Funding for residential buildings
Region: Vorarlberg
Implemented on: Regional level
Target group: House builders
Summary:
In Austria, funding for residential building was implemented after World War 2 to strengthen the share of private owned houses in the building stock. Nowadays, the instrument is used for guiding house builders towards healthy, energy efficient buildings. The Ecological Building Ecopass is the tool, which has to be used to get funding. It has 5 topics, 10 criteria and 50 ecological measures and you can receive max. 300 ecopoints. Funding depends on the number of ecopoints.
Objectives:
- Information and advice during the whole building process;
- Definition of modern residential building standards;
- Quality assurance by defining aims clearly in the planning phase and checking their attainment on completion incl. the Energy Performance Certificate.
Funding/Costs:
- Subsidies are paid by taxes;
- For new building you can get between €650 to €1.060 loan per m² in the highest eco level,in the lowest level you can get €350 to €730€ loan per m²including a subsidy of 22,5%. For refurbishment you get a subsidy of 40% up to €50.000in the highest level and a subsidy of 17.5% up to €25.000in the lowest level.
- About 10 people are working permanently for the funding of residential buildings, 5 in the administration of the province of Vorarlberg and 5 at the Energy Institute.
Results:
The analysis for the year 2011showed, that 1.217 new apartments got funding. 28% of these new buildings were constructed in or very close to passive house and in high ecological standard. 40% were constructed as good low energy houses. In the same year 5.467 apartments got funding for refurbishment. 30% of these were renovated with passive house components, and other 35% with components close to passive house standard.
Lessons learnt:
- Costs are relatively high, but a long-term calculation incl. external costs show that the instrument is economic;
- Success factor: Strong political will and good coaching for politicians;
- Stimulation to build energy efficient and ecological became stronger.