Europe & Compliance
A structured pathway for European deployment
DONSÖ integrates building, marine, environmental and planning requirements into one project-development framework. Each location is engineered and permitted for its specific conditions.
01 / The European context
A documented supply gap, and room for new delivery methods.
The European Commission's Joint Research Centre estimates that, by 2035, Europe needs more than two million new homes each year — around 650,000 more than the roughly 1.6 million built today. The Commission reports that EU house prices rose on average by around 53% between 2015 and 2024, and that social housing is only 6–7% of EU housing stock.
These figures describe the scale of Europe's supply challenge. DONSÖ offers one delivery method aimed at part of it, alongside land-based construction.
Policy context we are following
- European Affordable Housing Plan — presented by the European Commission on 16 December 2025.
- Affordable Housing Act — proposed by the Commission on 9 September 2026. A proposal, not adopted law.
- Pan-European Investment Platform for Affordable and Sustainable Housing — coming in 2026 (working group launched June 2026), bringing together the EIB Group, the Council of Europe Development Bank, the EBRD and national and regional promotional banks. The Commission estimates the annual investment gap at around €150 billion.
- European Housing Alliance — launched by the Commission on 12 May 2026.
- New European Bauhaus — design quality, sustainability and inclusion principles.
Public funding is part of the project financing strategy. Where relevant to a future project, each route runs through a specific call, an eligible applicant, an eligible-cost opinion and a state-aid assessment, established for the project in question.
02 / Compliance roadmap
Fourteen workstreams that make a location buildable
Each line is a defined piece of work with a named discipline. These workstreams form the scope of the engineering and site-validation phase, and are the reason a feasibility study is the right first commercial step.
| Requirement | What must be established | Who validates it | Workstream |
|---|---|---|---|
| Legal classification of the units | Whether a unit is treated as a building, a vessel or something else determines which rules, taxes, registration and financing apply. | Legal counsel with the municipality and relevant authorities | National framework |
| Applicable Swedish building requirements | Sweden's new building regulations replaced most corresponding BBR and EKS provisions, and the transition period for choosing the older rules ended on 1 July 2026. Energy-performance requirements remain in BBR 31 until new energy regulations enter into force on 1 October 2026. The applicable requirements must be established for this building type. | Building control and a qualified designer | National framework |
| Eurocodes and structural verification | Structural design and verification against the Eurocode system as applied in Sweden, including load combinations relevant to a floating structure. | Structural engineer | Engineering workstream |
| Stability, buoyancy and freeboard | Intact and damaged stability, reserve displacement, compartmentation and freeboard under design load and water-level cases. | Naval architect or marine engineer | Engineering workstream |
| Mooring and marine loads | Wind, wave, current, ice and water-level design cases; anchor or pile selection; redundancy and inspection regime. | Marine engineer, following hydrographic and geotechnical survey | Engineering workstream |
| Fire safety and evacuation | Fire strategy, compartmentation, travel distances, escape routes to shore, rescue access by land and water, and firefighting water supply. | Fire engineer with the local fire and rescue service | Authority coordination |
| Accessibility | Step-free route from shore to a defined share of homes and common areas, and evacuation assistance for people who cannot self-evacuate. | Architect and building control | National framework |
| Energy performance | Energy model and performance targets under the Swedish implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and an all-electric direction with no on-site fossil combustion (a low-operational-carbon target). | Energy engineer | Engineering workstream |
| Potable water and wastewater | Supply capacity, freeze protection, wastewater collection and discharge permissions, and connection terms from the local utility. | Utility provider and environmental authority | Authority coordination |
| Electrical safety | Shore connection, distribution, earthing and protection appropriate to a floating installation in a marine environment. | Electrical engineer and certified installer | Engineering workstream |
| Materials, corrosion and durability | Material selection, corrosion protection, design life, inspection access and component replaceability. | Materials and marine engineering, with supplier data | Engineering workstream |
| Environmental assessment | Effects on water quality, seabed, ecology and navigation; shoreline protection rules; and the environmental permitting route. | Environmental consultant and the County Administrative Board | Site-specific assessment |
| Insurance and lender requirements | What an insurer and a lender need in order to cover and finance the structure, including construction standard, survey regime and asset security. | Insurer and lending institution | Commercial workstream |
| Local planning and water-use permissions | Planning designation for the water area, rights to use the water area, and any lease or agreement with the water owner. Boverket's guidance notes that the water-area designation in a detailed plan is intended for open water and minor facilities, so the planning route for residential use must be established case by case. | Municipality, water owner and legal counsel | Site-specific assessment |
These workstreams form the scope of the engineering and site-validation phase, carried out with qualified engineering and regulatory partners. Project-specific permitting is completed for each location.
03 / Sources
Where these statements come from
- European Commission, Joint Research Centre — Housing in the EU: more than 2 million new homes a year needed by 2035 (16 December 2025). The annual supply-gap estimate.
- European Parliament — The housing crisis in Europe: key facts. EU house prices rose on average around 53% between 2015 and 2024.
- European Commission — Affordable Housing Act (proposed 9 September 2026) and the European Affordable Housing Plan (16 December 2025). Social-housing share of 6–7%.
- European Commission — Pan-European Investment Platform for Affordable and Sustainable Housing, and the European Housing Alliance (launched 12 May 2026). Platform scope, participating institutions and the ~€150 billion annual investment gap.
- Boverket — Om Boverkets nya byggregler (new regulations replaced most BBR/EKS provisions; transition for choosing the older rules ended 1 July 2026; energy requirements remain in BBR 31 until 1 October 2026) and Användning av vattenområde (water-area designation in a detailed plan).
- Statistics Sweden (SCB) — Priser för nyproducerade bostäder, 2024, published 17 February 2026. Average total production price 51,846 SEK per m² of dwelling area in multi-dwelling buildings — the reference used throughout this site.
Sources last checked 17 September 2026. Where a page has been updated since, the source prevails over the summary given here.