Photo : realitylab, ZxB

SustHerit Webinar Series - “City, Climate Change, Resilience and Adaptability”

Organized by The ISR/Institute for Urban and Regional (Vienna) and The ANR consortium SustHerit, with the support of Belmont Forum

11 June 2026, 5pm (CET), via Zoom 

Speaker: Petra Hendrich, “ZxB – Cooperative Approaches to the Renovation of Apartment Buildings”.

This presentation introduces “ZxB – Zinshaus X Baugruppe” an applied research project that aims at finding innovative approaches to urban renewal in which private historic building (Zinshaus) owners and co-housing groups collaborate to refurbish and adapt the building to new climate incentives. In the context of decarbonization, the project explores how cooperative renovation approaches can overcome the renovation standstill of historic housing stock. It highlights the specific challenges faced by owners as well as the potential of community-oriented user groups.

The focus is on legal and financial implementation models such as master leases (Generalmiete) or leasehold (Baurecht) which open up long-term prospects for historic buildings (Zinshäuser) and residents. Furthermore, a facilitated process for reaching a cooperation agreement creates the necessary foundation of trust for successful renovation. It is made clear that co-housing groups relieve private owners of burdens through their financial and organizational resources as well as by sharing responsibility for building operations. This creates an opportunity for residents to access affordable housing tailored to their needs in central urban locations.

Petra Hendrich (DI) is an architect and sociologist. She is a process facilitator and mediator. Since 2010, she has been part of realitylab, where she facilitates and helps to develop co-housing projects, including Gleis21 and dieHauswirtschaft, which were awarded the New European Bauhaus Prize. Her role lies at the intersection of people and planning. She communicates, translates, and brings people together to implement innovative projects collaboratively. Since 2023, she has led the ZxB project—Zinshaus X Baugruppe—with the goal of implementing co-housing projects in cooperation with private building owners. Her other areas of focus are social sustainability; transformation processes in existing buildings, particularly regarding heating energy transition; self-organization and decision-making in groups.