If you’re looking to improve the sustainability of social or special-purpose real estate – including schools, healthcare centres, government buildings or listed buildings – the new Investment Grant for Sustainable Public Real Estate (DUMAVA) could be of interest to you. Grant applications can be submitted from 3 October. That may still be a little while away – but remember that good preparation pays off!
Investing in sustainability measures
If we are to achieve the climate targets, it is important that we improve the sustainability of public real estate – including schools, healthcare institutions, welfare organisations, government buildings and listed buildings. The Dutch government is therefore allocating over half a billion euros to upgrade public real estate by adding sustainable features. The bulk of this amount is earmarked for a new grant scheme: the Investeringssubsidie duurzaam maatschappelijk vastgoed (Investment Grant for Sustainable Public Real Estate, known by the Dutch acronym DUMAVA). This multi-year scheme is principally designed to encourage owners of public real estate properties to invest in sustainability measures in order to improve energy performance and reduce carbon emissions.
The DUMAVA grant can be applied for from 9:00 am on Monday 3 October 2022 to 5:00 pm on Sunday 31 December 2023. The total budget available for this application round is 150 million euros. The scheme will open again in 2024, possibly in a modified format. A new budget will be allocated at that time.
Who is eligible under the scheme?
The DUMAVA grant scheme is intended for a large and diverse group of users: owners of public or special-purpose real estate. The new scheme targets existing real estate (completed in or before 2012) owned by social institutions operating in the following sectors:
- decentralised/local government, e.g. a public-function building owned by a local authority, provincial authority or water board;
- education, e.g. buildings used to house a primary school, college or university;
- healthcare, e.g. physiotherapy practices, healthcare centres, institutions for people with physical disabilities, or rehabilitation centres;
- the arts, e.g. theatres, artist collectives or concert venues;
foundations, associations, clubs and societies, e.g. Scouting associations; - listed buildings not used for housing/accommodation purposes, e.g. museums whose buildings have been designated as listed buildings;
- religious buildings/places of worship, e.g. mosques, temples or churches;
- other public-purpose buildings, e.g. community centres, village centres and neighbourhood centres.
Public real estate in the sport sector falls outside the purview of the DUMAVA scheme; the BOSA (Stimulering bouw en onderhoud sportaccommodaties – Promotion of Construction and Maintenance for Sporting Facilities) grant scheme was introduced for this purpose.
DUMAVA grant: for both measures and advice
The new scheme will significantly boost the sustainability of public real estate. Several types of costs are eligible for funding under the grant.
You can apply for a DUMAVA grant for the following purposes:
- between one and three sustainability measures as specified in the list of measures issued by the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland / RVO);
- an integrated sustainability project;
- commissioning an energy recommendation report;
- commissioning a Duurzame Monumenten (Sustainable Listed Buildings) recommendation report (or DuMo-advies);
- commissioning an energy label (after measures have been implemented).
The grant to cover sustainability measures accounts for 30% of the eligible costs. The minimum grant amount is 5,000 euros (for one to a maximum of three measures) or 25,000 euros (for integrated projects). The maximum grant allocated per application is 2.5 million euros.
For energy recommendations, Duurzame Monumenten recommendations or energy labels, the grant accounts for 50% of consultancy fees or certification costs.
Are you considering investing in sustainability? Start preparing now!
The DUMAVA application round for the 2022-2023 period will start at 9:00 am on 3 October 2022. Although this may still seem far away, you need to carefully prepare your grant application. Your provisional checklist:
- applying for eHerkenning (a form of e-Identification) level 3 or higher (if you do not have it already). You cannot submit a grant application without eHerkenning;
- commissioning an energy recommendation report or Duurzame Monumenten recommendation report. You must have received this recommendation report before submitting the DUMAVA grant application. As stated, the expenses involved are eligible under the grant scheme and can probably be retroactively reimbursed;
- preparing a time schedule and a line-item budget of project costs and consultancy fees.
Please note: you will only be eligible for the grant if the sustainability work has not begun before 3 October 2022. This means that, if you are at an advanced stage of the planning process, it will pay off to wait before commencing the work.
Interested?
Do you own a public real estate property, such as a school building, hospital, healthcare centre, or community centre? Or perhaps a listed building not used for housing purposes? Are you considering implementing sustainability measures and are you looking for funding opportunities? EGEN’s experts will be happy to advise you. Feel free to call us on +31 (0)88 838 13 81 or send us a message using the form below.
