The CLI-MA – from Housing Manager to Climate Manager project was launched in late autumn 2020 with an online kick-off event. Even given the challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and related travel restrictions, the partners in Poland and Latvia managed to sign the cooperation agreements with the local associations of housing managers. The go-head was given for the transfer of the German training programme for housing managers called KLIMAVERWALTER to the Polish and Latvian markets.
The project set out with an analysis of the current situations in the Polish and Latvian housing management markets. Characteristics of the building stock and of the sector of housing management as well as energy efficiency standards, financing and climate policy were analysed. In addition to general data on the markets, a survey was conducted. It consisted of 10 questions concerning professional skills needed to increase energy efficiency and mitigate climate change.
Polish participants in the survey were invited via the portal Administrator24.info and the associations of property managers. The Polish Association of Property Managers (PSZN), the Polish Federation of Associations of Real Estate Professions (PFSZN), the Podlaskie Association of Property Managers, and the Warmian-Masurian Association of Property Managers participated in the anonymized survey. A total of 86 property managers participated, 65 per cent of whom have been working in property management for more than 10 years. The state property manager licence (valid until 2013) is held by 48 per cent of the participants, and 42 per cent hold the industry licence or property manager certificate. 59 per cent of respondents are involved in residential property management on a daily basis. The remaining participants are property managers who provide other services to property owners.
In Latvia, a total of 63 people participated in the survey, including the Association for Management and Administration of Latvian Housing and the future housing managers/climate managers. The majority (86 per cent) of respondents believe that their future work is very likely to be related to the implementation of energy efficiency measures in buildings. 39 per cent of the respondents have already been involved in the implementation of building energy efficiency measures at least once. However, more than 60 per cent have never been involved in related matters.
When assessing their own competences in terms of financial, technical, legal, organisational and communication aspects of implementing energy efficiency measures in buildings, between 15 to 30 per cent of the respondents consider their qualification sufficient, while 50 to 70 per cent consider their knowledge to be partial or insufficient. 10 to 20 per cent of respondents are unsure. Self-assessment is lowest in the legal field and in finding technical and financial solutions.
All respondents (95 per cent fully and 5 per cent partially) agree with the thesis that an interaction of different aspects of real-estate management is necessary for the successfully implementing measures to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. The summary of all collected data leads to the conclusion that the qualification of current and future professionals is insufficient and additional knowledge needs to be acquired, and that an interplay of different aspects of real-estate management (e.g. technical, legal, financial, organisational, social, communication) is necessary for successfully implementating measures to increase the energy efficiency of buildings.
The findings of the market research were presented at the workshop “The Future of Housing Management” on 14 April 2021, where stakeholders from Poland and Latvia were invited to discuss the future role of the housing manager and additional trainings required. The international event, which was conducted in German, Polish and Latvian, attracted a lot of attention and provided guidelines on what should be included in the curriculum of future trainings in Poland and Latvia.
While most of the year was spent working internally on the curriculum, another event was held on 30 September 2021 as part of the 62nd International Scientific Conference of the Riga University of Technology “Scientific Problems of Engineering Economics of Construction and Real Estate, Regional and Territorial Development”. The project partners presented the CLI-MA project, the situations on the German, Polish and Latvian housing markets and the plans for 2022, when the first pilot trainings will start in Poland and Latvia.
Please find Market Research Analysis in Poland and Latvia below.