
The Federal Council is reversing its stance on solar energy
Starting January 1, 2027, a new compensation system for solar power fed into the grid will take effect in Switzerland. The decision made by the Federal Council in May 2026 fundamentally changes the rules of the game for thousands of PV operators. Those who have simply generated and fed electricity

Europe goes offline on U.S. orders
Europe is dependent on AI from Washington. A single executive order in the U.S. is enough to cut off an entire continent’s access to cutting-edge AI. The ban on Anthropic’s latest models highlights just how vulnerable Europe’s digital infrastructure is. Those who build their future on foreign

Limmattal. Room for more.
With a refined strategy, concrete location development projects, and a new brand identity, Limmatstadt AG is positioning itself as a driving force in a strong region. The Limmat Valley is leveraging its dynamic location between Zurich and Baden to further raise its profile as an innovative business

Growth without stagnation. The new Limmat Valley takes shape
An economic area has grown up between Zurich and Baden that was long considered a transit zone. Today, the Limmat Valley has around 110,000 inhabitants and around 70,000 jobs. It is densifying, rebuilding and reorganizing its traffic. Anyone who still describes the Limmat Valley today as a


Schindellegi and the wet ground
High above Lake Zurich, a development for the top league is being built in Schindellegi. But things are bubbling underneath the building site. Artesian groundwater, a year of standstill and hesitant buyers are turning the prestigious project into a stress test for developers, authorities and the

Belle Époque back on Lake Maggiore
The Grand Hotel Locarno has been crumbling away for almost 20 years. Once a symbol of glamorous tourism on Lake Maggiore, then empty and forgotten for years. Now the Artioli family, together with the Artisa Group, Arabella Hospitality and Marriott, is taking decisive action. The listed building is

Ticino is attractive, but picky
A high quality of life, a strategically favorable location and attractive yields make Ticino an attractive location for real estate investors. However, image and location alone are not enough to really convince capital from German-speaking Switzerland. Manuel Gamper, founder of Leading Investors,

How universities plan the construction site of the future
The HWZ in Zurich and Mainz University of Applied Sciences are joining forces to make the construction industry more digitally fit. The focus is on new study and further education courses at the interface of real estate, data and the built environment. This will give companies better access to

Switzerland regulates data centers
Data centers are the invisible infrastructure of the digital economy. They are booming in Switzerland, but their hunger for electricity, water and building land is growing faster than regulation. Schaffhausen is now one of the first cantons to draw clear boundaries. And it is unlikely to be the

What will become of Basel’s largest site?
In the middle of Basel lies a derelict industrial area of almost 30 hectares, directly between the Rhine and the meadow. It is the city's largest transformation site and a political hotspot. On June 14, 2026, Basel voters will decide what will become of it. A new district with thousands of

Wil plans its future
The town of Wil in the canton of St. Gallen is planning the biggest urban planning relaunch ever. On May 29, 2026, around 60 representatives from districts, businesses, the real estate sector, politics and administration gathered in the town hall for the fourth local planning conference. The

Living in Ticino requires foresight
The housing problem in Ticino is not just about rents or the number of vacant apartments. It is about quality, accessibility, social cohesion, spatial development and the demographic future. Monique Bosco-von Allmen calls for the topic of housing to be considered in a broader and more political


A campus for the psychiatry of tomorrow for 330 million
For over 150 years, the Burghölzli in Zurich has stood for top-quality psychiatric care. Now the Psychiatric University Clinic Zurich (PUK) is planning its biggest new building project to date. Modern new buildings are being constructed at the Lengg site at a cost of around 330 million Swiss

The real cause of the housing shortage
The housing shortage in Switzerland is real. The vacancy rate is a meagre 1 percent and rents have risen by 37 percent since 2002. In the current referendum campaign on the 10 million initiative, the finger is clearly pointing in one direction: immigration. But those who are only looking for

Modernisation improves vertical mobility in a high-rise complex
The UOB Plaza modernisation project is featured in the April issue of *Elevator World* magazine. As part of the project, Schindler fitted the twin towers of UOB Plaza in Singapore with new lifts, escalators and smart mobility technologies between 2022 and

Densify yes, but not at any price
Switzerland is building upwards. In Zurich, more than ten skyscrapers are under construction or in planning, and Geneva, Bern and Basel are also changing their skylines. Economiesuisse President Christoph Mäder is calling for more high-rise buildings. But new figures show that building high does

When the roof of the car becomes a power station
An electric car that is largely self-powered sounds like a dream of the future. But a European research project is now providing tangible figures. Solar cells integrated directly into vehicles could dramatically reduce the electricity requirements of entire fleets and relieve the strain on the

The canton buys itself out
The canton of Lucerne is buying a property from its own outsourced organization and paying almost five million francs more than necessary. A bidding process drove up the price, although in the end only one buyer was seriously considered anyway. The resulting debate could permanently change the

Politics takes center stage
Ahead of the referendum on June 14, 2026, the focus of the Swiss residential real estate market is shifting to housing policy proposals and the national 10 million initiative. At the same time, slightly higher long-term interest rates are making valuations more sensitive, while the structural

The Ticino real estate market is reshuffling
Across Switzerland, investment in new construction fell by 2.7 percent in 2024. In Ticino, this decline comes against the backdrop of an already tense situation. The vacancy rate fell from 2.08% to 1.92% in the space of a year, marking the first significant downward trend in years. What sounds like


The future of Ticino lies between the lecture hall and emigration
Around 800 young adults leave Ticino for German-speaking or French-speaking Switzerland every year. Only half of them return. At the same time, the canton is investing more heavily in research and innovation than ever before. Whether this calculation works out will determine the economic future of

Handover of the baton in Zug
There is an important personnel change at the Zug Economic Development Agency. After more than thirteen years at the helm of the Business Contact Point, Beat Bachmann is retiring and handing over to Thomas Fuchs. The new head will be supported by Sandro Jörg and in future also by a trainee, with

The city as a raw material mine
Switzerland has been building on stock for decades and is now sitting on huge stockpiles of materials in its cities. Millions of tons of concrete, steel and metals are stored in buildings and infrastructures and are still too often wasted during demolition. Cities are seen as raw material depots

Engelberg spans the arc
Engelberg is reorganizing its village center. Between the train station and the monastery, a clear, tangible axis is to be created from a mixed carpet of streets. The development and design concept specifies how first floors, traffic and public spaces should interact so that the center does not

Electrolysis rethought
Green hydrogen is seen as the key to the energy transition, but remains expensive to produce. The materials used in electrolyzers in particular drive up costs. Empa researchers are developing coatings that replace precious metals, stop corrosion and can be scaled up in industry. This brings the

St. Gallen trims its construction processes
Building in the canton of St. Gallen requires strong nerves. The government now wants to streamline the procedures, above all with digital processes and better coordination. However, it can hardly do anything about the sensitive issue of objection and appeal
