A new programme, the "Home Preservation", based on the "Execonomo" pattern, has been prepared by the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MEE) for the restoration of dilapidated buildings. In fact, the relevant proposal, which includes integrated actions for the regeneration of remarkable but dangerous for public safety buildings, has already been submitted for funding from the Recovery Fund.

According to ministry officials, the new 'Preserve at Home' programme will be able to include buildings that have been deemed listed.

Historic neighbourhoods and settlements

However, architectural "gems" of the inter-war period will also benefit from the subsidies. Later structures built up to the 1960s will also benefit. A condition is that they must be located in a historic neighbourhood or in a traditional settlement.

The 'Preservation at Home' programme will cover their full restoration. It will also cover only immediately necessary rescue operations to prevent their collapse. It is also foreseen that subsidies will be granted for work exclusively on the facades of buildings, including washing. This is because the techniques used at the time, such as the artificals, need to be washed in a special way in order to regain their shine - from the marble dust hidden by the plaster. A washing process that is more expensive than painting, which would also destroy them.

Interventions by the municipalities

In parallel with the "Keep at Home" program, the staff of the Minister of Environment and Energy Mr. Kostis Hatzidakis and the Deputy Minister Mr. Dimitris Economou have in the pipeline a legislative regulation to address the institutional difficulties of intervention in dangerous buildings by municipalities and public bodies. Essentially, they will be given the opportunity to undertake the rehabilitation of abandoned buildings. They would then manage them until the cost of restoration is amortised or earlier if it is repaid by the owners.

According to reports, the new legislative initiative will follow the logic of the draft law presented in November 2014. It is based on the study of the University of Thessaly, but with many improvements. For example, at that time it was envisaged that vacant and abandoned buildings could come under the management (or even ownership in special cases) of municipalities and individuals for a period of up to 50 years.

Deadline to owners

In the new proposal there is no question of ownership, at least for cases where owners appear. For the time period 20 years have been proposed, although it has not yet been "locked in".

However, the municipality concerned will be given the right to address the owners of the building. A specific deadline will be set and if they do not respond they will have the right to intervene. If it is an unknown owner's construction, it will be preceded by a press announcement for a reasonable period of time. Resources to support the municipalities for the cost of restoration will be sought from the Green Fund, already under pressure due to memorandum removals, from the NSRF or other financial instruments.

For the necessary demolitions (of non-listed buildings) again the municipalities or the body that will undertake them will be able to be supported financially while in the process the funds will be sought from the owners. There is the thought of setting specific income and social criteria for the really economically weak citizens to be exempted from the obligation to cover the cost of demolition.

The management deficits

Over the last decade, various proposals - often well-intentioned - have seen the light of day. However, they were eventually swallowed up by the darkness, as the problem is complex and multi-level. The first shortcoming for the proper management of ageing buildings is a solid and clear legislative framework, which the Ministry of the Environment is trying to formulate with the new regulations. The second shortcoming is the absence of a register. How can you tackle a problem when you do not know about it? That is why at the meeting held at the Ministry of Environment with the participation of competent bodies, it was decided to start with volunteer engineers of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) the registration of all potentially dangerous buildings around the country, so that the list that will be created will serve as a compass for municipalities.

Third deficit, the support of owners of listed buildings. The way of compensating them through the institution of the Transfer of Building Factor (TFC) has remained inactive since 2007. With the new regulations, it will be activated after the determination of the special Zones for Receiving Coefficient (ZΥS) required by the case law of the Council of State. Thus, owners will be able to be compensated for the inability to use the entire building factor applicable in the area where the property is located.

Digital Land Bank

The Transfer of Building Factor will be linked to the Digital Land Bank that will be activated by the Technical Chamber of Greece. It will be the repository for the money of those who buy transfer titles to use in the ZΥS, which will be attributed to listed building owners who will be required to maintain or, if necessary, repair the building. However, no notice has yet been issued to identify the first 50 ZYS to unblock the process.

The fourth shortcoming is the financial and legal coverage of municipalities, so that they can intervene in buildings that are considered dangerous, or degrade the urban environment, either in terms of health or aesthetics.

Provision for demolition where there are risks

For those abandoned buildings that have been deemed dangerously dilapidated and therefore demolishable (in case they are not classified as "listed"), the municipality will be able to start the... bulldozers.The regulation is expected to be included in the draft bill on zoning and urban planning legislation, which is then expected to be introduced for discussion in the committees of the Parliament.

The plague of the abandoned and the good example of Volos

The loss of two children in Samos due to the collapse of a dilapidated building at the time of the great earthquake was a "stab in the heart" of a state that for years has been indifferent to the abandonment of the urban environment.

