Faculty of Law contributes to accelerating housing construction

The Netherlands faces the challenge of building 100,000 homes annually, while the availability of drinking water is under pressure. The Faculty of Law at the University of Groningen is participating in a large-scale innovation project that is expected to accelerate new construction projects by approximately 6 to 18 months.

The project involves the development and implementation of a collective rainwater reuse system with seasonal storage via deep infiltration and/or surface water. This project can accelerate new construction projects because:

• 30–50% less drinking water capacity is required, preventing capacity-related delays;
• decision-making and licensing are faster thanks to pre-developed technology and regulations;
• standardisation saves coordination time.

In a worst-case scenario, this approach could even prevent housing projects from coming to a standstill — similar to the current problems surrounding grid congestion.

For the project, the Faculty of Law is collaborating in a broad consortium that combines technical, administrative, financial and legal expertise to develop a structural solution to the increasing pressure on the drinking water network.

Legal innovation as the key to upscaling

An important part of the project is the development of a nationally applicable governance and private law structure for collective water management. For the Faculty of Law, Professor of Private Law and Sustainability Björn Hoops and his team are developing model deeds, organisational forms and legal instruments that are accepted by banks and notaries.

Legal standardisation creates legal certainty, lower transaction costs and faster decision-making. For example, the standardisation of building rights for solar panels led to a reduction in notary fees of around 75%.

The Faculty of Law receives 131,000 euro for a postdoctoral position at the Chair of Private Law and Sustainability, where research will be conducted into these legal aspects. The funding has been awarded within the TKI Bouw en Techniek programme and is made possible in part by the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning.

Two practical cases

The project will run from 1 March 2026 to 28 February 2028 and will be tested in Lincolnpark in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer and then on a larger scale in Amsterdam. In this way, the project will be tested in different urban contexts.

With this grant, the University of Groningen is strengthening its research profile at the intersection of private law, property law and sustainable area development, and is making a concrete contribution to the acceleration and future-proofing of Dutch housing construction.