The economic recession has hit especially hard the residential building sector in the EU region, e.g., the number of the housing completions has decreased -49% and the total residential output has been squeezed down by -24% between 2007 and 2014 (Euroconstruct, 2015). In turn, the aim of our paper is to suggest a set of radical, novel programmes for developing the national residential building sectors within EU member countries up to 2025. We have applied the framework of strategic niche management (SNM) to the diagnoses of the current portfolios of the innovation, R&D programs in our two member country contexts. In the case of the Northern Finland, the prime example is Hiukkavaara, the largest district to be built in the City of Oulu. Homes will be constructed for 20,000 new residents. Hiukkavaara is a model for climate- conscious design in the northern hemisphere. Energy and materials are conserved, nature is valued and human beings adapt to their environment. One sub-programme involves Future Buildings and Renewable Energy Project. In the case of the Netherlands, the prime example is Energiesprong (Energy Leap), i.e., the innovation programme commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of the Interior. The aim is to make buildings energy-neutral and boost large-scale initiatives. The sub-programmes are targeting homes owned by housing associations, privately owned homes, office buildings, shops and care institutions. This programme is about ensuring new supply by encouraging companies to package a variety of technical sub-solutions, full services and financing options as well as about asking clients to put out tenders and ask for quotes in novel ways, with the government making changes to the rules and the regulations. Experiences on which the Dutch case in this paper focuses are sub-programmes for residential buildings, which include de Stroomversnelling, LALOG and Ons Huis Verdient Het. Based on the emerging Finnish and Dutch evidence, we are suggesting key elements to be incorporated into future national residential programmes within EU member countries on: (1) radical direction with balanced stakeholder groups, trustworthy advocates, contextual goal-setting and barriers management, (2) radical networking with entrepreneurial roles and causal links, novel expertise, transparent choices and digital platforms and (3) radical learning processes to arrive at better informed markets on user preferences, co-innovating, new rules and regulations, higher performance/price ratios, higher quality, new roles and responsibilities assignments.
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Since the financial and administrative liberalisation from the government in the late 1980s and the 1990s, the Dutch housing associations have been very dynamic, regarding the considerable extension of both commercial and social activities, the increased reliance and dependence on market circumstances, and the large number of amalgamations, creating bigger organisations. In recent years the Dutch social housing sector is under increased pressure as a consequence of the credit crunch, increased tax levies and the national implementation in the sector of EU regulations on ‘Services of General Economic Interest’. Factors like these are likely to have an effect on the organisational strategies of housing associations, the main providers of social housing in the Netherlands. The direction and the size of these effects, however, are not well known. A recent inquiry among housing associations sheds more light on this. In this paper, we make use of a classification including a socialcommercial dimension and a dimension between so-called ‘prospectors’ and ‘defenders’. This classification proves to be an adequate tool to describe the recent developments in the sector. It is concluded that, in general, housing associations are focussing more on traditional social housing tasks and ‘defending’ strategies, implying a shift back compared to the trend in recent decades.
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Population ageing has become a domain of international discussions and research throughout the spectrum of disciplines including housing, urban planning, and real estate. Older people are encouraged to continue living in their homes in their familiar environment, and this is referred to as “ageing-in-place”. Enabling one to age-in-place requires new housing arrangements that facilitate and enable older adults to live comfortably into old age, preferably with others. Innovative examples are provided from a Dutch social housing association, illustrating a new approach to environmental design that focuses more on building new communities in conjunction with the building itself, as opposed to the occupational therapeutic approaches and environmental support. Transformation projects, referred to as “Second Youth Experiments”, are conducted using the Røring method, which is based on the principles of co-creation. De Benring in Voorst, The Netherlands, is provided as a case study of an innovative transformation project. This project shows how social and technological innovations can be integrated in the retrofitting of existing real estate for older people. It leads to a flexible use of the real estate, which makes the building system- and customer preference proof. Original article at: https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings8070089 © 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI.
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The objective of CW4N is to identify opportunities for wood reuse through the use of advanced digital production technologies1, and develop related implementation strategies for public organisations, in particular housing corporations and municipalities. Strategies include concrete proposals on how to: a) collect and process wood waste from residential buildings; b) add value to reclaimed wood by means of digital production; c) increase tenant involvement and acceptance for waste wood collection and circular reuse; d) create impactful applications for a circular economy. The research is carried out in four work packages. The first identifies the nature of residential wood waste (volume, type, application) from past case projects of housing corporations Ymere and Rochdale. Their upcoming renovation plans are evaluated, to identify resources and hotspots for future implementations. The second workpackage explores what applications can be conceived, given the available wood and digital production tools at the AUAS Robot Lab. In the third workpackage case studies are carried out for actual projects of the housing corporations. Physical prototypes are used as conversation pieces to involve tenants and increase their acceptance for circular applications. In the fourth workpackage all findings are combined in a set of implementation strategies. High-quality data-collection is crucial for the project, since it will determine the nature of the materials for designing and manufacturing applications. In this proposal, additional resources are added to the project to take care of data-collection. Due to covid-19, project managers at Ymere and Rochdale must focus on day-to-day work to get ongoing and planned building projects done, reducing their time for data collection from previous projects. In addition, because of teleworking, non-digital data such as drawings and reports are not easily accessible. To enhance data-collection, student-assistants will be added to the project to survey ongoing renovation projects in the field.
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