Deadline: 4-Feb-25

The European Commission (EC) has launched the Horizon Europe’s Design for Adaptability, Re-use and deconstruction of Buildings Programme.

Scope

• Based on the integration of innovative tools, products and techniques, to enable construction and renovation that embeds the principle of extending the service life of buildings, and facilitate adaptability to changing user needs (e.g. for optimal use of indoor space or to improve working and living conditions), reuse, and deconstruction, in a life-cycle optimisation and circular economy perspective.
• Proposals are expected to address all of the following:
  • Validate construction and renovation solutions based on the integration of innovative tools, products, techniques, processes and methods, that facilitate deconstruction and reuse, based on life-cycle approaches across the value chain.
  • Ensure the solutions validated:
    • Consider the adaptability and reversibility of buildings and building units to changing uses, and to other relevant factors (e.g. evolution of surroundings).
    • Improve the ease of reuse of construction elements and products from existing buildings, also facilitating recycling when reuse is not possible.
    • Develop building elements and products that can be disassembled and reused, including those made from CO2-storing materials such as sustainably sourced long-lived bio-based materials and products and, innovative lower emission materials /aggregates.
    • Address all components of buildings, including structural elements, envelopes, interior fixtures and fittings, and technical building systems.
    • Are rooted in local and regional value chains, based on participative approaches for social acceptability of innovation, in particular with regard to the workforce’s practices and skills.
    • Can flexibly adapt to local/regional sourcing of innovative products and materials to increase replication.
    • Address climate change mitigation, minimising emissions.
    • Allow to minimise any negative impacts of pollution and biodiversity loss from renovation and construction works.

Funding Information

• The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
  • public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
  • cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (low value grant).

Eligible Activities

• Eligible activities are the ones described in the call conditions. Applications will only be considered eligible if their content corresponds, wholly or in part, to the topic description for which it is submitted.
  • Projects must focus exclusively on civil applications and must not:
  • aim at human cloning for reproductive purposes;
  • intend to modify the genetic heritage of human beings which could make such changes heritable (except for research relating to cancer treatment of the gonads, which may be financed);
  • intend to create human embryos solely for the purpose of research, or for the purpose of stem cell procurement, including by means of somatic cell nuclear transfer.
• The following activities are generally eligible for grants under Horizon Europe:
  • Research and innovation actions (RIA) — Activities that aim primarily to establish new knowledge or to explore the feasibility of a new or improved technology, product, process, service or solution. This may include basic and applied research, technology development and integration, testing, demonstration and validation of a small-scale prototype in a laboratory or simulated environment.
  • Innovation actions (IA) — Activities that aim directly to produce plans and arrangements or designs for new, altered or improved products, processes or services. These activities may include prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting, large-scale product validation and market replication.
  • Coordination and support actions (CSA) — Activities that contribute to the objectives of Horizon Europe. This excludes research and innovation (R&I) activities, except those carried out under the ‘Widening participation and spreading excellence’ component of the programme (part of ‘Widening participation and strengthening the European Research Area’).
  • Training and mobility actions (TMA) — Activities that aim to improve the skills, knowledge and career prospects of researchers, based on mobility between countries and, if relevant, between sectors or disciplines.

Expected Outcomes

• Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:
  • Improved adaptability of buildings and building units to new uses.
  • Increased reuse and recycling of building elements and products.
  • Extended service life of buildings.
  • Increased awareness on best practices for design for adaptability, reuse and deconstruction.

Eligibility Criteria

• Entities eligible for funding
  • To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.
  • 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:
      • Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
    • the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States:
      • Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR).
    • countries associated to Horizon Europe
      • Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Faroe Islands, Georgia, Iceland, Israel, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, North Macedonia, Norway, Serbia, Tunisia, Türkiye, Ukraine, United Kingdom.
    • the following low- and middle-income countries
      • Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Argentina, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Comoros, Congo (Democratic Republic), Congo (Republic), Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt (Arab Republic), El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Iran (Islamic Republic), Iraq, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Korea (Democratic People’s Republic), Kyrgyz Republic, Lao (People’s Democratic Republic), Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia (Federated States), Mongolia, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Niue, Pakistan, Palau, Palestine, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Samoa, São Tomé and Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Sudan, Suriname, Syrian Arab Republic, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic), Vietnam, Yemen Republic, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
  • International organisations — International European research organisations are eligible to receive funding.

For more information, visit EC.