Last week, Mohammad Asfour, Head of WorldGBC’s MENA Regional Network was in Barcelona to receive an award on behalf of WorldGBC at the newly launched Mediterranean Real Estate Forum international conference. The focus of the conference was the importance of the real estate and urban industry as being fundamental for economic development of the Mediterranean region. The themes discussed included social housing programmes, the need to introduce sustainability in housing construction or the promotion of green building.

WorldGBC was presented with the Barcelona Meeting Point (BM) Mediterranean Award for its invaluable mission leading the transformation of the construction industry to create a healthier and more sustainable environment

Mohammad Asfour, Head of MENA Regional Network commented: “Urban areas in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Libya and Gaza have suffered large-scale damage due to multiple, recent and ongoing conflicts. Thus we have partnered with Chatham House and UN Habitat to produce guidelines for sustainable reconstruction and city generation.  This will not only help us fight climate change but will also represent an economic opportunity for the real estate sector as well.”

The population in the Mediterranean countries has doubled in the last 30 years while its urban population is expected to grow from 50% to 60% by 2050.