Roof and façade greening grant
A grant for property owners and holders of hereditary building rights to create green roofs and façades on private properties in Billerbeck.
The grant helps create planted roofs and ground- or wall-based green façades that reduce summer heat and slow heavy-rain runoff. Each new planting must cover a continuous area of at least 15 m², excluding doors and windows.
For a green roof, support is limited to €25 per m², 30% of eligible costs and €750 gross per measure. For a green façade, the same area and percentage limits apply, with a €500 gross cap. The rules limit funding to one roof or façade measure per applicant and building plot; you can apply for other plots separately.
Eligible roof costs include the vegetation layers, root-resistant waterproofing, protection and filter layers, drainage, substrate and plants. Plant containers are excluded. Façade costs include planting beds, removing sealed ground surfaces, soil preparation or replacement, protective layers, drainage, growing medium, climbing supports, greening systems and planting. Façade renovation itself is excluded. Work must be installed competently by a suitable contractor or with evidence of competent DIY work; DIY support covers only materials and rental of necessary equipment and machinery.
The grant is paid once after completion and submission of the required evidence. You must maintain the funded structures and aim to achieve continuous vegetation across the funded area after about two years, then maintain it. These obligations last ten years from payment. Keep the relevant plans, receipts and documents for that period, provide information when requested, notify the city if the property is sold and pass the obligations to a successor. The city may inspect the work and require partial or full repayment if you cannot show it or facts emerge that would have excluded the award. Failure to keep the ten-year commitment may lead to proportionate repayment.
Eligibility
- You must be a natural or legal person who owns a property in Billerbeck or holds hereditary building rights over it: the right to use and build on land owned by someone else. No insolvency proceedings may be requested or opened against you before payment.
- Roof projects must create an extensive green roof with at least 8 cm of low-nutrient growing medium and use drought-tolerant native plants, such as mosses, sedums, herbs or grasses. Façades must use perennial plants suited to the site. Show the planned construction in line with generally accepted technical practice.
- Measures required by law or a development plan are excluded. A grant is also excluded if a co-owner has already received approval for roof or façade greening on that plot.
- Wait for the grant approval before buying, ordering work or starting. Earlier planning commissions and obtaining quotes are allowed.
- You are responsible for legal and practical feasibility; the city's grant review only checks plausibility. An unlawful or impracticable measure can lead to recovery of the grant. You also permit the city to use the project for municipal publicity and remain responsible for checking its tax treatment.
How to apply
- Status
- closes 31 Dec 2026
- Opens
- Closes
- Round restrictions
- Work must be implemented and fully accounted for by Christmas 2026.[^c17]
- Funding is limited; exhausted funds stop both applications and payments.[^c14]
Obtain the application form from Stadt Billerbeck; it is available on request at the town hall, planning/building department (FB 60), climate protection, room 3. Complete and sign it, adding photos of the existing roof or façade and a plan, sketch or aerial photograph showing the planned area and its use. Include proof of ownership where needed. Send the signed application and evidence as scanned email attachments to klimaschutz@billerbeck.de, or post them to Stadt Billerbeck, Fachbereich Planen und Bauen, Förderprogramm Dach- und Fassadenbegrünung 2025/26, Markt 1, 48727 Billerbeck.
Only complete applications enter the queue. The city processes them by receipt date; ties may be decided by lot. Funding is limited and there is no entitlement to an award. Wait for the formal approval, which states your grant and any conditions. The grant cannot later increase, but may decrease if the qualifying circumstances change.
Start within four months of receiving approval; the rules allow a six-month implementation period. For the current intake, the city's 2026 notice requires the work to be completed and fully accounted for by Christmas 2026, so your project must also meet that earlier calendar requirement. Fresh applications remain possible while funds last; no applications or payments are accepted once funding is exhausted. The formal programme period ends on 31 December 2026.
Within six weeks after completion, submit the signed report on how the grant was used, final invoices, original receipts and before/after photos to the same email or postal address. Payment follows by bank transfer.