Riga Advances Tox-Free and Circular Renovation: NonHazCity3 Pilot Shows Path Toward Healthier, Sustainable Housing

Riga, Latvia – A NonHazCity3 (NHC3) pilot project is charting new territory in sustainable urban renovation as the city works to transform a Soviet-era social apartment into a tox-free, circular, and climate-neutral living space. The initiative supports municipalities in making informed, health-conscious decisions about construction materials while maintaining economic feasibility.

At the heart of NHC3 is a three-pillar approach—focusing on tox-free, circular, and climate-friendly public procurement—that empowers municipalities to set higher standards than national regulations. The approach encourages the use of sustainable materials and leaves room for innovation by keeping procurement criteria broad and flexible.

However, Riga’s procurement culture traditionally prioritizes the most economical bids, with strict financial monitoring and reporting requirements. These constraints presented challenges for the pilot project. In the short timeframe, assigning monetary value to sustainability criteria and demonstrating immediate economic benefits proved difficult. Additionally, the strict municipal budget and limited market readiness for sustainable and eco-labelled materials made it challenging to fully apply the three-pillar approach.

Despite these obstacles, the project achieved significant progress thanks to strong internal alignment and commitment. From the outset, the project team shared a clear understanding of the sustainability goals—particularly the importance of selecting tox-free materials. This unified approach enabled productive dialogue with suppliers, even though suppliers were initially unfamiliar with eco-labelling practices. Where certified materials were not readily available, the team described required material characteristics in detail to ensure compliance with environmental standards.

Resistance emerged from the original cost estimator, who was hesitant to approve unfamiliar, sustainability-focused materials. The team responded by working with an alternative estimator who embraced innovative solutions, reinforcing the project’s commitment to environmental responsibility.

Some aspects—such as selecting paints to improve indoor air quality—were easier to address due to better market availability and modest cost implications. While Riga considered using certification systems for the entire building, the approach was deemed too costly and restrictive. Instead, the team focused on using certified materials where possible, or materials meeting equivalent criteria.

Because the pilot involved the renovation of individual apartments, a full-scale market dialogue was not feasible. Instead, Riga concentrated on internal stakeholder coordination and direct supplier engagement. This proved to be a key success factor, enabling smoother communication across the supply chain and helping overcome market limitations.

The Riga pilot demonstrates that even without extensive market engagement, strong internal alignment and proactive supplier communication can effectively drive sustainable renovation practices and support the transition to healthier, toxin-free buildings.

Detailed examples of strategic solutions and best practices can be found in the NHC3 Output 2.2 report.

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