The countdown starts. There is very little left for the communities of owners to begin to walk without the crutch of the Next Generation European funds, a million-dollar and extraordinary aid with which thousands of neighbors have been able to reduce the energy consumption of their buildings since 2021. The actions subsidized by the funds must be completed, in general, before June 30, 2026. The date marked in red on the calendar has set off alarm bells. For two reasons. One is that there are thousands of neighborhood communities that have contracted technical projects and that will not arrive on time due to the processing jam. This major bottleneck – it has taken up to 24 months to authorize files – has been one of the most obvious errors that have tarnished the shine of these subsidies. “To penalize these files now for administrative delays beyond the control of citizens would be deeply unfair and could seriously damage confidence in future rehabilitation policies,” maintains María José Peñalver, general secretary of the Superior Council of the Colleges of Architects of Spain (CSCAE). The sector requests a clear response from the Administrations: “It would be very negative for the confidence of the sector if communities committed to rehabilitation were left out due to delays beyond their control,” adds Luis Mateo, General Director of Andimat. (National Association of Insulating Materials Manufacturers). In this sense, the Government has introduced transition mechanisms and possible extensions for certain files, although there is still uncertainty about how their application will be. The other concern is what will happen once the great era of rehabilitation ends. It puts an end to five exceptional years in which more than 3.4 billion euros were available in response to the Covid-19 crisis – although not everything has been executed – an incentive that has encouraged neighborhood communities to insulate their properties to improve their energy efficiency. “We have seen subsidies that, in some cases, covered very high percentages of the investment, 80%, something that greatly facilitated decision-making in communities of owners,” says Mateo. From now on, the rehabilitation policy model changes in Spain, which has one of the oldest built parks in Europe. Nearly 75% of homes in Spain have a low rating, something that European directives will increasingly penalize. The gap left by European funds will be covered, in part, by the new Housing Plan 2026-2030, approved on April 23. “The important thing is that continuity is not lost,” claims Mateo. The plan, endowed with around 7,000 million euros (60% co-financed by the State and 40% by the autonomies), plans to allocate around 30% to improving the park (2,100 million for the entire period). Aid linked to energy savings may reach up to 20,500 euros per home, depending on the reduction in consumption. Although, the plan will put more focus on comprehensive rehabilitation. “We will enter a more stable and structural model, focused on improving the residential stock as a whole, but it does not automatically or identically replace the Next Generation funds,” says Laura Visier, director of rehabilitation at UCI, who positively values that rehabilitation remains within the public housing policy. The new roadmap addresses energy efficiency, but also accessibility, habitability, structural safety and conservation of buildings. “This change is especially relevant from a technical and social point of view because it recognizes that the obsolescence of the Spanish built stock does not respond only to energy deficits, but also to accumulated problems of construction aging, lack of accessibility, climatic vulnerability and functional deterioration,” says Peñalver. Spanish architects believe that the consolidation of a true culture of rehabilitation requires abandoning schemes based exclusively on extraordinary calls and moving towards permanent models of public support. “The challenge is to transform an extraordinary stimulus policy into a structural strategy for the modernization of the Spanish residential stock,” according to the general secretary of the CSCAE. For Eduard Mendiluce, CEO of Effic, Aliseda and Anticipa’s energy rehabilitation and consulting company, the housing plan is an important step, but the key is learning from the mistakes made. From his point of view, rehabilitation in Spain will work if the autonomous communities delegate the processing of aid to approved rehabilitation agents to avoid bottlenecks. In the new stage, bank financing will take on an increasing role, since in many cases the communities of owners will have to fully or partially advance the cost of the works. “When public aid does not cover the entire project – as will likely happen more often –, viability will directly depend on having adequate financing solutions,” says Visier. In fact, banks, previously reluctant to finance communities, are developing specific products. «And there will be more and more, they are just starting. Today rehabilitation is 10 times below the European average,» says Mendiluce.
A winning trio
Aid, loans and energy savings certificates (CAES). It is the third leg. They allow the energy savings obtained after an action to be converted into a certifiable and monetizable economic asset. “They are called to be an important catalyst for the rehabilitation market and to make viable actions of greater significance that direct aid does not cover in full,” says Peñalver. Although, they need better treatment through a more realistic consideration of monetary value, which is penalized in current regulation. «Residential rehabilitation is now penalized. It would be enough to change the coefficients of the TED order 845/2023,» says Mendiluce. The sector affirms that there is a citizen interest in rehabilitating homes and buildings. “More and more citizens understand that it not only reduces energy consumption and increases comfort, but also revalues the property and improves its long-term conservation,” according to Peñalver. Even so, they believe it is possible that there will be a certain initial slowdown. Pablo Abascal, president of the General Council of Colleges of Property Administrators of Spain (CGCAFE), raises reasonable doubts about the new scenario. «It is true that new lines of aid will arrive, but they will not have anywhere near the economic dimension of the Next Generation funds. Our forecast is a drop in activity and a notable decrease in energy rehabilitation.» Abascal considers that the communities of owners “will not undertake these reforms solely on their own initiative.” And he adds: «We are seeing that when subsidies disappear, very expensive works are carried out that do not incorporate any energy efficiency improvements. The president of the CGCAFE understands that façade rehabilitation should necessarily incorporate energy efficiency improvements.
