Lifestyle quality
Vienna's developer competitions
Public developer competitions are a quality assurance tool used to ensure provision of affordable housing of a high standard and innovative project content. Commercial and non-profit developers and architects form project teams competing with one another to develop designs for implementation. The winning projects are determined by an interdisciplinary expert jury, based on assessment criteria such as architecture, ecology and economy.
The awarding of subsidies with residential housing construction in Vienna was reorganised in the 1990s. The aim was to reduce construction cost, while at the same time attaching importance to raising residential housing standards in ecological and social terms. Residential housing projects applying for public funding are subject to thorough checks under a comprehensive and standardised evaluation system.
Submissions for residential housing projects are scrutinised to determine whether they meet the basic requirements making them eligible for funding. A particular element in this context are open developer competitions. There are both one-time grants and grants in the form of a loan to be repaid within 25 years. The grants are awarded by square metre of usable residential floor space.
The procedure
The developer competition for subsidised residential housing projects from approx. 200 to 300 housing units upwards is a public invitation to tender and serves to single out those prospective real estate purchasers who submit the best designs for development concepts.
The public competition comprising one or several stages, including the search for interested parties in the run up, is launched through a public call for tenders.
The assessment
Following a preliminary check by an external consulting engineer, the submissions are judged by an expert jury on four main criteria: architecture (= urban structure, residential structure, appearance, innovation potential), economy (= site cost, construction cost, costs and contractual terms for occupiers, cost relevance of building equipment), ecology (= building engineering, building ecology/low-impact building, residential ecology/construction biology, free space/green space/urban ecology) and social sustainability (= suitability for day-to-day living, cost reduction through planning, living in communities, housing for changing needs), in which the focus is on overall quality and especially a balance between the four main criteria.
The jury's report informs participants of any recommendations or requirements.
The developer competition is a transparent procurement procedure for Vienna Housing Fund sites and supports quality assurance in the area of subsidised new residential building and quality control prior to the granting of subsidies for residential construction.
MA25_02_Developer Competitions 
Facts & Figures
Documents to be submitted
- Development concept (layout, plans, front views, sections, perspective drawings)
- Data sheet with building description (building costs, occupier conditions, material selection, power and heating system)
- Free-space design plan (functional and design concept)
- Written project description (project objectives, project content)
- Tenancy and purchase agreements
The expert jury consists of:
experts from the fields of architecture, urban development, free-space planning, ecology, economy, building engineering, housing legislation, housing promotion and developers' representatives, as well as representatives of the City of Vienna and wohnfonds_wien, the Vienna Housing Fund. Through the Vienna Housing Fund, more than 40 public developer competitions with a volume of approx. 15,800 housing units have been conducted.
Partners
- Fund for Housing Construction and Urban Renewal
- Vienna Land Procurement and Urban Renewal Fund, central coordination office
Contact
DI Markus Damm
Tel. +43 1 4000 84268
Fax +43 1 4000 7997
markus.damm@tinavienna.at
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