11 July 2022 – Build Europe, the European association representing the national federations of  developers and homebuilders, has welcomed the Ukrainian Real Estate Club (URE Club) as a new member. The two associations announced their intention to work together to rebuild Ukrainian  cities destroyed during the ongoing war in a more resilient and eco-friendly way, and co-signed  a memorandum of understanding regarding regarding the establishment of strategic  partnership. 

Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Build Europe put in place a series of collective actions  to provide the Ukrainian refugees with financial aid, solidarity, supplies, and comfortable living  arrangements. However, the Association’s members are now fully committed to provide new  housing to Ukrainian citizens who lost their homes during the conflict and help them bring their  new buildings closer to EU’s standards. 

Build Europe and the URE Club believe it will be essential in the coming months to collectively  share best practices, and benefit from each others’ feedback and expertise. The partnership will  also allow European and Ukrainian developers to speak with one voice at the EU level, and  constructively inform the work of the European institutions so to rebuild Ukraine and provide  Ukrainian citizens with both temporary housing solutions, in the short term, and decent  affordable permanent housing, in the medium term. 

Marc Pigeon, President of Build Europe, said: “Welcoming URE Club as a member within Build  Europe is a first step to bring Ukraine closer to the EU. The reconstruction of the country will not  be possible if European governments and political institutions do not listen to the housing  professionals that work every day to provide our citizens with a roof over their head. URE Club  has represented the real estate sector in Ukraine for many decades and it is an honour for us,  European developers, to work with them to give new life to their country and regenerate their  cities. We truly hope that the European Commission will help us doing so”. 

Olga Solovei , President of URE Club, added: “The emergency obliges us to work simultaneously  on several fronts: we have the refugees from cities destroyed by the war that are hosted in the cities where the conflict has not arrived, and where we urgently need to give our citizens  temporary accommodation. But our families will soon need access to homes that are affordable  and more resilient than those that were destroyed. Today, URE Club takes a first step to make  sure that this conflict brings our country into the European Union. We feel the moral obligation  to rebuild Ukrainian cities, and to rebuild them in a better way. We thank Build Europe and its  members for their commitment.”

About Build Europe 

Build Europe is the organisation representing in the European Union the national federations  of developers and homebuilders. 

Build Europe considers accessibility to decent affordable housing solutions that meet EU  citizens’ needs and expectations to be one of the main challenges that needs to be addressed  by the European institutions. For this reason, Build Europe believes that the EU and Member  States must ensure that the EU's environmental objectives do not further exacerbate the  current housing affordability crisis.  

In 2019, in view of the European elections, Build Europe published a Manifesto on the housing  crisis, with the ambition to provide the European institutions with a set of practical and feasible  solutions. In 2020, we also provided the European Commission with “Housing: A European  Challenge”, an action plan developed on the basis of the lessons learned during the Covid-19  pandemic, aimed at relaunching the European economy while still addressing the housing  affordability crisis in a time where house was at the center of EU families’ concerns.  

In 2022, Build Europe also published "No Net Land Take by 2050 – Solving the Unsolvable", a  booklet designed to help policy makers pursue a policy of land preservation while protecting  European citizens from rising housing costs, and a comic book designed to explain in a simple  way the structural reasons behind the phenomenon of unaffordable housing. 

Build Europe’s Members include:  

• Belgium : Union Professionnelle du Secteur Immobilier - Beroepsvereniging van de  Vastgoedsector (UPSI-BVS) 

• Bulgaria: Камара на строителите в България (КСБ);  

• Bulgaria : Glavbolgarstroy (GBS) ; 

• France: Fédération des Promoteurs Immobiliers de France (FPI);  

• France: Pôle Habitat FFB;  

• France: Union Nationale des Aménageurs (UNAM);  

• Germany: Bundesverband Freier Immobilien-und Wohnungsunternehmen (BFW);  • Ireland: Irish Home Builders Association (IHBA);  

• Luxembourg: Chambre Immobilière du Grand-Duché du Luxembourg (CIGDL);  • Malta: Malta Developers Association (MDA);  

• Monaco: Syndicat des Promoteurs Immobiliers;  

• Norway: Boligprodusentenes Forening (NHBA);  

• Poland: Polski Zwiazek Firm Deweloperskich (PZFD);  

• Portugal: Associação Portuguesa de Promotores e Investidores Imobiliários (APPII);  • Romania: Patronatul Societatilordin Constructii (PSC);  

• Spain: Developer and House Builders Association of Zaragoza (ACPZ); • Ukraine : Ukrainian Real Estate Club (URE Club) ; and 

• United Kingdom: Home Builders Federation (HBF).  

Media contact:  

Acuitas Communications – Square de Meeûs 35 – 1000 Brussels  

Federico Nahuel Lazzari: federico.lazzari@acuitascomms.com , +32 2 893 9726