PCPDistinguish payments from commitments
The results released on 25 August 2026 distinguish 516.4 million francs paid through the Buildings Programme in 2025 from 636.4 million committed together with the Impulse Programme. A commitment prepares future work; a payment belongs to a different stage. Adding the figures would misrepresent annual expenditure.
The PCP wants public reporting to follow a project from the grant decision to operation. Committed, paid and cancelled amounts should be separate. Timetables also matter: they reveal whether administrative difficulties, insufficient capacity or incomplete financing are holding projects back. Identifying the point of delay makes it possible to provide useful support instead of simply extending a deadline.
Verify what actually changed
The annual report and data tables allow the programme’s results to be examined. An estimated saving over a measure’s lifetime is not a saving already observed within one year. The PCP believes evaluations should explain their assumptions and compare expected results with observations after completion.
Weather, building use and changes in occupancy must be considered. Weak savings can result from equipment that is poorly adjusted or maintained. Commissioning, follow-up adjustments and training for operators are therefore part of a project just as much as purchasing equipment. Evaluation should identify a remedy while it can still improve performance.
Public support must not displace tenants
A renovation can lower energy use while increasing the household’s total costs if the rent rises by more than service charges fall. The PCP calls on authorities to assess this before granting support and to establish lasting social conditions within their respective powers.
The grant should be transparently reflected in financing. Residents need information about the work, disruption, timetable and financial consequences. Continued access should be an explicit objective for public buildings and non-profit housing. Improved energy indicators cannot be assessed independently of the people who need to use the building.
Stable resources for work and skills
The PCP supports coordinated multi-year planning by the Confederation, cantons and municipalities. Businesses, technical services and training institutions need enough certainty to develop skills. Wage dumping and uncontrolled subcontracting are incompatible with the purpose of publicly supported investment.
Public authorities should be able to group projects, provide accessible technical assistance and verify working conditions on supported sites. Results should be measured in usable buildings, lower energy needs and sustainable costs. The amount of funding is a means to those ends. Public reporting must then explain its actual effects, delays and the corrective work still required.
Documents and sources
The cited documents provide the facts and provisions examined. Political judgments and proposals expressed in this article are those of the PCP.