Brownfield summit

Enormous land consumption despite rising vacancy rates

Almost 20 percent of commercial and industrial properties are vacant.

(Bild: P. Huber)

At the brownfields summit in Salzburg, Greenpeace warns of the devastating ecological consequences of almost 20 percent of commercial and industrial land in some cities standing empty!

Around 11.2 hectares of fertile land are used every day, much of it for new logistics centers and business parks. At the same time, many commercial and industrial buildings are abandoned, says Greenpeace boss Alexander Egit. The key point of the new demand is that new buildings may only be built if existing buildings have first undergone a mandatory inspection. The federal states would also have to introduce a regionally adapted vacancy tax on long unused buildings.

Alexander Egit, Managing Director of Greenpeace in Central and Eastern Europe

(Bild: Andy Wenzel)

Soil protection expert Melanie Ebner: "Hectares of natural and agricultural land are currently being built on and sealed, while huge industrial parks are falling into disrepair elsewhere." It is an important step that a tool for recording industrial vacancies throughout Austria is to be presented at the brownfields summit.

The current system is inefficient. If new buildings were always built instead of using existing structures, valuable land would be lost. New construction also required a lot of building resources. Vacant industrial buildings and business parks also affect the social fabric of entire communities, as they often contribute to inner-city decay, out-migration and the loss of jobs.

Experts call for vacancy tax
Although there has been no systematic monitoring in Austria to date, individual surveys by the trade association suggest that the dimensions are enormous: In smaller towns such as Bruck an der Mur or Horn, for example, the vacancy rate is sometimes 20 percent or more. According to Egit, the solution presented by the environmental organization is crystal clear: the federal states must record vacancies on a mandatory basis in future. 

Existing infrastructure must also be checked before every new zoning and every new building. Dr. Kurt Weinberger, Director of Hagelversicherung, agrees with the Greenpece conclusion: The federal states should introduce a regionally adapted vacancy levy for those buildings that have been vacant for an extended period of time.