THE LEARNING & THE NETWORKING EXPERIENCES / DAY 1 & 2
THE MEDITERRANEAN EXPERIENCE / EXTENDED PROGRAM / DAY 3
THE ISLAND EXPERIENCE / FOR SPOUSES ONLY
A fresh and unusual proposal especially created for the leading players of the property industry in Europe, with the participation of infrequent world-class speakers.
An event designed to meet, learn, share experiences and network in a different, distended, and friendly way in a unique place like Ibiza.
SQUARE is more think tank than conference, designed for the fast-changing world of real estate and built to address across the board issues. Attendees are not an audience, they are contributors. All sessions at SQUARE devote at least 15 minutes to an open and lively debate/discussion between the floor and the stage.
And this year SQUARE will be more interactive than ever before, as you will discover when reading down below what we have prepared for the afternoon of Day 2.
* All sessions will be in English (no simultaneous translation).
SQUARE will devote its first day (May 29th, from 2.30 pm on) to give “food for thought”, especially regarding two issues of paramount importance that have been making life harder for RE companies in recent years: “wars and, thus, geopolitical and economic uncertainties” and “ESG”.
Is anybody capable to figure out these days which will be the political and economic consequences of the escalating conflicts in the Middle East? It’s not just the Israel vs Hamas war, it’s also the underlying Iran issue, and the Hutis making trouble in the Red Sea… Without any doubt, and without forgetting about the war in Ukraine nor the China-Taiwan threat, the Middle East is right now the hottest and most worrying spot in the planet. And that’s why SQUARE 2024 will be kicked-off with a world-class session on this very issue and what the consequences may be for the RE industry while taking into account the elections coming up in the EU (June 24), the US (November 24)… and in Germany (autumn 25), the weakened economic engine of Europe.
SQUARE also wants to focus on its first day on another issue that few dare to challenge: how good (or bad?) ESG is for the property industry, especially the “E”. Or how to cope with the regulations and the social and (mainstream) media pressure for climate-change-related actions… which, let’s be honest, are making business more difficult for RE companies in comparison with just 10 years ago. It’s a fact that some of the world’s largest fund managers are starting to give a bit of thought to the issue because, shily, some of their LPs are wondering about the “dividend impact” of the “E”. And this thrilling matter on “ESG” will be addressed through a most proper, and yet bold, “Oxford-style Debate”.
And we couldn’t think of a better way to end this first day (after such “worrying” sessions) than getting the opinions of two bright world-class players, an institutional investor and an investment manager. The sort of players who truly make the RE world go round.
Doors Open & Registration.
Welcome Lunch in the Gran Hotel’s gardens.
Geopolitics: How Does the Crisis in the Middle East Impact our World?
Interest rates, construction costs, energy prices, recessionary economic outlook, housing shortage, multiple geopolitical crises – has the time come to cut back our ESG agendas? How much ESG can we still afford in a stressed real estate market? Two high-profile investment professionals will discuss in an Oxford-style debate the pros and cons of ESG in a drastically changed environment for developers, property owners and asset managers. And you get to participate and vote!
SQUARE is proud to focus on the long-term rather than on the short one, and also is proud to be bold and non-mainstream. That’s why we believe that a great way of kicking-off Day 2 is through a most provoking address on AI. Who will AI disrupt? Who will it destroy and does business have any idea of was is about to hit?
And in our approach to the future, in our caring for long-term thinking, no better exercise than trying to imagine what it would be like the “ideal” RE company of the future if we could build it from scratch. Which would be the technologies used and what for? What products and what markets would be targeted? What sort of professionals should it engage? From the board-room down. Quite an exercise! Utopian maybe. But well-worth if willing to set up new corporate goals to navigate the future.
And no better complement to the design of “an ideal brand-new” RE organization than a world-class chat between three top players (a creator/designer, a developer, and an investor) who are continuously confronting the challenge of adapting to change their well-established companies. What are their ideas? How did they already cope with the very disrupting factors affecting RE in the last 10–15 years? How did they transform their companies and how will keep doing it? A session not to be missed.
Also, in this look to the future that SQUARE will deliver on Day 2, AI couldn’t at all be left aside. But SQUARE is not to address AI on the common way (trying to explain what AI is and what it will change in our society, and bla-bla-bla…) but focusing very much on why AI is to make of Data Centers (and “energy infrastructures”) a most attractive asset class in the years to come, if not “the” most attractive.
After lunch, it will take place an interactive exercise (in break-out groups) to leverage the brilliant brains at SQUARE and come out with some suggestions (for each archetypal property company) on “what strategies to consider for the years to come” taking into account all said in the previous 24 hours.
Nevertheless, even if strategic planning is key for long term success, the truth is that at the end of the day, at the end of the year, real estate companies must make money. And that’s why there is no better way to close SQUARE than listening to savvy investors and learn where and in what products/segments they are to bet on.
Antonio Gámiz
For those willing to extend their networking (and fun time!!) with peers, on our last day we always organize a fab luncheon at one of the hottest “chiringuito” (Spanish word for a restaurant “very much on” the beach) on the neighboring island of Formentera (30 minutes away on a motorboat ride).
11.00 am: Assembling at the Gran Hotel’s lobby.
12.00 pm: Yachts departing from the marina towards Formentera
1.30 pm: Lunch at one of the famous “chringuitos” (Spanish word for “restaurant on the beach”) on “Illetes Beach”.
5.00 pm: Yachts depart from Formentera.
5.45 pm: Yachts arrive to Ibiza’s marina
For those willing to travel to such an appealing place as Ibiza together with his or her “better half”, SQUARE will deliver a special program to experience different aspects of the island, from lunching at an exclusive beach club to go shopping at the Dalias hippy market in San Carlos, or from visiting the lovely little village of Santa Gertrudis, to shopping around the Ibiza “old town”.