In Riga (Latvia) 70% of the residents live in housing units built during the Soviet period. Now the city is pushing to renovate 2,000 buildings by 2030, but this is proving to be complicated, as it is difficult to engage citizens in the process. To foster a more inclusive type of buildings and renovations, the city, in collaboration with the DESIRE project, has used New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles to involve the community and to prepare for the renovation of the residential building Ziepju 11. A Circular Economy Centre was also built in the city, to create a common space where citizens could learn more about circularity and apply those principles in practice. The centre also aligns with the NEB principles of sustainability, aesthetics and inclusion. Because of the similarity with the scope of the Big Buyers Working Together NEB Community of Practice (CoP), in October, the members went to Riga for a study visit to learn how NEB principles can be applied in building renovations and the role that sustainable public procurement can play in that process.

The renovation of the municipal building on Ziepju 11 aimed at creating social housing, municipal rental apartments, daycare centres for, respectively, children and youths with disabilities. In the context of the DESIRE project, the city carried out three citizen engagement workshops, leading to a series of maps of how the building could look like in the future. These maps were developed by the neighbouring residents of an earlier renovated building, children and youths with disabilities of two existing day care centres. In the end, the municipality combined the various maps into a final map that could be used, in the future, as a blueprint for the renovation of the building and of the shared space among the surrounding buildings. The procurement process was highly influenced by the NEB related activities and it had the goal to include very ambitious sustainability criteria. However, after the first stage, funding was put on hold; the city is still considering how to best secure funding to finalise the project.

The Circular Economy Centre aims to be a common area for residents that promotes the use of sustainable materials, provides opportunities for citizens to apply circular economy principles in their daily lives, and promotes the knowledge and implementation of new (circular) solutions. The centre will include a room for workshops to renovate old furniture and create new items, and a room for networking events to be used by different departments of the city.

The procurement procedure began with a call for ideas, inviting schools in Riga to come up with ideas. 10 teams submitted their ideas, which were then reviewed by a jury of municipal employees. When the energy department launched the procurement, the students were invited to participate in the implementation. The ideas of the students also were taken into account for the development of the technical specifications, which noted among other things that the supplied furniture must be in excellent order of use, clean, aesthetic, modern and consistent with each other and that the purchase of new furniture must comply with the principles of circularity. The development of the Centre is now finalised and it will open on 28.11.

These two projects provided the City of Riga with some valuable lessons on how to use public procurement when applying NEB principles in the future. They flagged the importance of involving politicians and relevant stakeholders in the projects to be carried out and of having in-house knowledge of the topic of interest, to ensure a smooth and creative oriented delivery of the projects.

BBWT’s community of practice on the New European Bauhaus seeks to connect sustainable procurement to NEB principles, with a focus on capacity building and awareness raising, and the development of guidance, recommendations, and best practices for public procurers. Riga’s experiences will help the group advance its work. The group will organise more similar study visits in the future. To receive more information about its work, or to join it, send an email to big.buyers@eurocities.eu