Bouygues Immobilier, setting the standard in property development

Serving private individuals, businesses and institutional investors, Bouygues Immobilier operates in residential and commercial property, retail parks and urban development. Its residential property activity ranges from small residences of a dozen or so apartments and cluster housing to complex large-scale projects containing several hundred units.

 

Bouygues Immobilier in brief:

	Chairman & CEO: François Bertière, appointed in 2001
	Headcount at 31 December 2009: 1,343
	Sales: €2,989 million in 2009
	Net profit (attributable to the Group): €110 million in 2009
	Reservations: 11,230 housing units reserved
	Geographical scope: about 30 regional offices in France (present in 210 towns and cities) and European subsidiaries in Spain, Portugal, Poland and Belgium.
	History :Bouygues Immobilier was formed from Stim, the first business into which Entreprise Francis Bouygues branched out in 1956

Residential property

After a sharp downturn in 2008, the French private residential property development market picked up considerably in 2009 thanks to lower interest rates and government stimulus measures like the Scellier tax incentive scheme, the doubling of the amount available for interest-free mortgages and the PASS Foncier^® scheme for low-income first-time buyers.

Bouygues Immobilier is performing better than the market, taking 10,740 reservations in France (up 39%), increasing its market share and confirming its position as market leader.

Bouygues Immobilier has introduced several measures to adapt to the new market conditions and enable its customers to take maximum advantage of the incentives offered under the government stimulus plan:

• revision of the conditions for acquiring land,
• adjustment of sale prices while continuing to maintain high quality,
• development of partnerships with banks to offer customers more advantageous financial terms,
• finalisation of agreements with major collectors of the 1% housing levy on employers in order to implement the PASS Foncier^®  scheme. This innovative scheme enables low-income households to get onto the housing ladder by significantly reducing their monthly mortgage payments.

Bouygues Immobilier also adapted its organisation in 2009 in order to reduce its overheads.
 

Commercial property

The commercial property market remained sluggish in 2009, hit by a decline in placed demand, demand from investors for higher yields and falling rents. In an unfavourable environment, Bouygues Immobilier took commercial property orders worth €152 million.
 

In France, 2009 saw the delivery of major flagship projects:

• the first deliveries of the Seine Ouest business district in Issy-les-Moulineaux, outside Paris, with Eos (46,000 sq metres), Microsoft France’s headquarters, and Galeo (7,330 sq metres), Bouygues Immobilier’s new headquarters;
• Bouygues Telecom's 60,000-sq metre Technical Centre in Meudon, which houses its IT and network staff;
• the 39,000-sq metre Spallis building in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, sold to the Spanish investor Naropa Properties;
• the 13,000-sq metre Marengo Boulevard building in Toulouse;
• in Portugal, a 12,000-sq metre retail park at Portimão and a 48,000-sq metre shopping centre at Guimarães.

Sustainable development

Engaged in a proactive sustainable development policy since 2006, Bouygues Immobilier stepped up its efforts in 2009 and was recognised for the second year running as the leading property developer for eco-efficient buildings¹.

Aware of the challenges of sustainable development in the property development sector, Bouygues Immobilier is rolling out an ambitious policy with four major strands:

• designing and marketing environment friendly property development programmes and supporting customers in the responsible use of their housing and offices;
•  promoting the green economy by creating a new generation of buildings and related services while actively helping to change the property development business from the inside;
•  reducing the environmental impact of its activity and limiting its carbon footprint;
•  encouraging diversity and the well-being of the company's employees.
   

The first French property developer to seek comprehensive H&E² and HQE®³ certification, creator of the Green Office® concept for positive energy office buildings, prime mover of the Positive Energy Consortium and initiator of the Réhagreen^® approach for the rehabilitation of existing commercial property, Bouygues Immobilier continued to roll out its initiatives in 2009 in order to confirm its positioning as the standard-setter in property development.

At the same time, drawing on its expertise, Bouygues Immobilier has teamed up with local authorities to develop sustainable neighbourhoods. For example, Bouygues Immobilier won an energy efficiency prize awarded by the French Ministry of Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and the Sea the for its Ginko eco-neighbourhood in Bordeaux.
 

In further proof of its commitment to sustainable development, in 2009 Bouygues Immobilier created a corporate foundation aimed at making towns and cities more human by placing architecture and planning at the service of the environment and the community.

¹Novethic & ADEME survey of communication about eco-efficient buildings.
²Habitat & Environment
³High Environmental Quality
 

(Updated: March 2010)