For reducing the adverse effect of the COVID-19 crisis on the economy and addressing the issue of affordable housing for the general public at the same time, there was funding granted to the Ministry of Economics for the development of energy-efficient multi-apartment residential building designs using Latvian-made or purchased construction products and building structures in the summer of 2020. Instead of two planned standard building designs, for which the Ministry had concluded building design contracts, it has now been possible to develop only one reinforced concrete-framed building design. There are 213,378 euros or 50% of the initially allocated funding spent for this purpose. In its turn, the contract for building design of the timber-framed house was terminated at the end of the year because the term of the contract was too short for executing high-quality building design. Moreover, one lacks experience in designing such type of timber-framed houses in Latvia. The State Audit Office considers that the goal of using the funds will be achieved in the long run only if the developed building design meets the market demand, is used in the construction of multi-apartment houses, and the houses built according to the design are available to a wider population. Eleven local and regional governments have shown their interest in a standard building design to construct tenement houses.
In July 2020, the government decided to grant funding to the Ministry of Economics to develop standard building designs for energy-efficient multi-apartment residential buildings up to 426,084 euros by using construction products and structures manufactured or purchased in Latvia.
In August 2020, a tender was announced for the development of building designs. As a result, contracts were concluded to develop two standard building designs for reinforced concrete-framed and timber-framed energy-efficient multi-apartment residential buildings at the end of October. In addition, a contract was signed for the services of an engineering consultant to inspect the developed building designs in November.
Considering the risk that the term of performance of the contract is too short for high-quality building design, contracts for the development of building designs have been terminated. In addition, the design of this type of wooden building is a novelty in Latvia, and the design of similar wooden buildings in the technical specification has never been developed before. Therefore, the tender resulted in one building design developed for reinforced concrete-framed house, whereas the contract for the building design for the timber-framed house was terminated in December. At the same time, the Ministry of Economics has provided funding for the building design for timber-framed house repeatedly in the basic budget for 2021.
The Ministry of Economics presented its plans for the development of building designs to local and regional governments in July last year, on the day when funding had already been granted. Among 29 local and regional governments identified in February and March this year, 11 local and regional governments have indicated that they plan to use a standard building design for the construction of tenement houses, that is, Regional Governments of Bauska, Gulbene, Līvāni, Madona, Preiļi, Saulkrasti, Sigulda, Smiltene, Tukums, and Local Governments of Liepāja City and Valmiera City.