Energy Efficiency Renovation
- Perspectives from Property Owners -
Marco Torregrossa(Former) Coordinator
IEE Funded Project TrainRebuild
26/11/2013 Krakow, Poland3ENCULT Project
General background
Property owners are the most difficult to mobilise and convince in the buildings value chain:
1. Sector highly fragmented2. Difficult to address3. Restricted financial capacity4. Less powerful lobby5. Focus of EU policies mostly on the supply side
Who has to pay the renovation bill?
• 210 Million Property Owners in Europe (Eurostat, 2011)• 75% of Europe’s real estate (housing units) is owned by
private individuals:o 69 % of all property owners are 50 + yearso 34% of all property owners are 65 + years (pensioners)
• 80% of Europe’s buildings are one and two family houses (detached/semidetached/terraced)
• 75% of Europe’s property owners say, low energy consumption / low energy bill is important to them
Why only few owners opt for renovation?
• Reputed expensive: limited investment capacity, renovation is economical after 10-15 years.
• Uncertainty: stable legislation, durability, aesthetic, mistrust for building professionals, financial gains, technologies.
• Limited/ill understanding: concept of ‘sustainable construction’ and deep renovation = disruption.
• Crisis: weak real estate market, difficulties to access mortgages, higher taxes, loans are rarely granted directly to individual owners.
Are owners allowed to renovate?
• Terraced houses: Cross border insulation• Condominiums: Decisive battles to fight• Landlords: Legally stopped by tenants• Cost and use: Landlord and tenant / raising the rent
How to overcome the challenge?
• Favour a stable regulatory framework to privilege cost-effective and affordable solutions.
• Always take into consideration the client/user perspective: financial capacity, needs, etc.
• Encourage client/user to make an informed choice: training and awareness raising, labels, guidance from independent energy advisors.
• Partnerships between groups of property owners and local authorities (via IP Smart Cities) to access ERDF funding now available to renovate the private stock.
TrainRebuild (www.trainrebuild.eu)
• Objective: undertake a comprehensive training program to generate change in thinking of building owners about the link between energy efficiency renovation and value related to building ownership.
• Target groups: national associations of property owners and local authorities in selected CoM cities.
TrainRebuild Outcomes
1. 4 training toolkits: 1 for property owners associations, 1 for co-owned multi family buildings managers, 1 for local authorities civil servants and 1 for financial professionals.
2. 29 training events in 11 EU countries: BE (2), IT (3), FR (8), DE (5), GR (2), ES (3), UK (2), HU (1), RO (1), BG (1) and PT (1).
TrainRebuild Outcomes
3. 11 national action plans and 2 European action plans (1 for property owners and 1 for local authorities) to scale up renovation in the EU and to guide member states in producing their renovation roadmaps under the EE Directive.
4. 1 European Forum on Training for Rebuilding as a permanent action-based meeting place to facilitate the exchange of best practices and evolving solutions related to training for retrofitting Europe’s existing building stock.