The energy transition can only be achieved with the housing industry. Because almost 40 percent of the world’s CO 2 emissions come from buildings, and most of it from residential buildings. In order to achieve the climate protection goals, European and national regulations are therefore increasingly aimed at the construction and housing sectors.
However, it is not only increasingly stringent regulations that are forcing builders and owners to pay attention to sustainability. Irrespective of this, investors are increasingly demanding that ecological and social criteria be taken into account in real estate projects, and the EU Disclosure Regulation ensures more transparency in this regard. Properties that fail to meet sustainability criteria will lose value and find it increasingly difficult to find buyers and tenants.
In this way, the market creates incentives for builders and owners to make their properties more sustainable. The “impact” idea is becoming more and more important: It is not about complying with the regulations with the least possible effort, but about creating the greatest possible benefit for the environment and society with reasonable effort.
It is not primarily a question of planning new buildings at the drawing board according to the latest ecological standards. Because most of the houses that we will be living in in ten, 20 or 30 years have already been built. And many of them have the energetic standard of the seventies and therefore no features to keep energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions within limits. Demolition and new construction are often not financially viable. In addition, there is the so-called gray energy, which is used for the extraction, production and transport of building materials and the construction itself. A refurbishment with unspectacular but intelligent measures often has more ecological impact than an ecological model new building.
Strong Lever
Quarters, i.e. entire building ensembles or districts, offer special opportunities to achieve impact. On the one hand, of course, because such projects include a large number of residential units. This multiplies the effect of measures at building level, such as improved insulation, installing better insulating windows or replacing the heating system with more energy-efficient technology.
Above all, however, thanks to the economies of scale, the construction of complex systems is considerably cheaper because several buildings can share a common infrastructure. Energy-efficient combined heat and power plants can thus become just as economical as the use of solar energy, small wind turbines or geothermal energy. Electromobility concepts, which include, for example, charging infrastructure for electric cars or bicycles, can be implemented much more easily in a neighborhood than in a single building. Other possibilities concern common green areas that improve the microclimate or accommodate biotopes for plants and insects.
In addition, larger neighborhood projects have spillover effects on the neighborhood and possibly even beyond. This applies in particular to the social component. In this way, facilities such as kindergartens or doctor’s surgeries, which are being planned as part of the development of the district, can also be used by residents from the wider area. The planning therefore includes the social structure beyond the boundaries of the quarter and should be carried out in close coordination with the municipality and residents. For larger projects, there should also be traffic planning in cooperation with external bodies, which works towards pedestrian and bicycle friendliness and greater use of local public transport and electromobility.
The more a project has an impact on the neighborhood, the greater the weight that builders and owners have in negotiations with municipalities and authorities. This can also lead to urban planning decisions that increase the sustainability and thus the market value of the project, for example when a new tram stop is built for a new or redesigned quarter.
Good contacts and negotiating power in the exchange with authorities are also important in order to influence or accelerate bureaucratic processes in terms of the sustainability of the project. One example is environmental protection, which often prevents environmentally harmful heating systems from being replaced by more efficient technology. However, authorities have some leeway when it comes to permits and are more likely to use this leeway if a permit for a large-scale project will bring significant environmental benefits.
Possible conflicts between ecological and social sustainability must be taken into account. It is conceivable that energy-related renovations will increase rents. On the other hand, tenants are relieved of the ancillary costs, which is more important due to the recent sharp rise in energy costs. With state aid, it is conceivable to make energy-related renovations neutral in terms of overall rent.
Climate protection is one of the most important challenges of our time, and the real estate industry has a special responsibility here. In the case of neighborhood projects, the actors have a particularly strong lever in their hands to quickly achieve noticeable effects.
