Common ground for US and Britian during annual conference.

As chief executive of the British Council for Offices (BCO), the UK's leading real estate organization for the office sector, I have presided over a number of conferences overseas, but none has created such enthusiasm among our members as the decision to hold our 2007 conference in New York.

London and New York have much in common: both are genuine world cities, both are major economic powerhouses which compete as financial centers, both have suffered terrorist attacks in recent years and both have seen extensive regeneration of previously rundown areas. For both cities, transport and infrastructure issues present particular challenges.

There is a long tradition of major US property players--Tishman Speyer and Hines, for example--establishing themselves in the UK, while many US law firms are setting up offices in London. The trend is now working in the opposite direction across the Atlantic.

London based investment bank Dawnay, Day, for example, have recently announced that they have invested $500 million in Harlem as a foundation to building an American arm with property worth more than $10 billion. Leading British newspaper, The Times, commented that Dawnay, Day's arrival in the United States is part of a wider British move into the American property market and illustrates perfectly the rationale for our conference.

We know we have much to learn from the US--speed of delivery is way ahead of the UK, for example, and American service culture, which is far in advance of ours.

There are other areas, however, where the UK leads the way. I would argue that sustainability is a prime example. Concern for the environment has become an overriding issue in the UK and now dominates the political agenda in a way that even a few years ago would have seemed unimaginable. Businesses of every sector, the property industry included, are keen to establish their green credentials. Given the political changes underway in the US and the mounting pressure on the government to take action to cut emissions, my prediction is that the US property industry will be obliged to make profound changes in the same way as the UK.

Our Sustainability Group and Technical Affairs committee will be unveiling their research Towards a Zero Carbon Office at our conference. Research shows that energy use can be cut by 40% simply by persuading occupiers to manage their consumption better. There is a substantial gap between the design aspirations of office buildings and occupiers' ability to make the most of a building's capability to minimise carbon production. The BCO's research is focusing on how to communicate detailed feedback from occupiers to designers so this can be incorporated into the briefing and design stages of building--so that buildings will be intrinsically frugal in their energy consumption, rather than needing continual intervention by occupiers.

We are particularly pleased that Dan Doctoroff, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development and Rebuilding of New York City, will give the keynote address 'What Makes a City World Class'. He is a very powerful figure who has won universal admiration for the way he has spearheaded New York's regeneration after 9/11.

Another of the conference sessions involves a panel which includes some of the world's leading architects. Interestingly, they are all working in both London and New York, again demonstrating the commonality between the 2 cities. Renzo Piano, Rafael Vinoly and Marilyn Taylor, Skidmore Owings and Merrill will address issues such as trends in office design, and explore what factors will play the most important part in the evolution of office design over the next decade. So many leading British and European architects are now working in New York, that the typical European and US models, which have traditionally been quite distinct, may merge into something completely new and this could have a major impact on offices in the future.

Other leading speakers include Mike Hussey, Land Securities, Steve Roth, Vornado, Gerald Kaye, Helical Bar, Steve Ross, Related, Larry Silverstein, Silverstein Properties, Amory Lovins, The Rocky Mountain Institute and Wolfgang Grulke, FutureWorld International.

500 leading British realtors, developers, architects, surveyors, representatives of financial institutions and public agencies have committed to attend the conference, "World class spaces for world class cities", which runs from May 2-4 at the Waldorf-Astoria.

ur delegates are all keen to meet, exchange ideas and explore opportunities with New York's property professionals and this will, we hope, be the prelude to an ongoing dialog.

Conference delegates are also invited to the opening drinks reception, which will be held at the Museum of Modern Art, one of the city's most prestigious venues, and to the main conference dinner, to be held at The Waldorf-Astoria on Thursday May 3 2007, which is the highlight of the conference's social programme.

To register for the conference, please visit www.bconewyork07.com or contact SAS Events at [e-mail].

By Richard Kauntze,

chief executive,

British Council for offices