Wednesday 29 January 2020

Swedish firm Wallenstam lent £200m for nearly-zero energy buildings

Swedish property company Wallenstam has been granted a loan agreement totalling SEK2.5 billion (£200m) for the construction of nearly-zero energy buildings in Sweden.

The loan has been agreed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) to support the construction of rental property to reduce the current housing shortage in Sweden's largest cities.

However, as required by the Bank, all new constructions must meet the nearly-zero energy building standard.

Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commission Executive Vice-President, responsible for An Economy that Works for People, said: “For Europe to transition to a climate-neutral economy, there is a huge need for investments in making our buildings seriously energy efficient.

“By using the EU budget guarantee to support this project with Wallenstam in Sweden, we are putting sustainability at the heart of how we invest EU-taxpayers' money. The fact that the project is for affordable housing makes it doubly important.”

The financing agreement follows the ground-breaking of the 'Väven' project yesterday, which will consist of 116 rental homes and is one of the projects under the financing agreement.

Hans Wallenstam, CEO of Wallenstam added: “The EIB’s engagement is a quality stamp for our company, including our business concept of developing new energy efficient housing, we are very proud of the collaboration.”