Volkswohnung

Volkswohnung GmbH (VoWo) is a housing company that was founded in 1922 by the municipal administration of Karlsruhe to overcome the short-ages in municipal dwellings after WW I.

The city of Karlsruhe is still the main shareholder of the company.

The main responsibility of Volkswohnung is to provide affordable dwellings of good performance to the citizens of Karlsruhe and to contribute to the urban performance by high quality of architectural and urban planning.

At present, over 16.000 dwellings are rented. Two third of them have been constructed by Volkswohnung, the others purchased.

In addition, a major number of buildings are managed for third parties by commission.

After the big construction program between 1950 and 1970, the current objectives are focused on refurbishment and quality improvement. Among this, energy conservation and efficient generation of energy for heating and tap water preparation is the essential part of retrofit measures, including also the use if renewable energies where available.

Volkswohnung is continuously looking for new approaches and technologies to support its aims to increase the sustainability of its building stock. During its retrofit program that is under way since about 20 years with almost 200 millions € spent so far the average consumption of primary energy has already been reduced by about 50 %, with a cut by another 50 % of the present value viable.

Contact: reinhard.jank(@)volkswohnung.com