Renovation Strategies for Multi-Residential Buildings from the Record Years in Sweden—Profit-Driven or Socioeconomically Responsible?

Abstract

An important part of the multi-family housing stock in Sweden was built during the record years 1961–1975 and is in need of extensive renovation to be modernized. The stock is also at the center of political discussion of how to sustain ‘good housing for all’, especially in the rental sector. These renovation needs coincide with present energy targets and provides an opportunity to combine renovation with energy efficiency measures. Common for many of these buildings are that neglected maintenance has led to technical shortcomings, such as high energy use and low thermal comfort due to bad insulation, unsatisfactory air tightness and leaky windows, inefficient heating systems and insufficient ventilation, and moisture damage due to leaking building envelope and leaking pipes. However, the people living in these buildings are not willing to or cannot afford to pay the higher rents that extensive renovations would entail. Earlier research has highlighted the broader societal problem of energy renovations, but also that of housing companies’ priority of measures with short payback times, and those that give the possibility to raise rents. However, recent observations indicated a tendency towards more holistic approaches to housing renovation, and this study was initiated to investigate how public and private housing companies deal with renovation levels, rent increases and related social problems. The main conclusions are that sustainability and social responsibility are moving up on agendas in the public sector, but also, apparently, in the renovations strategies among the private companies. What is also seen is a trend moving from extensive total renovations to more tenant-adapted and step-by-step renovations. Renovation options which do not entail such large rent increases are increasingly being seen. Implications are that housing owners favor gentle renovation with reasonable rent increases of 10%–20%, which at the same time, may be a drawback for reaching energy efficiency targets.

The Transition of Dutch Social Housing Corporations to Sustainable Business Models for New Buildings and Retrofits

“…The specific context of SHC, being privately owned but fulfilling a public task, thus (partly) dependent of governmental support and/or regulations [7], might have consequences regarding their transition towards SBM, as they experience diminishing financial support [79,80]. In this particular context, it might be interesting to explore approaches in countries where SHCs are less dependent on governmental support, thereby focusing on tenant-adapted and step-by-step approaches for renovation, e.g., [81].…”

SIRen: An Applied Framework for a Sustainable Renovation Process

“…The aim of this paper is to present a transparent, openly accessible, adaptable framework for a sustainable renovation process covering technical environmental, economic, social, and cultural historical aspects that must be considered by the various actors during different stages of the renovation process. It has been noted many times that there is a need for practical methods to complement the strong focus on economy in decision processes aiming at sustainable solutions [3,5,6,8,24,30,37].…”

Renovating on Unequal Premises: A Normative Framework for a Just Renovation Wave in Swedish Multifamily Housing

“…As the buildings constructed during the Million Homes Programme are reaching their service life of 50 years, there is indeed a need for general refurbishment which can be combined with energy-efficiency measures [24]. However, given the socioeconomic vulnerability in many of these areas, it has been argued that renovations should be carried out in a gentle manner with as little measures as possible to ensure an adequate housing standard out of consideration for the tenants [60], or by offering tenants different renovation options [61] where the least expensive option preferably entails no rent increase at all [62]. Such careful and considerate renovation methods are, however, not in line with the high energy efficiency ambitions of the Renovation Wave, as increased social consideration often compromises energy savings [60,61], and vice versa [63].…”

“…However, given the socioeconomic vulnerability in many of these areas, it has been argued that renovations should be carried out in a gentle manner with as little measures as possible to ensure an adequate housing standard out of consideration for the tenants [60], or by offering tenants different renovation options [61] where the least expensive option preferably entails no rent increase at all [62]. Such careful and considerate renovation methods are, however, not in line with the high energy efficiency ambitions of the Renovation Wave, as increased social consideration often compromises energy savings [60,61], and vice versa [63]. Looking beyond the Million Homes Programme, the general trend of energy performance being higher in higher-income areas remains [11]; thus, the worst-performing buildings, which are prioritised in the Renovation Wave, are often found in low-income areas.…”