Project RenoBooster and its Goals

As part of the RenoBooster project, a One-Stop-Shop called "Hauskunft" has been set up for the refurbishment of private residential buildings – with the aim to boost renovations in Vienna. The project was funded by the EU with EUR 1.9 million as part of the "Horizon 2020" programme. RenoBooster was aimed at private home owners thus including single-family houses, residential buildings and condominiums.

The aim of the project was to create a one-stop shop for private owners of residential buildings. There they can obtain information and advisory services on legal and technical aspects as well as on funding and financing options for the refurbishment.

The one-stop-shop is accompanying owners in all phases of the refurbishment of their building or apartment: from the very first consideration, decision-making via advice on the structural implementation until quality assurance after completion of the refurbishment works.

RenoBooster - Final Report (5 MB PDF)

Project Conception over 3.5 years

The project started in May 2019 and ended in October 2022. The project was funded by the EU with EUR 1.9 million. The first 10 months a thorough analysis on the current situation was done. A telephone survey of 1,000 homeowners helped to understand why homeowners want to renovate in the first place and what hurdles need to be overcome in the process. Different stakeholder and focus groups gave insights into the perspectives and wishes from the supply side. At the same time the current situation on offers in the renovation market was analysed in order to identify gaps.

With this information, the conceptual phase of the project started in spring 2020. Existing services were adjusted and better fit to the needs of the owners. Furthermore, new services were developed. The adjusted and newly developed services were tested and evaluated in autumn 2020.

Part of the project was also to analyse the current subsidy and legal framework conditions in Vienna. The goal was to suggest improvements not only in the regulatory framework but also in the subsidies allowing even better on-point financing for refurbishment works.

While the initial aim was to hand over a turnkey of a one-stop-shop with a working business model at the end of the project, the latter started its services under the name of "Hauskunft" in early 2021. "Hauskunft" has been established within the auspices of the "wohnfonds_wien", a project partner and key institutions in Vienna's housing policy.

Video: Refurbishment: EU funds a new one-stop-shop - W24 (German)

Sounding Board accompanies RenoBooster

The RenoBooster project had a strong consortium as important stakeholders from administration, construction, real estate and financing were involved. The project was managed by the City of Vienna - Department of Technical Urban Renewal (MA 25).

Quality of living and climate protection

The refurbishment of Vienna's housing stock makes a significant contribution to the quality of life and living of the Viennese people. A renovated residential building not only consumes less heat energy in winter, but also protects the building from overheating in summer.

The quality and number of renovations are to be increased in order to save more energy and CO2 – there is still a lot of potential in the 900,000 apartments in Vienna.

Project Consortium of RenoBooster

7 partners from Vienna were working on the EU project RenoBooster.

The project lead lied within the City of Vienna - Department Technical Urban Renewal (MA 25). Mainly involved from the administrative side were also the Department of Housing Promotion and Arbitration Board for Legal Housing Matters (MA 50) as well as the Department of Energy Planning (MA 20).

The other partners were:

• Urban Innovation Vienna, the cities competence centre for future urban issues
• wohnfonds_wien, the fund for housing and urban renewal
• ÖVI, the Austrian Real Estate Association
• DIE UMWELTBERATUNG, a non-profit eco counselling institution
• e7, private consultants for energy-efficiency matters
• 17&4, a private consulting and research company
• SORA Institute, a social research institute

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 847029.