Innovation interventions will be required on about 1.1 million residential buildings
Interventions will generate an economic impact on the building stock of 22.6 billion euros per year
The main projects that will transform Milan are: Mind, Uptown, Merlata Bloom, Milano Santa Giulia, Vetra Building, Certosa District, SeiMilano, Loc (Loreto open community), and Bim
Some 1.1 million residential buildings will require innovation from a building, urban planning, and social point of view. In other words – following the targets dictated by the European Union (after the approval of the Green Homes Directive) – more than 36 thousand buildings per year (equal to a city like Messina) will be involved for the next 30 years.
What are the impacts on Italy of the Green Homes Directive?
The interventions will generate an economic impact on the building stock of 22.6 billion euros per year and reduce potential social effects by an additional 17.1 billion euros. Taking a snapshot of the impact that the green homes directive will have on our country was the Innovation Observatory “The S of ESG, an Italian story of value” presented in Milan by Scenari Immobiliari and Dils (a new name for Redilco & Sigest) during the Innovation forum 2023, which showed that sticking to the EU target of “rebuilding” 2 percent of existing buildings in urban areas annually, it would be necessary to intervene on about 36 potentially. Three hundred buildings per year (equivalent to 2 percent of the 1.8 million existing residential buildings in Italy’s major cities) over a 30-year timeframe, only concerning the heritage built between ’46 and the late 1980s.
“Redevelopment interventions on Italian buildings are not only of a building nature but also concern the adaptation of properties to the latest standards of quality of life and constitute a new and innovative transformation and modification of the existing,” commented Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari, at the opening of the forum. At the same time, general manager Francesca Zirnstein added that “the real estate market is not exempt from the requirements of measuring social impact, since every building operation, whatever its size and location, reports more or less incisive effects on the reference territory, and therefore on the relative economic and social fabric.”
What market are we talking about?
“With 270 trillion euros, real estate is the largest industry in the world, but among the last in terms of innovation capacity,” illustrated Giuseppe Amitrano, founder & CEO Dils, who then added, “A situation that offers operators a wide range of opportunities, without forgetting the responsibilities it entails.
Urban regeneration: Milan at the top
Northern Italy, particularly the metropolitan city of Milan, has become a fertile laboratory for urban regeneration projects and developments in recent years. The many brownfield sites in the area, true urban voids, and elements of caesura between city neighborhoods have aroused particular attention.
What are just the main projects that will transform the city of Milan in the coming years? Certainly, there are Mind, Uptown, Merlata Bloom, Milano Santa Giulia, Vetra Building, Certosa District, SeiMilano, Loc (Loreto open community), and Bim.
The Bim project (in Bicocca)
Meanwhile, on March 29, 2023, Bim, the new urban regeneration project for the two buildings Pirelli 10 and Innovazione 3, was unveiled. The project, which bears the signature of Milan-based architecture firm Piuarch, which worked in synergy with landscape architect Antonio Perazzi, involves Aermont Capital, a pan-European asset management company with a focus on real estate, and Kervis Sgr, a company dedicated to the management of funds reserved for international institutional investors of primary standing, together with Mtdm – Manifattura Tabacchi Development Management as project manager.
Through an investment of 250 million euros, the project aims to redevelop an area of more than 50 thousand square meters, of which 43,300 square meters will be used for executive purposes, 3,400 square meters of retail space, 800 square meters of multifunctional Pavilion, and 6 thousand square meters of green space and garden. The two buildings will be transformed into a new extended workspace that will accommodate a community of 5,000 people. Work in Pirelli 10 has already begun and will be completed by September 2024, while work in Innovation 3 will start in January 2025 and be completed in March 2026.
The project is at 11 Via Santa Margherita (Old Town).
On March 29, Ardian also presented the redevelopment project for the property at 11 Via Santa Margherita in Milan and simultaneously the urban regeneration project for the surrounding public space, which includes Piazza Ferrari (which will be enhanced and pedestrianized). The project aims to give back to the Lombard capital one of the historic corners, adjacent to the Teatro alla Scala: the area will be rethought in an ESG key according to the concept of the “15 minutes city” with low environmental impact. Specifically, the project-which is signed by the Asti architects’ studio-will cover a total gross area of 6,300 square meters, seven floors above ground and three basements, and will be redesigned according to the architectural concept that combines historical and contemporary heritage. Work on the property will be completed by summer.
