Research Project: The investment processes of condominium owners' associations with particular emphasis on energy-efficiency and age-appropriate renovations

Concept

Approach

The research project centres around the analysis of 20 case studies with relevant decision-making processes at 23 condominium owners' associations. The condominium owners' associations studied were selected against the backdrop of being able to include a broad range of different investment processes – successful ones in particular, but also abandoned measures or those divided into a number of smaller steps. Selection criteria were furthermore in particular: condominium owners' associations of different sizes, social milieus, building types, building ages and administrative authorities as well as forms of financing the renovation costs. Examples from several states were also considered.

The focus of the surveys, and thus an important basis for the analysis, were interviews with key people in the case studies: the condominium property management, advisory boards as well as the planners and consultants involved. An interview guide formed the basis of each respective qualitative interview and the facts were collected using a standardized survey form. A standardised written survey of condominium owners' could be carried out in almost all the case studies. Procedural documents (protocols etc.) have been cited and evaluated.

Figure: Stages of the Investigation Process

The two expert workshops were very important and fruitful. A well-mixed group of participants were invited each time, with representatives from relevant associations and banks, property management, legal experts and energy consultants in addition to representatives from the Ministry and the Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development (BBSR). The first expert workshop was scheduled in June 2012, at an early stage in the research project, in order to add to the relevant points of the research topic. Thematic discussion focused accordingly on the key research questions of the obstacles to the consensus-building and decision-making processes and especially the drivers that make it easier to adopt energy-efficiency and age-appropriate renovations. The emphasis of the workshop was placed on the concrete practical experience of the participants.

The second expert workshop in November 2013 served to present the interim results and discuss the knowledge gained from the research project to date. At the same time suggestions and hints for further research were sought. The interim results presented by the research team and the first of their drawn conclusions were largely supported by the workshop participants who discussed them and supplemented their own insights.

Expert workshop participants at the Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) in Berlin

Source: Klaus Lambrecht

Source: Weeber+Partner

With the help of additional expert interviews with renowned experts from the fields of law, energy efficiency and construction, financing and property management, specific individual questions of the investigation were discussed more extensively and the results from the case studies classified and verified.