Construction and living environment

Shaping the Future

The activities of the Construction and Living Environment Department focus on shaping the future of Estonian homes for the coming decades. This impacts everyone directly, as we spend more than 90% of our time in buildings, with most of the remaining time spent in the built environment (mobility infrastructure, playgrounds, sports facilities, etc). The construction sector, together with the real estate sector, accounts for nearly 16% of GDP and the construction sector employs around 65,000 people.

Our mission:

To create optimal conditions for the sustainable development of the built environment.

This means that by 2027, we will have laid a solid foundation for the living environment of Estonia to become increasingly sustainable, inclusive and beautiful, and for the management culture to thrive. We rely on data to ensure the implementation of these developments. 

The best living environment is sustainable, inclusive, beautiful and well-managed. Our resource use avoids environmental pollution and we value existing resources. Existing buildings are well-maintained and kept up-to-date and new buildings are sustainable. Every Estonian resident feels a sense of ownership and appreciation for the living environment. At the same time, spaces are designed to meet the needs of all people, ensuring they are accessible and available to all. A space is considered beautiful when it is enjoyable, inspiring and practical. The management culture of spatial design is transparent, thought-through, knowledge-based and continually evolving through feedback.

Our role in shaping the development of construction

To take the lead in driving the development of the sector. Our task is to identify ways to foster innovation in accordance with the unified action plan. We help to create favourable conditions that elevate environmental designers to a new level of development.

Our main tasks include co-ordinating standards, practices, public processes and state supervision in the areas of buildings, construction activities and construction products; organising the storage and processing of information related to buildings; developing the policies, strategies and development plans for the housing and construction sectors and monitoring their implementation and performance; preparing draft legislation regulating the sector.