Ready Made - OBEL

THE WINNER

The OBEL Award 2025 goes to HouseEurope!—not a building, but a movement and call to action—under this year’s Ready Made umbrella. A non-profit organisation and policy lab, HouseEurope! advocates for the social and ecological transformation of the construction industry by prioritising the adaptive reuse of existing building stock. YES to Renovation! NO to Demolition!

In an industry driven by polluting practices and for-profit development, HouseEurope! places architecture at the centre of systemic political change for the public good. At the heart of the initiative is a pan-European citizen-led legal proposal to make building renovation and transformation of buildings easier, affordable, and socially just.

In doing so, HouseEurope!’s European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) needs one million signatures across at least seven EU member states by January 31. 2026 to drive legislative change and bring the issue to the courts of the European Parliament.

Sign the petition here

The HouseEurope! European Citizens' Initiative Explained

European Citizens' Initiative

A legal proposal by HouseEurope!

Objectives

HouseEurope! wants to create incentives that make the renovation and transformation of existing buildings the new norm and a common path. This will boost the renovation market and give new value to what is already there. The goal is to preserve homes and communities, ensure a fairer and more local building industry, save energy and resources, and preserve our memories and stories. Because the demolition of existing buildings is as outdated as food waste, animal testing, fast fashion and single-use plastics.

In order to achieve these objectives, we demand a right to reuse for existing buildings based on three key pillars:

**(I)** tax reductions for renovation works and reused materials

**(II)** fair rules to assess both potentials and risks of existing buildings

**(III)** new values for the embedded CO2 in existing structures.

**HouseEurope! Power to Renovation**

Today, buildings are treated as investments rather than spaces for people to live in. Due to financial speculation, millions of square meters sit empty and ruined or are demolished and replaced: from functioning family homes to abandoned industrial and office spaces. For real estate speculators, every building is up for demolition!

By 2050, we will have demolished about 2 billion square meters of existing space in Europe. This is the equivalent of half of Germany’s building stock and more than Paris or Berlin in their entirety. Instead, we will have built billions of square meters of new space as a replacement for what was already there. This practice creates social, economic, environmental, and cultural problems as demolition comes with a loss of homes, jobs, energy, and history.

**The Speculation Issue**

The current system is designed to demolish and build anew, driven by regulations and incentives that favor new construction. Existing buildings are replaced with high-end developments, putting profit over people. However, the relation between speculation and redevelopment, with the needs of communities and ecosystems, is complex.

While development is essential for our society, it’s equally crucial to ensure that it doesn’t come at the expense of existing communities, local economies, our planetary ecosystem, and history. Thus, our aim is to shed light on the harmful practices of speculative real estate development that are the reason for demolition and that impact each and every one of us.

**The Construction Crisis**

The building industry’s impact on our lives is significant, and it is therefore urgent that it becomes part of our daily conversations. It stands as one of the most profitable and vital markets within the EU, yet it is also one of the most significant contributors to CO2 emissions and energy consumption. According to the European Commission, buildings are responsible for approximately 36% of CO2 emissions and 40% of total energy consumption in the EU, representing 35% of energy-related EU emissions in 2021.

Moreover, the sector generates over 35% of the EU’s total waste, highlighting its substantial environmental footprint. Yet, we maintain a system in which buying something new is cheaper than caring for the old. This system prioritizes financial profit over the well-being of the people and the planet. A system in which renovation and adaptation have taken a backseat to demolition and new construction.

This may have worked in the past, when resources seemed in endless supply and new construction was cheaper, faster, and easier than dealing with existing buildings. But current material and energy shortages show us that this system no longer works. Therefore, the building sector is pivotal in the social and ecological transformation, and all the parties involved – from the real estate sector to architects to the construction industry – must recognize the risks of demolition and the potential of renovation.

**The Renovation Market**

The renovation of public and private buildings presents enormous potential. The goal of EU member states to renovate our existing buildings by 2050 can be translated into tangible numbers: Currently, only 25% of the European building stock has been renovated, meaning that 75% of the work is still ahead of us. At the current annual renovation rate of 1%, it would take three times longer than we have to reach the agreed goals. Therefore, we face a reality: we need to triple the renovation rate to reach our goals!

