Noticia

REQUEST is a collaborative project across 11 Member States. Its aim is to increase the uptake of low carbon renovation measures in residential properties, throughout Europe.

The two central objectives of REQUEST are:

• To develop tools and practices to increase the uptake of EPC recommendations


• To provide a quality standard for low carbon renovation.

Pilot projects in partner countries will test and measure the impact of the new tools to further refine their development. The outcomes of REQUEST will lead to increased quantity and quality of renovation projects and to enhanced uptake of and cooperation between existing initiatives.

REQUEST is funded by the European program "Intelligent Energy Europe".

The goal of the REQUEST project is to increase the uptake of low carbon renovation measures in residential properties across Europe for all ownership tenures. Working as an EU-consortium of national energy agencies and building research institutes, we focus on addressing one of the key barriers to action for property owners, namely easy access to a reliable quality installer or, in the case of major renovation, a range of professionals, referred to for the purpose of this project as the supply chain. The project regards upon Energy Performance Certificates as a starting point for a chain of quality renovation actions and aims to enforce the role of EPCs in this perspective. EPCs need to contain qualitative and comprehensible recommendations, motivating homeowners and tenants to
commission a joined up renovation product where they can trust the quality of the delivered renovation.

The REQUEST project will provide national and regional agencies across the EU with a set of tried and tested tools and techniques which they can use to promote:

• An integrated customer journey leading dwelling owners or tenants from EPC information to low carbon action.


• An integrated supply chain for professionals involved in renovation processes, with mutual recognition of the roles of the various trades involved enhancing quality, professionalism, ease of use and confidence in the outcome for the dwelling owner/tenant.

These objectives will be met through collaboration and interaction with key actors from the 4 different target groups involved:

• Demand side - Individual householders and the multi-residential building owners/managers


• Supply side - Building professionals and trading organizations


• Intermediary - EPC-advisors, architects


• Regulators and facilitators - Government agencies, experts in low carbon renovation

The EPC meeting platform will provide targeted information and advice on EPC recommendations and how to follow up on. The platform will function as a meeting and information point, addressed to bothbuilding owners and professionals involved in building renovation.

The Quality framework section will focus on the quality standard under development through consultation with building professionals and testing via pilot renovation projects. An optional label for both renovation processes and actors will be launched as well on the basis of the defined quality standard.

Italian Pilot Project

The Italian Pilot project will consist in following the renovation process of public housing buildings by making use of a new methodological scheme. The main actor of the project is ACER - Azienda Casa Reggio Emilia, a public body that manages 4667 dwellings, mainly owned by municipalities, in a district of northern Italy. The methodological scheme, named ABC Energia, is a complex tool that comprises: an energy certification system fitting EPBD implementation at regional level, participation of trades and public authorities, and networking among different stakeholders.  The tool will be used and validated in the next building renovations by ACER and is linked to the analysis and future application of Energy Performance Contracting. The energy efficient renovation process will include the following actions:

• Each building/flat will be issued an EPC after an in-site audit


• Design specifications will follow EPC recommendations


• After the works are finished, a monitoring and control system will allow owners and managers to know: energy production and consumptions, eventual malfunctioning of technical equipments and components, maintenance interventions.

ENEA will monitor the adherence of the whole process to the REQUEST framework in a 12 months period and will investigate renovations through questionnaires and through POE (post occupancy evaluation) tools. Following first results on monitoring and assessment, ACER contract models will be studied with reference to the quality standards developed within REQUEST. An adaptations of Contract models (for competitive tenders, Energy performance contracts) will then be proposed by taking into account previous assessment of pilot renovation projects, REQUEST WP4 quality standards,and contribution of different national stakeholders that will participate to thematic Working Groups. These consultation meetings, chaired by ENEA in parallel to the pilot project and with a likely quarterly frequency, could bring interesting contributes in the final phase of the project, aimed to develop replicable contract models for the public sector.
Partner:  ENEA - Italian National Agency For New Technologies, Energy And Sustainable Economic Development

Source: www.building-request.eu