Alternative living concepts for the 55-plus age group are in demand: the “zusammenhalt” co-operative easily filled 75 flats in Winterthur. Winkelhalden AG in Oberrieden attracted almost a third of its residents from the “hip” city of Zurich. What these housing concepts have in common is that they are based on a committed community. However, it often takes a lot of initiative and luck for the communities to obtain plots of land.
Developers and investors who have plots of land and want to supplement them with stimulating offers can attract such building groups as partners. The decisive factor here is the question of the right time to connect the building groups and the form of involvement in the development process. An evaluation of the Winkelhalden AG project provides answers to these questions.
The Winkelhalden AG project comprises 44 flats and a wide range of communal spaces such as a bistro, star bar, fitness centre, sauna and studios. The project was initiated by two private individuals who acquired the land, developed the business model for the public limited company, secured the financing, carried out a study commission, looked for fellow campaigners and realised the project. All of this was only possible because the initiators had a high level of entrepreneurship and a lot of experience with community-orientated business models.
One of the biggest challenges was generating the equity capital to finance the project. This required enlarging the group early on in the process and finding people willing to invest who were prepared to commit to the initially uncertain development process and the as yet unspecific housing concept. The consequences are visible in the evaluation. A tenant survey one year after moving in shows that the time of entry into the project characterises the relationship to the community: those who joined in the two years when the construction project was developed, the building permit was submitted and the flats were selected were the most successful in integrating into the community. They feel the least pressure to participate in community life. Of those who joined earlier, a third feel more under pressure to participate. They also have the highest proportion of those who have found it difficult to integrate into the community.
In this context, developers and investors can make a valuable contribution to community concepts: they can relieve building groups of the burden of financing and thus the early integration of less convinced residents by providing temporary equity and pre-financing the project development. In return, they can benefit from a small and committed building group, which ideally develops the alternative living concept from the time the spatial programme is defined and initiates and implements the participation process from the time of the preliminary project, with which future co-inhabitants are connected and integrated into the community. The building group can be a mixture of people who will live in the project in the future or who have relevant experience in developing alternative housing projects.
Alternative housing concepts do not appeal to the mainstream, but demand is far from being met: the fully let Winkelhalden AG currently manages a pool of interested parties with over 60 applications. Cooperations between professional developers and investors with experienced and proactive building groups help to distribute strengths and competences among the most suitable players.
Tag: Privatpersonen
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Developing alternative forms of housing with building groups: Lessons learnt from the Winkelhalden
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Crowdlending, a new source of real estate financing
Investors benefit from fixed interest rates in Swiss francs. Unlike traditional savings accounts, which often offer negligible returns, real estate crowdfunding offers attractive returns and is therefore an interesting alternative for those who want to maximise their income. In addition, the minimum investment required is affordable. This widens the circle of investors and allows them to diversify their real estate portfolios by investing in different short- and medium-term projects while avoiding the volatility of the equity markets.
Optimise financing structures
Real estate crowdfunding is not a substitute for banks, but complements the equity of real estate developers. The loans granted by investors are subordinated and secured by real estate, which provides security in case of default. This approach allows developers to focus on developing existing and new projects without tying up a large part of their capital in ongoing projects. This allows them to complete their financing quickly and avoid diluting future profits from their businesses by using external financing partners.
Property owners now have access to an additional source of financing to add value to their assets. They can use the funds received for renovations and improvements to their properties and thus optimise the financial structure of their property portfolios. This financial flexibility is a great advantage for owners who want to increase the value of their properties while maximising returns.
Apart from the individual benefits, real estate crowdlending also contributes to Switzerland’s economic and social dynamism. By encouraging the creation of new housing and the renovation of existing assets, it meets the housing needs of the local population. The increasing demand for housing in Switzerland, especially in urban areas, requires high investments in the real estate sector. Real estate crowdfunding offers an innovative solution for financing these projects and thus contributes to the country’s economic growth. Furthermore, by supporting real estate projects, real estate crowdlending creates employment opportunities in the construction industry and related service sectors.
Conclusion
In summary, real estate crowdlending is an innovative source of financing for the real estate sector in Switzerland. With undeniable benefits for investors, developers and property owners, it opens up new perspectives and appeals to a growing number of people in Switzerland with a
growth of over 400% in six years and a volume of CHF 142 million1 by 2022. This model offers an interesting alternative to traditional investments and contributes to the democratisation of real estate investments in Switzerland. -
Innovation from Studer Innotec enables solar self-sufficiency
According to Studer Innotec , the next 3 is the world’s first intelligent inverter charger for private or company-owned photovoltaic systems. It represents “the future of self-consumption” and enables “full energy self-sufficiency” for everyone. With their own charging stations for battery-powered cars, electromobility will become cheaper solar mobility, according to Studer’s website. In addition, neighborhood microgrids, so-called mini-grids, would also be possible in remote rural areas. “With the next3, we are ready to play a very active role in the energy transition,” says Studer Innotec on its website.
The next3 allows complete control over the production, storage and distribution of its electrical energy. In addition, it can operate with the public power grid, according to a media release. It is therefore suitable for grid-independent (off-grid), grid-dependent (on-grid) and hybrid systems. Installation and wiring is easy. The company also explains further technical specifications in a video .
“This new approach completely breaks through the previously known technical and economic limits,” says Studer Innotec. “It’s disruptive.” By turning your own living space or business building into a self-sufficient system, you contribute to a stable power supply, protect yourself against price fluctuations and ensure that your electric vehicle or company car fleet is charged every day.
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Kompotoi is a finalist in the Swiss Excellence Product Award
Kompotoi is among the six finalists for the Swiss Excellence Product Award 2021 . Swiss Excellence has now announced this. The Zurich start-up convinced the jury with its mobile and sustainability-focused composting toilets. The award ceremony will take place on September 16 in the Technopark Winterthur. With the Swiss Excellence Product Award, the Swiss Excellence Foundation claims to make a contribution to promoting entrepreneurship and Switzerland as a technology and innovation location.
Kompotoi says it offers a “beautiful, user-friendly and sustainable alternative” to conventional toilets. They are “absolutely odor-free” and are made from wood “by hand in Switzerland”. You can get by without plastic, chemicals, electricity and flushing water. “We have developed a better solution than the conventional one for the mobile toilet area. It’s simple and obvious. That is why customers are enthusiastic about our product, ”said Kompotoi in his presentation for the Green Business Award , for which the company has also been nominated.
Instead, the collected residues are converted into stable humus soil using a combined process technology of fermentation and composting. “One kilo of compost stores an average of 0.2 kg of CO2,” said Kompotoi when asked about the environmental benefits of their product. “Kompotoi produced around 100 tons of compost in 2019, that’s around 20,000 kilograms of stored CO2. If all mobile toilets in Switzerland were operated as compost toilets, 13,200 tons of CO2 could be sustainably stored in the soil. “
Kompotoi rents out its wooden toilets for larger festivals, for example. The company is also planning systems in the public sector or for single and multi-family houses. Kompotoi also sells toilet solutions for garden houses, hunting lodges and alpine huts.
With Kompotoi, two more start-ups are competing for the Swiss Excellence Product Award: Hivewatch and Smartbreed . Three companies have also been nominated in the SME category: Advanced Osteotomy Tools – AOT AG , Qumea and Rheonics . All start-up finalists are already supported with a three-year coaching from the start-up sponsor genisuisse .