Developers’ competition
Vienna uses different tools to keep social housing construction competitive and innovative, as well as to maintain a high quality level. One tool used to achieve this is the developers’ competition.
The developers’ competition (or Bauträgerwettbewerb, as it is called in German) is an important tool for the development of new social housing estates. In legal terms, it is a tender procedure for land owned by wohnfonds_wien, or land owned by private landlords but reserved for social housing. In contrast to the way land is usually transferred, in this case the best project (the project with the highest quality) is awarded by a jury and the price of the land is fixed in advance. In order to find the best project, the developers’ competition targets teams consisting of developers and architects. The teams taking part submit comprehensively researched and fully cost-estimated projects.
Competing for quality
To evaluate a project, a four-pillar model offers an assessment grid with four dimensions: social sustainability, architecture, ecology and economy. It is up to the jury to find well-balanced projects that offer quality regarding all four aspects. In such a setting, competition increases the quality of projects and ensures the efficient use of housing subsidies. It should be noted that the winning project has to be realised by the developer in its originally submitted form. Both non-profit and commercial developers are entitled to take part in these competitions.
The winning team has the right to buy the construction site at a fixed price which also includes housing subsidies (for up to 35% of the total construction costs) to enable the team to implement its award-winning project. In return, the winning developer guarantees certain planning qualities, construction costs, rent levels, etc.
