Funding programme

The New European Bauhaus Initiative brings citizens, experts, businesses, and institutions together to reimagine sustainable living in Europe and beyond.

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Call overview

This call focuses on operationalising regenerative design in construction and renovation, with the aim of restoring ecosystems, improving biodiversity, and enhancing human well-being.

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Background

The New European Bauhaus (NEB) was launched in 2021, striving to translate the European Green Deal into tangible change on the ground. This policy and funding initiative was further strengthened in the political guidelines for the European Commission 2024-2029 under the goal Supporting people, strengthening our societies and our social model.

The political guidelines highlight that the NEB can bring sustainability together with inclusion and affordability, and creativity with innovation. Challenges like the housing crisis or the green transformation are addressed by putting people’s needs first, with the goal to improve their lives. The NEB also contributes to creating lead markets for the Clean Industrial Deal by considering embodied greenhouse gas emissions. To this end, the NEB fosters the development of innovative solutions in the built environment and beyond.

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Expected Outcome

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• Tested and proven principles of regenerative design in the design, construction and renovation of the built environment are available to the actors from the construction ecosystem.
• Improved tools and technologies enable actors from the construction ecosystem to apply regenerative design to the built environment.
• The application of regenerative design to the built environment in neighbourhoods^[1] contributes to the regeneration of natural ecosystems and biodiversity while benefiting human health and well-being.

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Scope

Regenerative design aims to actively restore, revitalise and enhance ecosystems, contributing to both human and planetary health, in line also with the ‘One Health’ approach. Regenerative design thus contributes to creating sustainable, thriving environments for local communities and ecosystems. This involves principles such as circularity, waste reduction, resource and energy efficiency, promoting biodiversity, and the use of carbon-storing materials.

Regenerative design offers pathways to develop construction and renovation methods and designs that go beyond conventional approaches. However, the potential and application of regenerative design in the built environment is still under-explored due to the novelty of the solutions, the complexity of inter-related factors, the limited understanding of their impacts, and insufficient knowledge exchange and technology transfer.

Proposals are expected to address all of the following:

• Analyse in depth the success factors, challenges, and impacts of at least 10 existing examples of regenerative designs applied to constructed or renovated buildings. Measure the restoration of the environment as well as sustainability performance of the building, using existing sustainable building assessment methods such as Level(s), the Living Community Challenge and other third-party certification schemes or emerging methodologies such as the Carbon Removal and Carbon Farming (CRCF) in buildings certification. The selected buildings are expected to:
  • Be located in contexts as diverse as possible (geographical, environmental, climate, social or economic).
  • Generate renewable energy to meet the buildings’ energy demand. The buildings can also employ, but are not limited to: nature-based solutions^[1]; water collection, purification and reuse; water efficiency methods; building solutions achieving cleaner air; carbon-storing architecture and design; medium and long-term energy storage (e.g. using phase-change materials).
  • Have used collaborative, inclusive approaches to engage local communities and inhabitants.
  • Have overcome legislative and regulatory barriers, if any, thanks to active collaboration with different levels of government and public authorities.
• Develop and demonstrate at least one innovative solution (tool or technology) that facilitate the application of regenerative design to the built environment. The solution(s) is (are) expected to transform the construction and renovation processes at all stages, by adopting a lifecycle perspective, encouraging the use of natural resources, materials, products, processes and by considering the impact on people and nature. Proposers should reflect on the role of local/indigenous crafts and knowledge^[1] in the construction and renovation processes.
• Demonstrate the innovative solution(s) in at least three neighbourhoods from urban, peri-urban and rural areas located in at least three Member States or Associated Countries.

The topic includes the possibility to provide financial support to third parties to provide direct support for the development and implementation of the demonstrator. A maximum of EUR 60 000 per third party might be granted.

Proposals are expected to follow a participatory and transdisciplinary approach^[10] through the integration of different actors (such as public authorities, local actors from the targeted neighbourhoods, civil society, private owners, etc.) and disciplines (such as architecture, urban design, design, arts, (civil) engineering, health, etc.).

This topic requires the effective contribution of SSH disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts, institutions as well as the inclusion of relevant SSH expertise, in order to produce meaningful and significant effects enhancing the societal impact of the related research activities.

Proposals are expected to dedicate at least 0.2% of their total budget to share their intermediate and final results and findings with the Coordination and Support Action 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' (HORIZON-MISS-2024-NEB-01-03).

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Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries.

See specifics in the General Annexes document, page 9.

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Consortium composition

Only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

If eligible for funding, legal entities established in non-associated third countries may exceptionally participate in this Coordination and support action as a beneficiary or affiliated entity.

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Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 16.00 million.

Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The support to third parties can only be provided in the form of grants. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60000.