Although progressive government guidelines and awareness of sustainable issues exists, progress in sustainable management in the social housing sector has been slow. A market research survey and analysis of the sustainable housing management by Dutch housing associations indicates the areas and organizations where policies, instruments and practices are focussed or lacking. Longitudinal trends are established using further surveys from 1993, 1998 and 2000 as well as comparing national strategies from five European Union countries (the Netherlands, Germany, the UK, France and Finland). Results indicate that efforts in sustainable management are misplaced with emphasis on procuring new buildings, not on operation and maintenance. Several barriers at the policy and strategy level are identified, especially the perceived costs of implementing environmental management, the lack of market demand and the poor capture of benefits. Special recommendations for government, housing associations and occupants are based on the findings - widening the focus of issues on sustainability, emphasizing the existing building stock, increasing the use of voluntary agreements, recognizing different capabilities in scale of housing associations and creating market demand. Bien qu'il existe des directives gouvernementales progressives et que l'on soit conscient des questions de durabilité, le progrès en matière de gestion durable au sein du secteur du logement social a été assez lent. Une analyse et une étude de marché portant sur la gestion du logement durable menées par des associations hollandaises pour le logement indiquent les domaines et les organisations où les principes, les instructions et les pratiques sont limités ou absents. Des tendances longitudinales se dégagent sur la base d'autres études menées en 1993, 1998 et 2000 et qui comparent les stratégies nationales de cinq pays de l'Union Européenne (Pays-Bas, Allemagne, Royaume-Uni, France et Finlande). Les résultats montrent que les efforts en matière de gestion durable sont mal orientés, l'accent étant mis sur la fourniture de bâtiments nouveaux et non sur leur exploitation et leur maintenance. L'article recense plusieurs obstacles aux niveaux politique et stratégique, notamment en ce qui concerne les coûts perçus de la mise en ¿uvre d'une gestion de l'environnement, le manque de demande du marché et la capture médiocre des bénéfices. Des recommandations particulières à l'attention du gouvernement, des associations pour le logement, des occupants reposent sur ces conclusions-; il faudrait notamment élargir le c¿ur des problèmes à la durabilité, mettre l¿accent sur le parc immobilier existant, avoir recours davantage à des accords volontaires, reconnaître les différentes capacités parmi les associations pour le logement et susciter la demande du marché.@en

Two types of policies define sustainable building and development in the Netherlands: legislation for energy efficiency and the so-called convenants, which are voluntary agreements on sustainable building and development in general. The purpose of the paper is to present a comparison of the influence of different convenants in the urban planning process. The focus is on the outcomes of qualitative research, which provides insight in the convenant as an instrument. It shows that the main objective to draw up a convenant is to come to agreements on sustainable building and development for the built environment with different parties such as e.g. architects, policy makers and contractors. Since 1994 the Dutch government has established many convenants on sustainable building and development. The agreements are used to complement legislation, but have no legal status, as they are voluntary. A comparison of eight convenants shows that the content of these agreements varies from environmental related building issues to the quality of urban life. The successful implementation of the measures in the eight convenants depends on the willingness and enthusiasm of the different partners. By signing a convenant parties agree on taking sustainable building and development on a higher level of ambition, but a signed agreement does not guarantee any more action in practice. Therefore progress towards the objectives in those agreements must be monitored and documented. The results show however that a convenant can play an important role in promoting sustainable building and development in the urban planning process. A task for further research is to examine if this instrument can be of value in more countries.@en