Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - NewTREND (New integrated methodology and Tools for Retrofit design towards a next generation of ENergy efficient and sustainable buildings and Districts)

Teaser

The existing built environment is currently responsible for 40% of total EU energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gases emissions in Europe, however the replacement rate of the existing building stock remains at only 1-2 % per year . Renovation projects are also very...

Summary

The existing built environment is currently responsible for 40% of total EU energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gases emissions in Europe, however the replacement rate of the existing building stock remains at only 1-2 % per year . Renovation projects are also very rarely tackled at a neighbourhood/district level, and do not fully exploit the potential for synergies that groups of buildings might offer.

Many of the issues resolve around split incentives amongst the building owner and occupier or inadequate business models between building owners. The increase of renovation for energy efficiency is therefore not dependent on the available technologies and legislative requirements but rather on the mechanisms for delivery, which must look beyond the technical capabilities and include aspects such as the cost of installation, disruption to the end user, time taken to delivery, business models to integrate at neighbourhood level and the needs of the various stakeholders and building inhabitants.

The design and construction process is inefficient and effective communication does not always occur between each stakeholder in the process. For renovation, the project increases in complexity due to the additional constraints related to existing structures and occupants. Also, current practices tend to separately consider design and assessment activities, with assessment and analysis out of sequence with design decision making.. BIM is now widely recognized as a cornerstone of future tools and practices in the construction industry, however, BIM and innovative design paradigms are currently rarely applied to refurbishment projects due to the difficulties in retrieving the necessary information to build a BIM model and to the traditional character of the sector. Furthermore, BIM is mainly used for architectural purposes and energy aspects are included only in the end of the process as a final validation of choices already made. Moreover, software tools used for the realisation of a construction project do not always communicate between each other in an interoperable manner and rework is required as a result. Despite enhanced practices and tools, the building life cycle is still largely fragmented and information flows suffer from discontinuities. Also, often the final energy performance of the building after renovation does not correspond to the estimations done in the design phase due to sub-optimal practices by inhabitants and users, who are rarely engaged in the selection of the retrofit technological options.

NewTREND will develop an integrated design methodology for energy retrofit specified for use for individual buildings and at the district level. NewTREND will address all phases of the refurbishment process. To enable the effective application of the methodology, a toolkit will be developed to support each phase from concept design to implementation and operation, fostering collaboration among stakeholders, involving building inhabitants and users, establishing energy performance as a key component of refurbishments and increasing the uptake of renovation across the EU to exploit the potential for refurbishment at the neighbourhood level.

Work performed

Work Package 1 Value chain mapping and stakeholders engagement
• Task 1.1: Analysis of the value chain – Completed
• Task 1.2: Analysis of the current design process in refurbishment projects – Completed
• Task 1.3: Use Case Definition – Completed

Work Package 2 Development of the NewTREND design methodology
• Task 2.1: New approach for an advanced data collection process – Completed
• Task 2.2: Definition of sustainability Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) - Completed
• Task 2.3: Methods and models to assess the building-neighbourhood relationships and synergies – Completed
• Task 2.4: Progressive strategies and practices for a comprehensive post-retrofitting controlling and continuous commissioning– Completed
• Task 2.5: Occupants involvement in new design methodology – Completed
• Task 2.6: Integrated retrofit design methodology – Completed

Work Package 3 Life-cycle collaborative design platform
• Task 3.1: Requirements and architecture of the collaborative design platform - Completed
• Task 3.2: DIM server architecture and implementation - Ongoing
• Task 3.3: Support tool for data collection (Data manager) – Ongoing
• Task 3.4: Implementation of the collaborative design platform – Ongoing

Work Package 4 Simulation & Design Hub
• Task 4.1: Renewables, design options and energy schemes for buildings and districts – Completed
• Task 4.2: Implementation of the NewTREND Library at building and district scale– Completed
• Task 4.3: Occupants perspective in the design: comfort and user behavioural models– Ongoing
• Task 4.4: Development of the Simulation & Design hub – Ongoing

Work Package 5 Innovative financial instruments and business models
• Task 5.1: The Scope, Applicability and Constraints of Financing & Business Models - Completed
• Task 5.2: Software Features for the Process of Gaining Financial Support - Ongoing

Work Package 6 Demonstration and validation
• Task 6.1: Evaluation and data collection - Ongoing
• Task 6.2: Specific activities with stakeholders in an IDP framework and benchmarking - Ongoing

Work Package 7 Demonstration and validation
• Task 7.1: Project website and communication material - Ongoing
• Task 7.2: Dissemination and awareness towards relevant stakeholders - Ongoing
• Task 7.3: Exploitation and IPR management - Ongoing

Work Package 8 Project Management
• Task 8.1: Project Management - Ongoing
• Task 8.2: Delivery of Quality Assurance Plan - Completed
• Task 8.3: Legal & Knowledge Management - Ongoing

Final results

During the first 18 months, the project has developed a number of items that can be said to be progress beyond state of the art, these are:

1. New structured approach for building/district related data collection using BIM technologies and e-collaborative methods
2. Comprehensive set of sustainability key performance indicators allowing a sustainability assessment of the current state as well as design variants on building and neighbourhood levels
3. Systematic exploration of the concept of participatory design in relation to building energy retrofit (to date this has been developed mainly in areas such as IT, consumer products and urban planning)
4. Development of five distinct models of occupant and user engagement, which enable participation to be calibrated to the needs of the project and the characteristics of occupants and users
5. High flexibility for the application of the design methodology in different circumstances (different project phases, building types, neighborhood types)
6. New ways for stakeholder collaboration through innovative participation , communication and information methods
7. Technology Library with high its richness and accuracy of information provided

As the project has yet to link the above with the intended software tools, and then disseminate and begin to exploit these in the wider market, it difficult to assess progress towards the expected potential impact. That said, it is safe to assume good progress towards the following impacts in this period:

1. More effective refurbishment at building and district level
2. Enabling actors to take validated and quantified choices for the refurbishment at building and district level on the basis of quantified performance objectives

Website & more info

More info: http://www.newtrend-project.eu/.