Green Building Councils across Europe are today launching an ambitious €2.35 million project to help governments create strategies to radically reduce energy use from Europe’s building stock.
80 key organisations from across 24 countries are meeting at Arup HQ in London today for the launch of BUILD UPON, an innovative two year project, funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme. The project aims to drive the design and implementation of a long-term framework for scaling-up deep energy efficient renovation in 13 countries.
Beginning by mapping out a network of over 1,000 key stakeholders and the current landscape of retrofit initiatives, Green Building Councils will then be working with governments and major cities to mobilise a year-long stakeholder dialogue process, facilitating replication of retrofit best practice across the region by identified experts. The project’s results will feed into countries’ v2.0 renovations strategies required by article 4 of the Energy Efficiency directive. The Irish Green Building Council leads one of the work packages on the project.
Professor Owen Lewis chair of the Irish Green Building Council stated “We’re delighted to contribute as a member of the Steering Committee of the new BUILD UPON project, and look forward to working with industry and Government to prepare for the huge task of upgrading all our buildings for a low carbon future”
EU countries were required to deliver long-term renovation strategies to Brussels in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Directive by 30 April 2014, a deadline which most missed, with many of the strategies now in place falling short of the requirements of the Directive. Countries now have until 30 April 2017 to strengthen and resubmit their strategies to Brussels. With the European Commission’s ‘Energy Union’ placing a renewed focus on full implementation of EU energy efficiency in buildings law, the next two years will be crucial for countries to put in place an ambitious and feasible framework for deep renovation.
Emilio Miguel Mitre, BUILD UPON’s Coordinator and Director of International Affairs at GBC España, said: “Governments across Europe have an extremely difficult task in having to define a strategy to scale-up energy efficient renovation, and provide the finance and instruments to help achieve this scale. A crucial ingredient missing in each country at the moment is wide-spread buy-in to a common strategy. This is not just the responsibility of governments to deliver, but the responsibility of the public sector, private sector and civil society alike. That strategy and buy-in is precisely what BUILD UPON aims to deliver, building upon the work of the Europe Regional Network of GBCs.”
