diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-prebuilt-workspace.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-prebuilt-workspace.ts
index 780147a36ffd27..22f3c5c6bfc795 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-prebuilt-workspace.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/entity/db-prebuilt-workspace.ts
@@ -68,4 +68,11 @@ export class DBPrebuiltWorkspace implements PrebuiltWorkspace {
         transformer: Transformer.MAP_EMPTY_STR_TO_UNDEFINED,
     })
     error?: string;
+
+    // statusVersion defines the last observed stateVersion from a WorkspaceStatus. See ws-manager-api/core.proto.
+    // statusVersion must only be set by controller/observer.
+    @Column({
+        default: 0,
+    })
+    statusVersion: number;
 }
diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1649107789640-PrebuildStatusVersionColumn.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1649107789640-PrebuildStatusVersionColumn.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000000..dbfe445d2d8cb1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/typeorm/migration/1649107789640-PrebuildStatusVersionColumn.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (c) 2022 Gitpod GmbH. All rights reserved.
+ * Licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL).
+ * See License-AGPL.txt in the project root for license information.
+ */
+
+import { MigrationInterface, QueryRunner } from "typeorm";
+import { columnExists } from "./helper/helper";
+
+const TABLE_NAME = "d_b_prebuilt_workspace";
+const COLUMN_NAME = "statusVersion";
+
+export class PrebuildStatusVersionColumn1649107789640 implements MigrationInterface {
+    public async up(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {
+        if (!(await columnExists(queryRunner, TABLE_NAME, COLUMN_NAME))) {
+            await queryRunner.query(
+                `ALTER TABLE ${TABLE_NAME} ADD COLUMN \`${COLUMN_NAME}\` BIGINT(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT '0'`,
+            );
+        }
+    }
+
+    public async down(queryRunner: QueryRunner): Promise<void> {}
+}
diff --git a/components/gitpod-db/src/workspace-db.spec.db.ts b/components/gitpod-db/src/workspace-db.spec.db.ts
index 68d571aa00479a..5cb2dec8d02e05 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-db/src/workspace-db.spec.db.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-db/src/workspace-db.spec.db.ts
@@ -247,6 +247,7 @@ class WorkspaceDBSpec {
             cloneURL: "",
             commit: "",
             state: "available",
+            statusVersion: 0,
         });
         if (usageDaysAgo !== undefined) {
             const now = new Date();
@@ -509,6 +510,7 @@ class WorkspaceDBSpec {
                 cloneURL: cloneURL,
                 commit: "",
                 state: "queued",
+                statusVersion: 0,
             }),
             // now and aborted
             this.storePrebuiltWorkspace({
@@ -518,6 +520,7 @@ class WorkspaceDBSpec {
                 cloneURL: cloneURL,
                 commit: "",
                 state: "aborted",
+                statusVersion: 0,
             }),
             // completed over a minute ago
             this.storePrebuiltWorkspace({
@@ -527,6 +530,7 @@ class WorkspaceDBSpec {
                 cloneURL: cloneURL,
                 commit: "",
                 state: "available",
+                statusVersion: 0,
             }),
         ]);
 
diff --git a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/protocol.ts b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/protocol.ts
index 7d81090cd934b1..161a3ad0f1077b 100644
--- a/components/gitpod-protocol/src/protocol.ts
+++ b/components/gitpod-protocol/src/protocol.ts
@@ -634,6 +634,7 @@ export interface PrebuiltWorkspace {
     buildWorkspaceId: string;
     creationTime: string;
     state: PrebuiltWorkspaceState;
+    statusVersion: number;
     error?: string;
     snapshot?: string;
 }
diff --git a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
index 602a3cc500397f..f37c1d921d2bad 100644
--- a/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
+++ b/components/server/ee/src/workspace/workspace-factory.ts
@@ -172,6 +172,7 @@ export class WorkspaceFactoryEE extends WorkspaceFactory {
                 creationTime: new Date().toISOString(),
                 projectId: ws.projectId,
                 branch,
+                statusVersion: 0,
             });
 
             log.debug(