Methodology
Geographic scope
In ten European focus countries — the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom — important actors in commissioning construction and renovation projects are considered.
Portfolio construction client
Public construction clients
Mixed construction clients
Private construction clients
Real state investors
Companies in retail, hospitality and food services
Housing corporations
Public bodies building a continuous flow of schools, offices, etc
Construction clients
A range of clients, including private, public, and public-private actors, commission construction projects. This analysis focuses on construction clients that own and manage a portfolio of residential and/or non-residential buildings and repeatedly appear as clients commissioning building projects, excluding one-off clients.
While the overall structure of the construction client segment is comparable across countries, the importance of different types of construction clients differs from country to country, as does data availability.
Where available, data for the period 2019 to 2024 was analysed, aiming to identify the leading clients for construction and renovation projects across the residential and non-residential markets. In countries without consistent datasets, information on annual construction activities in relevant market segments was researched to identify a selection of leading clients.
The resulting selection of companies presents leading construction clients in the relevant countries, but should not be interpreted as rankings. As most construction developments in the EU are driven by private clients, the assessment focuses on this group.
Regulations linked to a Just Transition
In each country, companies in the real estate and construction value chains are subject to a different range of regulations, covering corporate accountability, energy use, labour conditions and other themes. For the nine EU member states, the transposition of EU regulations into national law plays an important role in shaping the space in which construction clients operate.
Therefore, the country analyses are preceded by a short description of the most relevant EU directives and regulations in this field. Given the differences in national implementation, the research then highlights specific national requirements and their implications for construction clients.
The regulatory assessment was conducted through September 2025. Updates to the CSRD and CSDDD were incorporated in January 2026.
EU regulations
The following EU regulations and their transposition into national law are considered in the field of:
Corporate transparency and accountability
Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD, 2022/2464)
Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD, 2024/1760)
Whistleblower Protection Directive (2019/1937)
Regarding workers’ rights and labour conditions, the following EU regulations and their transposition in national law are considered
Directive on Transparent and Predictable Working Conditions (2019/1152)
Directive on Adequate Minimum Wages (2022/2041)
Posted Workers Directive (2018/957)
In relation to the sustainability performance of the building stock, the following directives and their transposition into national law are considered
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU/2024/1275)
Energy Efficiency Directive (EU/2023/1791)
Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC)
National-level regulations
Moreover, the country analyses pay attention to additional national-level legal obligations for corporations related to accountability and transparency requirements and regulations on building sustainability. Similar regulations and requirements are presented for the United Kingdom as a non-member of the EU. Regulatory assessment was conducted in September 2025.
In addition to these corporate-level regulations on the national level, case studies examine further-reaching local project-level regulations from the focus countries.