Approaches to reuse vacant, obsolete or underutilised spaces

The HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03 is a research and innovation grant program under Horizon Europe, focused on the reuse of vacant, obsolete, or underutilized spaces to enhance community needs and tackle significant challenges in Europe such as housing, environmental sustainability, and urban development. The total budget for this call is €9 million, with a maximum funding amount of €4.5 million allocated to each project, expecting to award two grants. This initiative aims to systematically identify and quantify underused spaces throughout the EU and Associated Countries, emphasizing a participatory and transdisciplinary approach that involves multiple stakeholders including local authorities, asset owners, construction companies, and civil society organizations.

Eligible applicant types for this opportunity include local and regional authorities, public and private asset owners, eco-modular manufacturers, design professionals, research institutions, financial institutions, community actors, and digital solution providers. The projects should validate their approaches in at least three different neighborhoods across varied contexts—urban, peri-urban, and rural—ensuring a diverse range of community needs are addressed.

The funding operates as a grant with a 100% EU funding rate, structured as lump-sum payments based on the achievement of specific deliverables rather than reimbursement for expenses incurred. The application process involves a single-stage submission, opening on May 5, 2026, and closing on December 1, 2026. There is a strong encouragement for applicants to incorporate blended financing strategies to enhance project viability.

Successful projects will focus on creating modular, circular, and nature-friendly solutions for repurposing spaces while ensuring community engagement through co-creation methods and participatory governance. The outputs should include tangible tools like design kits, financial toolkits, and implementation playbooks to facilitate replication in other regions, all requiring collaboration with the New European Bauhaus Hub for knowledge sharing and impact assessment.

In summary, this grant aims to promote innovative, sustainable methods for enhancing underutilized spaces in European communities through diverse stakeholder engagement, ultimately contributing to the EU's environmental goals and addressing pressing social needs.

This is a Horizon Europe grant opportunity focused on reusing vacant, obsolete, or underutilised spaces to address community challenges and needs. The call, titled "Beautiful, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhoods for communities (HORIZON-NEB-2026-01)", aims to increase the number of local authorities that systematically identify and quantify these spaces for reuse, leading to more renovated, renatured, or converted spaces that benefit local communities.

The scope of the grant addresses Europe's housing needs, inefficient building stock use, environmental commitments, and the goal of "no net land take" by 2050. It acknowledges the significant amount of underutilised brownfield land and vacant office space in Europe and promotes the reuse of these spaces following circularity and sufficiency principles. The grant emphasises a systematic and context-sensitive approach that involves mapping these spaces, engaging local stakeholders, and addressing long-term community needs.

Proposals should develop a systematic approach for reusing vacant spaces, including:

Analysis of common drivers behind vacancy and underutilisation.
Identification and prioritisation of spaces in targeted neighbourhoods.
Assessment of community challenges and needs, and how reuse can address them, while also considering potential side effects like overcrowding or gentrification.
For spaces with existing ecological or social functions, identify measures to strengthen governance and oversight with community involvement.
Use co-creation methods to engage community stakeholders.
Identify funding and financing mechanisms for space reuse.

The approach should be validated in at least three neighbourhoods across urban, peri-urban, and rural areas in different Member States or Associated Countries. The social, cultural, environmental, and economic value of the approach should be assessed, and recommendations should be provided for adapting the approach in different contexts.

The grant requires a participatory and transdisciplinary approach, integrating various actors and disciplines, including social sciences and humanities (SSH). A minimum of 0.8% of the budget should be allocated for engaging with the Horizon Europe-funded 'New European Bauhaus hub for results and impact' to share findings and contribute to impact assessment.

The general conditions for this grant include:

Admissibility conditions related to proposal page limits and layout, as described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.
Eligible countries, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes, with specific provisions for non-EU/non-Associated Countries.
Other eligible conditions, as described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion criteria, as described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Evaluation and award criteria, scoring, and thresholds, as described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Submission and evaluation processes, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual.
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement, as described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and financial setup of the grants, with eligible costs taking the form of a lump sum, as defined in the Decision of 7 July 2021.

Specific conditions are described in the specific topic of the Work Programme.

Application and evaluation forms, as well as the model grant agreement (MGA), are available in the Submission System. Additional guidance and documents include the HE Programme Guide, Lump Sum MGA, call-specific instructions, detailed budget table, and various Horizon Europe Work Programme Annexes and related regulations.

The budget overview for the HORIZON-NEB-2026-01 call includes several topics:

HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-01: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 10,500,000 EUR and an indicative number of 3 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-02: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of 7,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 2 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of 9,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 2 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-01: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 12,600,000 EUR and an indicative number of 2 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-02: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 10,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 2 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-03: HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions, with a budget of 15,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 3 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-01: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 12,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 3 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-02: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 10,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 2 grants.
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03: HORIZON Innovation Actions, with a budget of 15,000,000 EUR and an indicative number of 3 grants.

