“Bonus cubature” of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen
Region: Province of Bolzano, Italy
Implemented on: Regional level
Target group: Building owner, citizens, administrators of buildings, constructors
Summary:
Building owners who decide to invest in the energy renovation of their building get the possibility to expand the volume of their building. This is an incentive as there is an increasing demand of houses in the Bolzano Province. Those, who retrofit a building on Klimahaus C standard (70 KWh/m2/year) are allowed to expand the volume of that building up to 200 m3. This must be demonstrated by a climate house calculation, which should be controlled by an authorized technician.
Objectives:
The action is part of a complex strategy to reach the “energy autarchy” in South Tyrol in 2050 and aims at obtaining a primary energy consumption of 70 Kwh/m2/year for each house and building renovated.
Funding/Costs:
- Costs for the owner: renovation, construction and costs of the calculation and certification Klimahaus. Notarial discount for the construction (25% of the fees). State subsidies or tax deduction sometimes possible (case to case).
- Costs for the province: considerably low: it is just a normal administrative task for the building authority to decide on the construction concessions
Results:
From 2nd Semester 2009 until 1st Semester of 2011, the cubature bonus was used about 1,600 times. Estimating 200 m³ per engagement, they estimate that a total of 315,400 m³ additional mass has been built (1,577 x 200). At least 12.2% of buildings in 2010 come from the cubature bonus.
Lessons learnt:
- In 2011 the program has been modified, but only for the Bolzano city area. The cubature bonus will be extended from 200 m³ to the 20 % of the total volume of the building. This extension answers the increasing demand of housing space in Bolzano and shall include in the program also the urban building typologies (condominiums).
- First considerations from the building administrators are not very positive. They think that to convince all the dwellers of a condominium to build another floor will be very difficult. Therefore the City of Bozen will take the leadership with buildings in their own.
- Critics did also come from architects, who expect a decrease in attractiveness of the building structure