With €3M support from the European Investment Bank, Rotterdam will set up a programme that will provide intensive, tailored support for such associations. Where the municipality’s team will develop a general communication programme, an independent centre of expertise will make general information on the benefits of renovation via pop-up stores widely available. Furthermore, a group of external advisors will be recruited to engage with associations of owners to provide tailored advice on technical, financial and legal matters.

With a €800,000 grant from the Council of Europe Development Banks’s ELENA instrument, the City of Rotterdam will start collaborations to improve energy labels to C or B for almost 200,000 dwellings. Four of the city’s largest social house providers set out to jointly develop the knowledge and expertise to renovate its ageing building stock. This includes for updating knowledge on the potential of specific heating and lighting technologies, the development of standard renovation packages for common building types, and long-term planning of investments. Over the course of the 4-year programme, 900 dwellings will be renovated.

With a grant of €900,000, the ambitious housing provider of the city of Alingsas, Sweden aims to renovate all its dwellings to near-zero energy standards. As a test case, buildings from the ´million home programme´ period will be renovated. The Council of Europe Development support the programme with technical assistance to develop the most effective renovation options.

UK affordable housing provider, Places for People secured €900,000 in grants from the Europe Commission to demonstrate a state-of-the-art solution to replace old and inefficient, all-electric heated properties, in Padiham. Some ideas to accomplish this are: introduction of common electrical purchasing program for all PFP homes, installation of solar photovoltaic electricity supply, electric only homes, and installation of POD solar thermal and heat storage. By increasing the standard of energy services to their residents through increased comfort and reduced costs, the aim is to reduce resident turnover in this common dwelling type.

Viale Francia, a 102 dwelling building, located within 2 towers of a 6 tower complex at the outer edge of Treviso, has secured almost €1m from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme. The project aims to minimize power consumption by optimising the passive systems and minimising the active ones; geothermal optimal solutions to reduce the demand for electricity; electricity production from renewable sources (photo-voltaic). The project also plans for the future management through an Energy Performance Contract, to be implemented by a local ESCO contractor to support the replacement of the thermal boilers with heat pumps and underground heat storage, and installation of roof mounted solar thermal system and storage.