Building of Tomorrow

"Building of Tomorrow" is one of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology's (BMK formerly BMVIT) research and technology programs. Starting from the low-energy solar building approach and the concept of the passive building, and incorporating ways of using environmentally friendly and renewable materials in construction, new designs with great promise for the future have been developed and implemented.

Research and development work has provided a firm basis for innovative, sustainable concepts both for new buildings and for renovating existing ones.

In Phase 2 of the program – Building of Tomorrow Plus – the following aims are currently prioritized:

Creating the technological basis for the building of tomorrow, especially the plus-energy house.
The program is also focused on office and factory buildings and on modernizing existing buildings.
Adapting innovative technologies and products for large-scale industrial manufacture.
Initiating demonstration projects (buildings, settlements, networks …) to put new technologies and approaches on the map.
Supporting the interlinking of the key Austrian providers of know-how internationally, boosting the transfer of know-how across borders, accumulating human resources and integrating existing knowledge into suitable training schemes.

By the beginning of 2010 six successive calls for tenders had been carried out. Of the more than 700 projects submitted, around 300 have received funding. To date the Ministry has provided more than 35 million Euro in grants.

With the planning and implementation of innovative residential and office buildings, "Building of Tomorrow" has pointed the way for eco-efficient construction and the sustainable use of resources in Austria:

A great deal of scientific competence in this field has been accumulated in Austria.
Austria now has the highest density of passive buildings world-wide.
Austrian firms have taken the lead in the technology of sustainable construction world-wide.
Support has been provided for the process of adapting the Austrian system of subsidizing the construction of accomodation to take account of the latest developments in construction.
The Ministry of the Environment’s program klima:aktiv has incorporated the results of "Building of Tomorrow" and is supporting further implementation.

The long-term vision for "Building of Tomorrow" is to increase the energy efficiency of building construction and use to a point where the emissions of greenhouse gases over the entire life cycle of buildings are reduced to zero overall.

Overriding goal

In "Building of Tomorrow Plus" the overriding goal is to achieve the technological preconditions for constructing buildings that do not consume energy, but generate it.