(This page was updated on 3 July. Our previous statements can be found further down this page).

As countries have started to ease lockdown measures, we have reassessed our policy on holding physical meetings from July onwards. The health and safety of our members and staff are ULI’s highest priority and ULI has a duty to provide a safe environment in accordance with all applicable laws, industry standards, and best practices. 

All events and meetings will be carried out in accordance with national and local pronouncements regarding mass gatherings. We will follow all public health guidelines and local laws pertaining to COVID-19.

This memo provides ULI protocol, guidance and best practice process recommendation on when and how we plan to hold in-person meetings of staff and members from July 2020 as lockdown restrictions are lifted gradually across European countries.

Making the decision to hold a meeting or event

Senior staff and member leadership’s decision to hold in-person meetings is primarily determined by local regulations on what is allowed or acceptable, in consultation with ULI National Council staff, based in London. Guests attending the event do so at their own risk.

Planning the meeting or event

We will be asking all meeting/event organisers to:

• Confirm that the venue can accommodate the social distancing, sanitising and security requirements for the number of attendees;
• Confirm with the venue what specific COVID-19 related practices have been put in place, such as:
  • Increasing the cleaning frequency of public areas and high touch surfaces and publishing how often surfaces inside the meeting venue will be wiped down during the event;
  • Providing accessible disinfecting wipes or hand sanitising stations at venue entrances and high traffic areas within the venue;
  • Enhancing cleaning to meeting spaces, food and beverage service areas, and toilets; and,
  • Understanding what measures the venue has in place for temperature screening; and,
• Require that the meeting venue outlines in writing the additional measures that have been put in place that are new/different in comparison to the standard operating procedures.

Registering for a meeting or event

We are aiming to make our ULI meetings and events as safe as possible, but members and guests attending do so at their own risk. We will be asking any person attending a ULI event to complete a short form declaring themselves to be virus-free to the best of their knowledge, and guests will be asked to sign a waiver. Registration badges will be issued once all paperwork has been duly completed and returned.

During the meeting or event

Our commitment to ensuring that our meetings/events are carried out as safely as possible include that meeting and event organisers will:

• Be sensitive to social distancing as part of the physical layout of the space;
• Encourage best-practice hygienic practices;
• Work with the venue to ensure that there are contingencies for people who get sick at the meeting; and
• Ensure that staff have a fully up-to-date list of people attending, including contact details in order to trace everyone in case someone appears to be infected afterwards.

For any questions, please contact Eva Vrakopoulou in our National Councils team ([email protected]).

Previous Statement: 22 April 2020

We hope that you are keeping well in these challenging times. The COVID-19 pandemic is continuing to have a devastating effect globally and has caused major disruption for everyday life including restricting the ability for people to travel. 

We would like to update you on what this means for ULI activities across Europe as well as to highlight some of the resources that are available to ULI members.

Update on ULI Events

The health and safety of our members and staff continue to be ULI’s highest priority and therefore, we have extended the postponement of all ULI events in Europe until after 30 June 2020. We will be writing separately to all registrants of ULI events that will be affected by this decision. We will continue to monitor the situation and decide accordingly on events planned later in the year.

ULI’s Digital Programme

To give our members the opportunity to stay connected, learn and share experiences, ULI has initiated a wide range of online programming for professionals in the real estate development industry. Through a series of webinars, you can access lessons learned and best practices from ULI members and other industry leaders around the globe.

We have created a ULI Europe Digital Programme, including weekly Wednesday webinars. This is proving to be a popular programme, with more than 500 people registering for our first webinar on 8 April. 

Knowledge Finder

For over 80 years, ULI members have helped each other through numerous economic cycles by sharing best practices, new ideas, and lessons learned. Members have exclusive access to a wide array of experience and content through Knowledge Finder, where our webinars are available to watch “on demand” and our insightful research reports, such as the recently published Reshaping Retail, can be downloaded.

COVID-19: Industry insights

We understand the importance of leveraging the global ULI network in these uncertain times and have collated ULI resources on the digital version of Urban Land, which look at addressing the impact of the current pandemic. Take a look at the COVID-19: Industry Insights page now for a roundup of available ULI resources.

Your Feedback

We thank you for your continued support of ULI. If you have any questions, suggestions or feedback on ULI activity, please contact [email protected] or our customer service team on +442074879570.

Original Statement: 11 March 2020

ULI Europe, like many organisations, has been monitoring the ongoing impact of the coronavirus outbreak.

The impact of the virus is increasing rapidly and, in many places, significantly disrupting normal life. Therefore, as the health and safety of our members and staff is ULI’s highest priority, we have decided to cancel or postpone all ULI events in Europe that are due to take place between Monday 16 March and Thursday 30 April 2020.

At the same time, we continue to monitor the situation closely and, if needed, will take further action on events planned after 1 May, in due course. We will send out regular communications over the coming period to keep you informed about ULI’s activities. 

We will be writing separately to all registrants of ULI events that will be affected by this decision and our staff team is closely collaborating with our leadership across Europe to develop new alternatives for the member community through our digital platform and we are committed to continuing to provide our members with a valuable member experience.

We appreciate your understanding as this has not been an easy decision to make. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact [email protected] or our customer service team on +442074879570.