LIFE Giga Regio Factory and Energy Poverty 0

The two European LIFE projects in France, Energy Poverty 0 (EPO) and Giga Regio Factory (GRF), are moving forward. Both have already drawn up their roadmaps. 

Firstly, we have EP0, with a budget of 1.6 million Euros, operating in 3 European countries and with 13 expert partners. This project aims to support local authorities and social landlords in identifying the most suitable neighbourhoods in which to deploy industrialised retrofits. The objective is to develop a tool to assess the potential for industrially retrofitting residential buildings. This tool will enable demand for industrialised retrofits to be aggregated at neighbourhood level, so that as many people as possible can have access to high-performance retrofits. 

To achieve this, it will be essential that local residents are involved in the process, whether they are tenants or homeowners. Therefore, the project will implement a range of activities within a “neighbourhood energy compass” in collaboration with residents, in order to best meet their specific needs. 

EP0 will explore schemes for purchasing shared industrialised retrofits involving private owners and social landlords and will look at the associated financing methods. The aim of the project is to launch mixed retrofit projects involving both social and private housing. 

Secondly, with a budget of 2.4 million Euros, operating in 4 European countries and with 13 expert partners, the Giga Regio Factory project will bring about a change of scale in the market for industrialised zero-energy guaranteed retrofits. The project already supports all the players involved in the process, from building owners to manufacturers and construction companies. 

Three areas of work have been developed with a view to mass-marketing high-efficiency, industrialised retrofits: 

1.         Improving the quality of housing types 

From the demand side, in order to generate more volume, we need to better classify the different types of housing in relation to the different industrial retrofit solutions, both those currently on the market and upcoming solutions. The project will, therefore, develop a tool that will enable buildings to be aggregated more finely, thereby facilitating grouped orders for high-performance retrofits in several European regions. The aim is to facilitate the emergence of mass demand which is in line with industrialised solutions. 

2.         Supporting supply-side players in integrating industrial solutions

From the supply side, companies need to be supported in developing industrialised, high-performance retrofit solutions. The aim is to encourage the development of an industrial approach in the building sector, by supporting supply-side players to integrate industrial solutions and develop their catalogue of solutions through coaching, feedback and the provision of resources. In this way, the project aims to stimulate market development. 

3.         Scaling up to meet large-scale future demand 

Finally, we need to develop manufacturers’ and suppliers’ capacity to produce off-site retrofit solutions. This project aims to support them in the next stages of their development: business planning and investment, extending production capacity, reducing costs, etc. The aim is to help solutions manufacturers and suppliers scale up to meet the large-scale future demand.

With these two exciting new LIFE projects, comprising partners from across Europe, we hope to aggregate demand for industrialised, energy-neutral retrofit projects at neighbourhood level, and bring about a change of scale in order to be able to target 10% of the market by 2030 and to industrially retrofit 1 million homes in Europe to a guaranteed zero-energy level.