WHO ARE WE?
For over 10 years, we at Urban Project haven’t just been managing real estate projects, we’ve been taking full responsibility for them. And that makes all the difference.
We understand how much it means when you entrust your real estate or community development project to us. For you and for future generations. Construction work involves building something that will last, listening to your requirements, and bringing your vision to life. We are agile yet meticulous, like a conductor who has co-written a score for their orchestra.
That is why all of us, from our founder Xavier Jeanneret, to our assistants, project managers, architects, engineers, and accountants, are all dedicated to producing our very best work. Whether you want our help with building housing, offices, retail spaces, logistics, or public infrastructure projects, we will be there to support you throughout the process, from buying the land to taking delivery of the finished property.
We work throughout Switzerland, but mostly in the French-speaking regions.
We believe that reliability, sustainability, and quality are essential for building relationships based on mutual trust and expertise.
Architects
Accountants and
financial managers
Construction
professionals
Building engineers
Urban planners, economists and
real estate professionals
Building engineers
OUR VALUES
TRUST
All construction is based on trust. The quality of the relationship between the project owner (you) and the people managing it (us) reflects the end result. That’s why we value it so highly, and do our utmost to ensure everything runs smoothly.
QUALITY
Quality work requires a team of specialists who share the same values. Our architects, engineers, accountants, urban planners, quantity surveyors, construction and real estate specialists, and assistants all respect and recognize the expertise that goes into a job well done.
RESPECT
Our commitment is reflected in how we keep our word, stick to our deadlines and follow the law. That is why it is so critical that all of our subcontractors strictly observe labor law and ensure that there is a safe working environment for everyone, on-site and in the office.
ENVIRONMENT
A construction project is always part of an environment. We have developed methods which make it easier to develop projects of all sizes that integrate perfectly with the surrounding spaces. Our steering teams coordinate and communicate clearly with local authorities, architects, urban engineers, and local technicians to make sure everyone gets the answers they need to keep the project running smoothly and preserve the surrounding nature.
TRANSPARENCY
We have the same goals, so we communicate with complete clarity. We will provide you with every piece of information we have, and explain it to you, so you can form your own opinions. This approach helps build loyal relationships with our clients.
INDEPENDENCE
Independence is crucial to longevity in our business. We will work together to choose our partners, based on their ability to carry out each assignment and deliver the best possible result. Our long list of possible partners is proof that we value more than just skills.
LEADER
We aim to continue being a leader in the project-steering industry. When we say we are number one, we are sure of it, as much in the quality of the projects we develop as their value and durability.
SUSTAINABILITY
Our teams live and breathe quality. We bring our clients’ visions to life and create the right conditions for sustainable construction. We are not just leaving individual elements for future generations, but a whole environment: everything that is built and not built. We create new living spaces and are committed to managing sustainability issues and using sustainable practices, as far as possible, from purchasing a plot to marketing a finished building.
AESTHETICS
At Urban Project, we share our subcontractors’ dedication to creating attractive urban spaces that transcend personal taste. Aesthetics are important to us because we believe they play a role in imparting shared values.
CITY PLANNING
Designing cities and neighborhoods is more than just drawing shapes and volumes on a piece of land. Most importantly, it is a way to pass down values and a future vision for sustainable urban development that meets variety of technical, economic, environmental, and societal challenges. Our vision is to fuse quality of life and aesthetic beauty in the spaces we design, and impart a positive effect on the people who use them.
OUR PEOPLE
It’s the story and people behind Urban Project that make it what it is. A spectacular constellation of talents drive all our projects. We cover a wide range of disciplines and share a passion for construction. Our curiosity, lively minds, and coordination skills set us apart from the rest. We form a team starting with a project manager, who calls on the skills of our architects, engineers, urban planners, quantity surveyors, accountants, and construction specialists, based on a project’s needs (acquisition, construction, development, etc.). Our teams are flexible movers and shakers who take action quickly to get your questions answered. When we steer real estate projects, we hire the architecture, urban design and engineering firms, financial backers, and management teams best suited to bringing your ideas to life.
OUR STORY
When Jean-Bernard Buchs, Xavier Jeanneret, and Ivan Ruffieux founded Privera Construction Management SA in 2011, their original goal was to develop Bugena SA’s numerous real estate projects. Four years later, the company became Urban Project SA and partnered with Swiss-French general contractor Edifea and the Gérofinance-Dunand–Régie du Rhône/Barnes group. None of this would have been possible without the vision of Claude Berda and his family. They have placed their trust in us and have long been emphatic and steadfast supporters of our involvement in many projects.
In just over 10 years, Urban Project has become a benchmark in large-scale real estate project management. Case in point, we have proudly overseen the overall planning, steering, and construction of the Évolution+/Quartier de l’Étang project in Vernier (canton of Geneva) since 2018. It is one of the biggest construction sites in French-speaking Switzerland, with 11 hectares (27 acres) of brownfields currently being rehabilitated.
However, Urban Project could not have grown without its highly skilled and committed men and women, who have always risen to the challenges placed before them. The company’s 40 or so employees work to ensure the many real estate projects entrusted to us are success stories, day in, day out.
OUR OFFICES
Our head office is in Geneva and we have a branch in Bulle. All our real estate and neighborhood planning projects are organized and managed in these two locations.
We are fortunate enough to share the building with other industry players such as general contractor Edifea, Barnes (specialized in real estate brokerage), Gerofinance-Régie du Rhône (the largest property management agency in French-speaking Switzerland), and the latest arrival, Barnes Commercial Realty (which deals with retail properties). Because all these companies are under one roof, it is easy to call on all the different skillsets to design and build custom projects.
We also have offices on our construction sites. In 2014 we set up the first “Maison du projet” [Project house] in Bulle, on the site of the city’s former dockyard. In doing so, we created an incubator for ideas, a convenient, on-site space for sharing knowledge that the various stakeholders can use for meetings, workshops, discussions, and debates.
After this first success, we created three more “Maisons du projet” in Geneva and Moudon.
A FEW WORDS FROM XAVIER JEANNERET
With a name like Jeanneret, architecture and construction were natural vocations. When I see a piece of land, brownfields, or a derelict building, I love picturing the new construction in which people can live, work and play, in that same spot a few years later. I like to think that the buildings we construct for our clients, with our teams, specialized subcontractors, and workers—sometimes thousands of people—will live on after we are gone. We do not want them being rebuilt after just 40 years!
A real estate project takes real thought upstream, as well as investments in quality materials, of course, but most crucially investments in expertise. I believe that’s what we’re doing here at Urban Project. We work with dedicated professionals, people with vision. For a project to succeed, it takes time and dedication, precision and rigor. We make sure that these values are applied every step of the way. From acquisition to development, then to construction. And for every role, from coordinating teams to the search for financing solutions, from marketing developments to construction site management.
I have always dreamed of building lively, mixed-use neighborhoods that will stand the test of time. I believe that inventing a way of living together in our urban world boils down to taking a brand-new approach to city design. It means creating a city for everyone that flourishes through diversity, solidarity, and sense of community. It is an integrated approach that meets the urban and socio-economic challenges we are facing today all at once. Though the success of a project can be measured by its profitability, it is judged most by how it expresses itself.
Industry professional
associations
FIND US ON
