BuildHEAT

Heating and cooling in the construction sector offer unique opportunities to decarbonise the European economy. However, as the replacement rate of the existing stock is very small (1-1.5 % per year), acceleration is needed. On top of this, this sector poses tremendous challenges due to its extreme fragmentation: (more than 50% of the residential buildings are owned by private single owners) and the fact that it is largely dominated (more than 95%) by SMEs.

In this context BuilHeat will develop a set of reliable, energy efficient and affordable retrofit solutions. Despite the affordability, innovative solutions are more expensive compared to conventional ones. Therefore financing models are needed to facilitate the massive entry to market of the new technologies, which is one of the main issues that BuildHEAT will address.

Finally, the project involves the entire construction chain – from owners to professionals to investors – in the retrofit process and all along the lifetime of the building, by addressing technical, behavioural, cultural and economic perspectives.

BuildHEAT aims to promote the retrofitting of residential buildings, addressing some of the main challenges of this sector, such as its extreme fragmentation and the low participation of large industrial partners.  To achieve this purpose BuildHEAT will:

• Elaborate systemic packages for the deep rehabilitation of residential buildings
• Develop innovative, reliable and affordable retrofit solutions facilitating the implementation of the renovation measures
• Develop financial tools enabling large public and private investments to promote the retrofitting actions
• Involve the entire construction chain (from owners to professionals to investors) in the retrofit process and all along the lifetime of the building