According to Bouwend Nederland, the National Growth Fund (Nationaal Groeifonds) and the construction sector are jointly investing 72 million euros to further scale up innovations under the program Toekomstbestendige Leefomgeving (Future-proof Living Environment). The Dutch trade association describes the injection as good news for the circular building segment of the sector.
The program is designed to remove barriers to innovation in the design, construction and engineering sector, according to background material published by the Nationaal Groeifonds. It funds projects in digitalisation, sustainable quay walls and facades, new renovation techniques, sustainable housing construction and biobased building. The Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO) is responsible for the project, with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security and Nature also involved. Coordination runs through TKI Bouw en Techniek, which works with more than 130 partners, organised in three consortia covering infrastructure, buildings and cross-sector collaboration, and more than a hundred parties from the market, education and public authorities are engaged in the wider program.
The program sets concrete performance targets for participating clients: a 50% reduction in the Environmental Cost Indicator (Milieukostenindicator, MKI), which combines all relevant environmental effects of a product into a single cost score, in tenders and contract awards, and the use of 55% circular materials in tenders and awards by affiliated clients. These targets are linked to a tightening of building regulations already under way: the Environmental Performance of Buildings (Milieuprestatie Gebouwen, MPG) threshold value, which indicates the environmental impact of the materials used in a building, was capped at 1,0 until 2018 and has stood at 0,8 since 2021, with further reductions scheduled for 2025 and 2030.
Through the Growth Fund investment, the program aims to raise labour productivity in construction and increase exports of Dutch building products and techniques, according to the Nationaal Groeifonds.