The innovative Greek project ‘The Tavros Project’ won a major award at the New European Bauhaus Prizes 2025 (NEB), emerging as the winner in the category ‘Prioritising the places and people that need it the most’ in the ‘Rising Stars’ strand. The Tavros Project is an energy upgrade of a refugee apartment building, carried out free of charge for its tenants, which opts to reduce electricity bills to zero and generate surplus electricity.
The event and award ceremony took place on September 30, 2025, in the packed Hemicycle of the European Parliament in the presence of important representatives of the Commission, while Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the Commission, and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, sent their message via video. It is worth noting that among the 22 winners, Greece had a double presence as the school of Fraston, in Agnanta, Tzoumerka, a collaboration between the Municipality of Tzoumerka and the Boulouki team, was honored with the NEB Boost for Small Municipalities award.
The award was received by Maria Dimitriou, Communications Officer at the Hellenic Passive House Institute and member of the Passivistas volunteer group, who said: “Through the Passive House standard, we hope that people will be able to achieve energy independence and live comfortably in their homes, because that’s what we all want. In fact, one of the tenants of the apartment building told us that after renovating his apartment, he had money left over from paying his electricity bills and was able to go to the theater with his wife. That is the impact we want to have. We would like to thank Passivistas for the incredible work they did on this project, Stefanos [Pallantzas], who put his heart and soul into it, and of course NEB for the award.”
Renovation & Energy Upgrade: The only sustainable solution for the future
“We are deeply proud of the Tavros Project’s award in the New European Bauhaus 2025 competition,” said HPHI President Stefanos Pallantzas, adding: “This distinction, beyond recognition, confirms that the deep renovation and energy upgrade of existing buildings is not only feasible, but is the only sustainable solution for the future of the built environment. In Tavros, we have demonstrated how an old working-class apartment building can be transformed into a high-energy-efficiency building, offering a better quality of life and drastically reducing operating costs for residents.
The Tavros Project embodies the principles of the New European Bauhaus: it combines sustainability through energy savings and social inclusion, while maintaining affordable housing and improving the aesthetics of the urban landscape.
We hope that this award will prompt the State and the Ministry of Environment and Energy to listen to us, so that policies can be adopted that will facilitate the wider implementation of such projects. At the same time, we hope that it will inspire other communities and professionals to invest in renovation projects that place people, the environment, and maximum energy efficiency, such as that of passive buildings, at the center of their design.”
The Tavros Project was carried out by the volunteer group Passivistas, in collaboration with HPHI, the Municipality of Tavros-Moschato, and Greenpeace, and all costs were covered exclusively by sponsorships, crowdfunding, and the EU-funded RINNO program. It is now in the final stages of certification as Passive House Premium.
New European Bauhaus Prizes
For the fifth consecutive year, the NEB awards recognized outstanding projects and initiatives that combine sustainability, inclusion, and aesthetics, demonstrating how the lives of people and communities can be enriched by bringing together culture and technology, innovation and design.
The ceremony took place in the Hemicycle of the European Parliament in the presence of all the finalists and important representatives of the Commission, such as Raffaele Fitto (Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Cohesion and Reforms), Dan Jørgensen (European Commissioner for Energy and Housing), Kata Tüttő (President of the European Committee of the Regions), Jessika Roswall (European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy), Irene Tinagli (newly elected President of the EC Special Committee on the Housing Crisis in the EU), Ruth Reichstein (Policy Coordinator in Ursula Von der Leyen’s office).
“A home is not just walls and a roof. It is security and belonging.”
“Every year, I am impressed by the creativity in this competition. And I am really pleased with this year’s special housing award. It will help us think about solutions to the housing crisis in a new way. And it is an inspiration for our work on a European housing plan,” Ursula Von der Leyen said in her message. “Our goal is to make housing more affordable, sustainable, and of better quality. These are also the goals of the New European Bauhaus. A home is not just walls and a roof. It is security and belonging,” she concluded.
Impressive results with zero energy consumption
The renovation of the apartment building has dramatically improved the living conditions of its tenants, who now enjoy a stable indoor temperature and improved air quality without pollutants and humidity, as well as reduced energy requirements.
The renovation will achieve as much as 90% reduction in energy requirements for heating and cooling, while thanks to photovoltaic systems, the apartment building will be able to produce more energy than it consumes. Thus, ‘The Tavros Project’ is a Positive Energy Building (PEB), contributing to the EU’s climate neutrality goals by 2030.
The project was funded entirely by sponsorships, crowdfunding, and volunteer work, and is in the final stages of completion and certification as a Passive House. Due to its social nature, it was selected as a pilot project by the RINNO program, which is co-funded by the EU.