The opening date for the single-stage submission process is planned for 05 May 2026, with a deadline of 01 December 2026.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to promote the reuse of vacant spaces in European neighbourhoods through systematic and community-driven approaches. It seeks to address housing needs, environmental concerns, and community challenges by fostering innovative and sustainable solutions for repurposing underutilised buildings and infrastructure. The call encourages interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement to ensure the long-term success and adaptability of these reuse initiatives.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly stated in the provided text. However, given the nature of Horizon Europe calls, eligible applicants typically include universities, research institutes, SMEs, large enterprises, and other organizations capable of conducting research and innovation activities. Local authorities are specifically mentioned as benefiting from the outcomes, suggesting they could also be eligible applicants or partners.

Funding Type: The primary financial mechanism is a grant, specifically a HORIZON Lump Sum Grant, as indicated by the Type of MGA (Model Grant Agreement) being "HORIZON Lump Sum Grant [HORIZON-AG-LS]". The call includes both HORIZON Innovation Actions (HORIZON-IA) and HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions (HORIZON-RIA), which are both types of grants.

Consortium Requirement: The text does not explicitly state whether a single applicant or a consortium is required. However, given the scope of the projects, the need for transdisciplinary approaches, and the validation requirement in multiple locations, it is highly likely that a consortium of multiple applicants is expected.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU Member States and Associated Countries, as stated in the "Validate the approach in at least three neighbourhoods in urban, peri-urban and rural areas located in different Member States and/or Associated Countries." section. The text also mentions that a number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects.

Target Sector: The program targets several interconnected sectors, including: Buildings and Construction (reuse of existing building stock), Urban Regeneration/Development (addressing community challenges and needs in neighbourhoods), Environment (environmental commitments, no net land take, biodiversity, climate resilience), Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) (effective contribution of SSH disciplines), and Innovation (development and validation of new approaches).

Mentioned Countries: The text refers to EU Member States and Associated Countries, without mentioning any specific country.

Project Stage: The project stage spans from development to validation. Proposals are expected to "Develop a systematic and context-sensitive approach" and then "Validate the approach in at least three neighbourhoods." This suggests a focus on development, validation, and demonstration.

Funding Amount: The funding amounts vary depending on the specific topic within the call. Based on the "Budget overview," the indicative funding ranges are:
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-01: EUR 10,500,000 (around EUR 3,500,000 per grant, 3 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-02: EUR 7,000,000 (around EUR 3,500,000 per grant, 2 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-BUSINESS-03: EUR 9,000,000 (around EUR 4,500,000 per grant, 2 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-01: EUR 12,600,000 (around EUR 6,300,000 per grant, 2 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-02: EUR 10,000,000 (around EUR 5,000,000 per grant, 2 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-PARTICIPATION-03: EUR 15,000,000 (around EUR 5,000,000 per grant, 3 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-01: EUR 12,000,000 (around EUR 4,000,000 per grant, 3 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-02: EUR 10,000,000 (around EUR 5,000,000 per grant, 2 grants)
HORIZON-NEB-2026-01-REGEN-03: EUR 15,000,000 (around EUR 5,000,000 per grant, 3 grants)

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process, as indicated by "Deadline model: single-stage".

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of a lump sum grant.

Application Stages: The application process involves a single stage, meaning applicants submit a full proposal at once.

Success Rates: The success rates can be inferred from the "Indicative number of grants" provided for each topic. For example, if a topic has a budget for 2 grants, the success rate will depend on the number of proposals received, which is not specified in the document. Therefore, the success rate is other.

Co-funding Requirement: The text does not explicitly mention a co-funding requirement. As these are Horizon Europe grants, co-funding may or may not be required depending on the specific call conditions, which are not detailed in the provided text. Therefore, the co-funding requirement is other.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call, part of the "Beautiful, inclusive and sustainable neighbourhoods for communities" initiative under the New European Bauhaus, aims to address the challenge of vacant, obsolete, and underutilized spaces in Europe. The call seeks proposals for developing and validating systematic approaches to reuse these spaces in ways that meet local community needs, promote circularity and sustainability, and contribute to the EU's environmental goals. The projects should be transdisciplinary, participatory, and involve social sciences and humanities. Funding is provided as lump sum grants, with varying budgets depending on the specific topic, and is open to consortia of applicants from EU Member States and Associated Countries. The call emphasizes the importance of engaging with the New European Bauhaus hub and contributing to impact assessment. The overall goal is to increase the number of local authorities that systematically identify and reuse these spaces, leading to more renovated, renatured, and converted areas that benefit local communities.