VELUX Group supports coalition of partners to build low-carbon housing for children without parental care in Ukraine
SOS Children’s Villages Denmark (SOS DK) has initiated a new project to help reform the childcare system in Ukraine and the VELUX Group is contributing with its Living Places concept. The project is called Children’s Living Places and is a response to Ukraine’s pressing challenges in the childcare sector, marked by the ongoing war, and will combine low-carbon building design and social sustainability principles. The new care environments will be built in partnership with SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine (SOS UA), the Villum Foundation, Viessmann Foundation, Grundfos Foundation, Bitten & Mads Clausen’s Foundation, Somfy Foundation, DOVISTA, Flügger, VELUX Ukraine, Kromann Reumert and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO).
Today, SOS DK launches its Children’s Living Places project – a new project that seeks to promote and improve alternative care in Ukraine through the creation of new family-based care environments in Ukraine as an alternative to the many institutions in the country. Even before the war erupted in February 2022, Ukraine had one of the highest rates of children living in institutional care in Europe, with about 100.000 children living in some form of residential care facility [1].
The physical project infrastructure will comprise a cluster of buildings across Ukraine in three different locations. Each cluster will feature homes for foster families, shared recreational and social spaces for both inhabitants and local communities, and social centres that provide a range of mental health and social support for foster families as well as families in the surrounding area.
The buildings will be built following the Living Places concept developed by the VELUX Group, EFFEKT architects and Artelia engineers. The concept demonstrates how affordable homes can be constructed with a significant reduction in CO2 footprint and a first-class indoor climate and follow five key principles: that homes should be healthy, adaptive, simple, shared over time, and scalable.
The ongoing war in Ukraine has affected millions of children, leaving many of them without parental care, protection, and a safe space to call home. Our priority has always been to ensure children around the world have their needs and rights met to enable them to grow up in a caring home, thrive and become their strongest selves. Through this project, we want to inspire better ways of caring physically, emotionally, and socially for children without parental care and help move toward de-institutionalization by demonstrating new, holistic solutions for alternative care environments, says Mads Klæstrup Kristensen, Managing Director of SOS Children's Villages Denmark.
The clusters will be built within existing local neighbourhoods to better integrate the new families, ensuring openness toward and from surrounding communities. In addition to the physical infrastructure, the project includes the provision of comprehensive support services such as mental health and social support tailored to the specific needs of children and caregivers as well as families in the surrounding area to prevent family separation and placing of children in alternative care.
A lighthouse project with influential actors in the building industry to inspire change
To help carry out the ambition of the Children’s Living Places project, SOS DK and SOS UA have gathered a coalition of some of the most influential actors across the building industry. The project is funded by the Villum Foundation - part of the VELUX FOUNDATIONS, Viessmann Foundation, Grundfos Foundation and Bitten & Mads Clausen’s Foundation, while the VELUX Group contributes with its Living Places concept. Somfy Foundation, DOVISTA, Flügger, and VELUX Ukraine contributes as in-kind donors, while Kromann Reumert and EIFO support the project with legal and financial expertise.
With the war causing unprecedented destruction across the country, we want to contribute with a more sustainable way of rebuilding homes in Ukraine. With our Living Places concept, we demonstrate that it is possible to build healthy homes with a low carbon footprint – and we are happy to contribute to this impactful project that helps secure a more promising future for children without parental care in Ukraine. Our contribution is small in the grand scheme of things, but the children who will be living in the new homes will grow up in an environment that promotes health and their wellbeing. We hope that this project will help inspire others to take action - both in terms of supporting the rebuilding of Ukraine, but also to transform the building industry, says Lars Petersson, CEO of the VELUX Group.
The Children’s Living Places project serves as a lighthouse project of how to combine social sustainability with healthy, low-carbon homes, but in the longer run the ambition is to inspire Ukrainian local and national authorities, as well as attract more partners for scalability to follow the lead of the project. Furthermore, the aim is to encourage the establishment of more healing living spaces with an easily followed, sustainable blueprint to help foster families and children across the country.
Our partnership with the VELUX Group and other partners allows us to form a broad coalition striving to create nurturing, healing living spaces for children and their families in Ukraine, says Mads Kristensen, Managing Director of SOS Children's Villages Denmark.
Read more about the Children's Living Places project
Fact box: Notes to the EditorIt is estimated that over 10% of the total housing stock in Ukraine is either damaged or destroyed by the war and that close to 2 million households are affected[2]. The total cost of damage to the housing sector is estimated to be $55.9 billion and the need for recovery and reconstruction of the housing sector is estimated to be $80.3 billion[3]. |
About SOS Children's Villages
Comprising more than 130 national associations, SOS Children's Villages is the world’s largest NGO focused on ensuring that children and young people without parental care or at risk of losing it grow up with the care, relationships and support they need to become their strongest selves.
SOS Children’s Villages continually strives to provide care for children across the globe. In 2022, SOS Children’s Villages reached 2,548,400 people worldwide, they supported a total of 99,300 families; and provided for 69,200 children and young people in a range of care options.
About the VELUX Group
VELUX roof windows have been bringing daylight and fresh air into peoples’ homes around the world for more than 80 years, creating better living environments. We offer a range of products including roof windows and modular skylights, decorative blinds, sun screening products, and roller shutters, as well as installation and smart home solutions. They help create bright, healthy, and energy-efficient places for people who live, work, learn, and play under the roof. We work globally – with sales and manufacturing operations in 37 countries and around 11,700 employees worldwide. The VELUX Group is owned by VKR Holding A/S, a limited company owned by the Villum Foundation and the Kann Rasmussen family. In 2023, the VELUX Group had a total revenue of EUR 2.91 billion while VKR Holding had a total revenue of EUR 3.97 billion. The same year, the Villum Foundation and the VELUX FOUNDATION donated a total of EUR 184.6 million in charitable grants.
For more information about the VELUX Group, visit velux.com.