Last 28-29 November, BNA Director Anne Schroën, BNA EU Policy Advisor Daniel Brennan, and Architectenregister Director Jorrit Rosema, attended the ACE Conference and General Assembly in Krakow (Poland), in representation of the Dutch architectural sector.
Bringing together national architecture associations from all over Europe including the BNA, ACE is the European body that represents and advocates for architects’ needs and priorities in Brussels. On Thursday 28 November, they organised a conference together with Europa Nostra, the leading European federation on cultural heritage, aiming to highlight the challenges and opportunities for innovation tied to the protection, retrofit and re-use of our built environment.
The conference included many insightful panels, such as the presentation of the HouseEurope! European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), which seeks to gather 1 million signatures to propose or improve EU legislation that recognises the value of existing buildings and prioritizes their renovation, over their demolition. Several Dutch architectural firms are featured as positive examples within the initiative. Read more and sign to support here.
The one-day event also gave the Dutch representation the opportunity to meet, network and build relations with several of our European counterparts, including the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI), the UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB), and several Baltic and Ukrainian associations, among others.
Moving on to Friday, BNA and het Architectenregister were present to attend the full-day General Assembly meeting, which covered key updates and activities led by ACE of vital importance to the sector. Among other topics, the ACE draft Strategy 2025 – 2028 was presented, the new European mandate and composition were introduced (see a brief reminder here), and several new and familiar political files were discussed, including the implementation of the revised Energy Performance Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the upcoming revision of the public procurement directive.
The next ACE Conference will take place on 15 & 16 May 2025 in Luxembourg. In the meantime, BNA will meet with the ACE President and Secretary-General at the start of the next year in Brussels to continue strengthening this renewed relationship, and to bring Dutch architectural firms’ priorities to the centre of EU decision-making.
