Hazardous substances in buildings can only be avoided, if they are paid attention to when selecting materials and building products, designing, constructing, renovating and de-constructing or demolishing a building. The NonHazCity 3 project helps municipalities, entrepreneurs and citizens to become aware of chemicals in building products and to make decisions that minimise pollutants and their associated risks in buildings. In the project, knowledge systems were implemented on three levels:
- strategic solutions for management procedures in the building sector (recommendations, regulations, standards);
- practical solutions for builders (technical instructions, fact sheets);
- communication and education solutions (knowledge campaigns, training material).
In addition to pollutants, the focus was set on climate-neutral and circular renovation and construction.
Pilot projects in the partner cities served to test and validate the developed solution proposals. The following key priorities were addressed in the pilot projects:
- development of public procurement processes to reduce hazardous substances;
- planning and construction of tox-free, climate-neutral and sustainable buildings; and
- provision of information and tools for tox-free, climate-neutral and sustainable construction and renovation.
The German Environment Agency led the group activities that transferred the project output into practical recommendations for political actors at EU, national and municipality level and linked them to the implementation of the Zero Pollution Ambition targets in the building sector.
The project main coordinator was the Riga City Council (Latvia). The project had a duration of 36 months (2023 - 2025) with a budget around 5 million Euros.