After a decade of recession and already carrying the wear and tear of decades of abandonment, thousands of old buildings pose a public threat.According to estimates by officials of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE), there are an estimated 120,000 across the country, of which 20,000 are classified as listed buildings.Of these, at least 10,000 are estimated to be dangerously dilapidated..
Others are mere ruins, stripped-down, never repaired, others demolished by earthquakes or eroded by rains that seeped through broken windows, most abandoned by their owners.

Ornaments

They are mainly found in the historic centres of cities, or in their densely populated areas, but also in most small or large settlements in the country. In Athens alone, they range between 1,400 and 1,800 (depending on the study), of which about half are preserved, architectural ornaments that are crumbling or stripped bare by thieves who remove anything that can be sold - from acorns and railings to doorknobs and tiles. Besides, according to a study by the University of Thessaly (2014), 37% of the building stock in the centre of the capital is vacant.

Correspondingly, in Piraeus, the reports prepared by the relevant municipal department over the last 20 years relate to a total of 965 dangerous buildings. In Thessaloniki, according to estimates by the Central Macedonia Department of Technical Chamber of Greece, about 700 abandoned buildings have been counted, of which more than 200 are listed.

Exploitation

The city of Volos, however, is a pioneer in the field of salvaging old buildings, as 27 of the 40 old industrial buildings left standing after the devastating earthquake of 1955 have been restored and exploited.It is no coincidence that Volos is considered a leading city in Greece and one of the most important in Europe,along with Terrasa in Spain, in the rescue and reuse of industrial heritage.

According to Kostas Adamakis, professor at the Department of Architecture and Engineering of the University of Thessaly, in the 1980s the city began to discuss the future of the industrial complexes that were scattered throughout the city's urban fabric and testified to its glorious industrial past. There were pressures for their demolition, but sometimes the universe conspires otherwise. According to the professor, the key to the successful project of saving Volos' historic industrial buildings was the circumstances but also people with vision who helped.

«In 1984, the University of Thessaly was starting its operation, which appeared like a machine god.Instead of creating a new campus,, it was decided to use historic industrial buildings,which, together with other preserved buildings, formed the university's building grid, integrating the university community into the city's operations.A few years later, Dimitris Pitsioris took over as mayor of the city, who also respected the vision of saving the historic buildings," the professor notes.

New uses

Thus, the emblematic building of the Papastratou tobacco warehouse, on the beach of Volos, housed the rectorate of the University. This was followed by the rescue and the introduction of new uses:

• in the complex of the Mourtzoukos textile factory
• the former Papparrigas metal industry
• the tobacco factory and the Matsangos tobacco warehouses
• the brickworks of Tsalapata
• at the Spierer Building
• the Old Electricity
• the Yellow Warehouse
• the "Chikriki Mansion"
• Kavoura Mansion etc.

However, apart from the industrial architectural heritage that has been restored, 162 abandoned buildings remain in the city. This number is derived from the inventory of the University of Thessaly. Of these, 10% were judged to be dilapidated and more than half of them show significant deterioration.

The problem of structural vulnerability

Apart from the issue of restoration, reconstruction or demolition of dilapidated buildings, the President of TEI Mr. George Stasinos puts on the table the issue of structural vulnerability testing of all public buildings, which has been completed in only 25%.

However, school buildings built up to 1959, a period in which there was no seismic regulation, have been checked. However, Mr Stasinos said that it is necessary to carry out immediate checks on schools, hospitals and public places built up to 1985, the year in which the seismic regulation came into force.
For private buildings, he believes that the solution to the necessary control can come through the electronic Building Identity, which is not yet operational, while for public infrastructure he proposes the creation of an Electronic Register for recording and planning their maintenance.

Problems due to multiple ownership and bureaucracy

As the mayor of Athens, Kostas Bakoyannis, points out, there are other issues that create problems. The first of these is poly-ownership. A typical example is the registration of 2012, in the run-down area of Gerani. An area adjacent to Omonia. In one block alone the number of owners reached 596.

"The second issue concerns what we do with those that are of unknown owner. But also with the abandoned properties owned by the state or the wider public sector. Properties which are in a deplorable state. We need a brave programme that will allow us to move forward," Bakoyannis said.

It is noteworthy that social security institutions own 1,226 buildings across Greece. Of which 256 have been registered in the centre of Athens alone, the majority of them empty and unused. And the number rises sharply if other public properties and 'stagnant legacies' are added. That is, the estates of private individuals that have passed to foundations and public institutions.

Another obstacle, according to the mayor of Athens, is the bureaucratically difficult process of intervention in the buildings. lso a problem is the absence of financial incentives. "The current model is not working, we need to speed up the procedures. There is a broad consensus on where we need to go", Bakoyannis stresses. oday, the Municipality of Athens' project to demolish 13 abandoned dangerous unlisted buildings is being completed. By the end of the year a new contract will be announced to complete the list of buildings to be demolished.

Source: "To Vima" newspaper