On Wednesday, the Ministers of Housing, the Environment, and Home Affairs unveiled a comprehensive plan to "rapidly create the housing supply that is critically lacking" in Luxembourg.

From ten points to 40 measures: On Wednesday, the Ministers of Housing, the Environment, and Home Affairs detailed the housing action plan announced by Prime Minister Luc Frieden during his State of the Nation speech.

The primary goal is to eliminate red tape and resume construction at a sustained pace. To achieve this, the government will address procedural and environmental standards.

The broad lines of action, announced at Hôtel Saint-Augustin, include standardising procedures for the General Development Plan (PAG) and Special Development Plan (PAP), abolishing the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIE), simplifying building regulations, and implementing the "silence means agreement" principle.

These measures align with long-standing demands from the country's developers and builders, who have called for administrative simplification. If implemented, these changes could benefit the construction sector, although the issue of building capacity remains unresolved.

However, it is important to note that some of the measures presented on Wednesday will not be applied immediately. Several are scheduled for implementation by the end of 2025 and will require approval from the Council of State and the Chamber of Deputies, indicating that the legislative process is still lengthy.

A rollback of "green" construction? 

RTL

Illustrative image / © Maxime Gonzales / RTL Luxembourg

Aware of concerns raised by some measures in the action plan, Minister of the Environment Serge Wilmes sought to reassure the public. He emphasised that the goal is to "simplify and speed up essential nature protection procedures."

While many regulations will be eliminated, Wilmes insisted that these will be compensated for by requiring the installation of sustainable ecological elements on at least 10% of the surface area of new neighbourhoods.

Despite this assurance, doubts remain about whether this will sufficiently offset the balance, as the government plans to abolish at least three major regulations. These regulations currently protect biotopes, require site surveys and ecological assessments, and dictate the management of construction waste.

The three ministers emphasised that these changes will significantly reduce costs and expedite procedures. Minister of Housing Claude Meisch stated that this extensive plan aims to rapidly address the severe housing shortage, all while continuing to invest in affordable housing.

Meisch also announced a new public-private partnership as part of the government's acquisition programme of VEFA, which stands for vente en l'état futur d'achèvement ("sale in future state of completion"). This includes pilot projects on private land, with "guaranteed" success. The effectiveness of this partnership in practice remains to be seen.