The government has significantly reduced the compensation rate paid by investors who receive additional building density as an incentives, aiming to stimulate investment in educational facilities.
The compensation rate, previously set at 50% or 70% of the value of the excess building coefficient (depending on whether it applies within or outside designated areas), has now been slashed to 20%. Simultaneously, developers will receive an additional building coefficient ranging from 10% to 25%.
Specifically, the 25% increase in building density applies to properties within development boundaries in local plans (mainly in cities), while a 10% increase applies to properties outside development boundaries and those falling under the policy statement.
These regulations cover both the expansion of existing pre-primary, primary and secondary education school buildings and the creation of new school units. The decision also reduces by 25% the sports facilities requirements that developers must implement.
The deviation from the standards set in development plans (area of open spaces and sports facilities) is provided by reducing the required standards by a maximum of 25% to take into account the increase in land prices and the necessity to create schools in areas where opportunities to find land of the size specified in the standards for educational institutions are extremely limited, according to the rationale behind the decision.
For existing units, there is also a discount on the number of parking spaces, which are reduced to a small number of parking spaces for staff.
Technical experts contacted by Phileleftheros explained the practical implications: if a plot of land has an area of 10,000 square metres, with 5,000 square metres originally allocated for school buildings and the remaining 5,000 square metres for residential units, the 25% increase in coefficient translates to an additional 1,250 square metres of buildable area.
This means the owner/investor can utilise 3,750 square metres (of the 5,000 they would use without incentives) for educational purposes, while the remaining 6,250 square metres can be used for residential development, resulting in additional revenue from the sale of these units.
The incentive scheme is valid for one year from the cabinet decision date and applies to applications for new educational institutions or additions/modifications to existing primary and secondary education institutions.
The government expects the plan will contribute to the creation of new jobs during the construction and operation of the projects and create an investment climate in this strategic sector, bearing in mind the needs for foreign-language schools due to geopolitical changes.
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