To do so, we must recognize the value of existing buildings and prioritize their renovation. Renovation is a great answer to ensure affordable living spaces, support small and medium-scale businesses, reduce CO2 emissions, and preserve memories and communities. So, how do we achieve a shift and make a change in reality? The EU has the power to change this by implementing the objectives of HouseEurope!

**➔ Preserving Existing Structures:** Advocate for the preservation, renovation, and adaptive reuse of buildings to conserve resources, reduce CO₂ emissions, and maintain cultural and historical continuity.

**➔ Implementing Economic Incentives:** Propose measures like tax incentives and harmonization of standards to make renovation more attractive and economically viable than demolition.

**➔ Valuing Embodied Energy:** Highlight the importance of accounting for the energy already invested in buildings to shift past environmental impacts toward future sustainability.

**➔ Creating Affordable Housing:** Leverage the cost advantages of existing buildings to create affordable living spaces, mitigate gentrification, and prevent displacement of communities.

**➔ Transforming the Construction Sector:** Aim to shift the industry from material-intensive to labor-intensive, creating jobs and boosting local businesses across Europe.

**➔ Aligning with EU Policies:** Build on existing national and EU legislation to promote renovation and transformation and enhance sustainability – socially, economically, and ecologically.

**➔ Reaching Climate Goals:** Encourage renovation and transformation of existing buildings, contributing to the EU’s goal of decarbonizing the building stock by 2050.

JURY WINNER STATEMENT

For the 2025 focus—Ready Made—the OBEL Jury asks: How can we rethink, reinterpret, and repurpose existing resources? What are alternative modes of production and approaches to practice that can prioritise what already exists? And how can architects challenge aesthetics, supply chains and policy frameworks to collectively shape our built environment within planetary boundaries?

Given the complexity of the building industry and the systemic barriers to wide-scale adoption, it would be irresponsible to pedestal a single project—built or otherwise—as the definitive answer. While a range of built work and research offers inspiration for how we might approach the future of our material world, what’s missing is scale and the potential for large-scale replication. This year’s winner seeks to overcome those barriers by addressing one of the core issues prohibiting the implementation of Ready Made approaches: policy.

For that reason, the OBEL Award 2025 is presented to HouseEurope!—a policy lab and citizen-powered initiative that truly embodies this year’s focus. They are not just a source of inspiration, but a call to action to preserve homes and communities. With OBEL’s support and endorsement, HouseEurope! is gaining powerful momentum to transform the very foundations of what—and how—we build.

Recognising and awarding HouseEurope! sends a strong message to the profession and the next generation of architects:
you have a voice, and the power to reshape the structures limiting our field. HouseEurope! mobilises architecture’s collective scale—not just as a service profession, but as an active political and social force for the common good.

ABOUT HOUSEEUROPE!

The European Citizens’ Initiative HouseEurope! advocates for EU laws that prioritise renovating and transforming existing buildings over demolition. Since February 1, 2025, HouseEurope! is campaigning to collect one million signatures from EU citizens to push for legislation ensuring ecological and social sustainability in the built environment.

By 2050, Europe is expected to lose 1.5 billion square metres of existing space to demolition. That’s more than Paris and Berlin, and is enough space to house 50 million people. The construction sector is responsible for 38% of all CO2 emissions, while construction waste accounts for over 36% of total waste volume, making it the biggest emitter and waste producer in the EU. Demolition results in enormous losses of homes, jobs, energy, and memories.

HouseEurope! demands a “right to re-use” for existing buildings, based on three key pillars: tax incentives such as ultra-low VAT rates for renovations and reused materials (applicable to all buildings, not just housing); fair evaluation standards that ensure the potential of existing buildings is properly assessed, beyond just risk factors; and new value metrics that account for the grey energy and CO2 content of existing buildings, which are currently overlooked.

HouseEurope! is co-initiated by b+ and s+ (D-ARCH, ETH Zurich), and driven by a network of local partners and supporters active in most EU member states. Their work is amplified by a growing group of public ambassadors, including cultural figures and supporting institutions, lending visibility to the cause.

Learn more about HouseEurope!

HouseEurope!, Tempelhof, Berlin, 17.10.2024

2024