on the flow between people, media and the built environment". He forms the perfect content bridge to the topic of digitalization of the real estate industry - and anyone who talks about this in Germany can hardly avoid Sarah Schlesinger and blackprint. In her keynote address, the highly networked entrepreneur addresses the question: "Bricks & Bits: Does everything really have to go digital?"

Afterwards, the chairman of the Bundesstiftung Baukultur, Reiner Nagel, and the president of the Architektenkammer Niedersachsen, Robert Marlow, will discuss building culture as a "pioneer for a new culture of conversion" and the question "Does it really have to go? Burkhard Bojazian of Justus Grosse Real Estate, Bremen, will also take up this basic idea when he introduces the topic of mobility with his keynote address. Using the example of the Tabakquartier Bremen, where numerous buildings have also been converted, he will talk about "Mobility-optimized project development".

For more information on the program and opportunities to participate, as well as tickets for the event, please visit: www.real-estate-arena.com/en