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Urban Renewal Program Open for Applications

30 October 2017

People and companies interested in accessing the Urban Rehabilitation Financial Instrument – IFRRU 2020, can now submit their applications

Applications to finance projects under the Urban Rehabilitation and Revitalisation Financial Instrument (IFRRU 2020) are being accepted. The financial instrument was created under the auspices of Portugal 2020, and its objective is to finance urban rehabilitation ventures in Urban Rehabilitation Areas (ARU) as delimited by the municipalities.

Individual applications will be processed in three distinct phases: each municipality will have a person responsible for IFRRU 2020. That person will issue an initial opinion on the proposed project and subsequently guide it through the rest of the licensing process; then a qualified expert will conduct the project’s Energy Certification, to reach the best solutions for increasing the rehabilitated property’s energy efficiency; the loan application will be evaluated at a branch of any of the approved banks.

Applications can be submitted to the four selected banks through an international open tender, with prior qualification, to work under the auspices of the IFRRU 2020: Santander Totta, Banco Português de Investimento (BPI), Millennium BCP and Banco Popular Portugal. The entity responsible for the management of guarantees is the Portuguese Mutual Counter-Guarantee Society (SPGM), which manages the Portuguese Mutual Counter-Guarantee Fund.

Under IFRRU 2020, applications for financing are presented at the investor’s discretion. There are no pre-determined phases each year for the submission and decision on applications, nor limits on the number of applications.

Loans are granted on terms which are more advantageous for developers than those currently available on the market, for the complete rehabilitation of buildings, for housing or other activities, including the most appropriate energy efficiency solutions for rehabilitation, with a total investment, per operation, of up to 20 million euros.

These loans are available throughout Portugal, not being limited to the most significant urban centres, and for all types of beneficiaries, whether natural or legal persons, public or private. For projects that do not have sufficient guarantees, the IFRRU 2020 also provides, alternatively, a guarantee through the Portuguese Mutual Guarantee System, which is only accessible to companies.

IFRRU 2020 is making a total of €1.4 billion available to interested investors for deployment in urban rehabilitation ventures, with funding from European-level sources. Funding originates from the gamut of regional operational programs within the Portugal 2020 program (PO Norte 2020, PO 2020, PO Lisbon 2020, PO Alentejo 2020, CrescAlgarve 2020, PO Azores 2020, PO Madeira 14-20 and the PO SEUR) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), together with the funds made available by the selected banks, which leverage public funds.

Original Story: Dinheiro Vivo

Translation: Richard Turner