Waste of space: Construction industry sees “everything is fine”

In the debate about land consumption in Austria, Upper Austria’s construction industry is taking the offensive. Norbert Hartl, state guild master for the construction industry, sees “everything is fine”. False representations are being used, he said at a press conference on Thursday: “We are not concreters.”

Albert Brunner, state chairman of the Bau-Holz union, was also there. He called for a “sensible ground strategy with an unemotional and realistic view of all aspects. Everyone should be at the table.”

Andreas Kreutzer from the market research and consulting company Kreutzer Fischer & Partner presented figures and analyzes – based on data from the Federal Environment Agency and the Federal Office for Metrology and Surveying.

Accordingly, seven percent of Austria’s land area has been used up (including gardens, parks, sports fields). Half of it, i.e. 3.5 percent, is sealed (air and water impermeable covering of the floor with asphalt or concrete).

From 2018 to 2022, an average of 0.02 percent of Austria’s area was resealed every year. “Converted to a cake, that’s one additional chocolate sprinkle every three years,” said Hartl. In 2023, sealing was even lower, but mainly due to the weak construction sector.

Kreutzer said that Austria was not, as claimed, the European champion in sealing. According to the European Environment Agency, Austria is in 15th place out of 39 countries with a below-average sealing rate.

Building and jobs

The government program aims to use only 2.5 hectares per day or nine square kilometers per year. That would mean a reduction of around 80 percent. “In this case, we would have to expect 33 percent less construction production in Upper Austria, and 14,000 jobs would be at risk,” said Kreutzer. Hartl referred to necessary buildings for housing, business, education and health.

But shouldn’t land consumption be reduced in the long term in the interests of climate protection and future generations, even if the numbers currently appear relatively small? And isn’t too much fertile soil being used?

“Of course, the soil resource should be used carefully, but if we continue to use as much as we currently do, Austria in the year 2200 would still have less sealing than Belgium or the Netherlands today,” said Kreutzer: “Whether the current 3.5 percent Sealing is already too much, that can be discussed.” Although arable land nationwide has fallen by 2.5 percent since 2012, the yield per hectare has increased by 15.4 percent at the same time.

Hartl said that measures to reduce land consumption are not being opposed. But he was against a fixed target, which would also raise difficult administrative questions. “The rule of thumb is: it’s better to build higher than wide. The vacancy should be used optimally and urban sprawl should be prevented as much as possible.” Unsealing is also important. “In the past, asphalt and concrete were used far too often without any real need,” says Hartl.

Erhard Prugger, head of the social and legal policy department in the Chamber of Commerce: A reduction in land consumption to 2.5 hectares per day would “hit the construction industry to the core and question people’s right to good, affordable housing.”