Retrofit HUB

With 38 percent of global CO2 emissions, the building sector is one of the main contributors to climate change. For the very same reason, advancing sustainability in the sector holds enormous potential for climate action. A large amount of old building stock has not been built in compliance with energy efficiency standards, making retrofit of buildings a promising approach to the sustainable transformation of the building sector.

The project measures focused on facility managers, homeowners and tenants and provided them with awareness and knowledge on energy retrofit. A bottom-up approach ensured that all measures were targeted to their actual needs: the project team interviewed members of the target group on current challenges and processes within energy efficient retrofit.

Anselm Bareis, EUKI Advisor visiting the Retrofit Hub Team in Croatia 2021, Photo: © Anselm Bareis

The knowledge gained through this approach informed a series of training courses that provided participants with knowledge and skills on energy efficient retrofit practices. Participants continued to apply their skills on case-studies retrofitting buildings. An energy efficiency retrofit guidebook constituted the final product of the project.

The measures contributed to an increased understanding and promotion of environmental sustainability, climate mitigation measures and retrofit procedures in the building sector. Thus, the project fostered the sustainable transformation of the building sector in Croatia, Poland and Hungary, thereby significantly contributing to EU climate goals.

• Retrofit HUB has created a guide for energy-efficient retrofitting that serves as a roadmap for renovation for stakeholders, especially representatives of homeowners and property managers. The document is available on the Retrofit HUB online platform (retrofithub.eu) in four languages - Croatian, Polish, Hungarian, and English. Print versions were also sent to key stakeholders such as ministries and promoted at events. In addition, the guidebook and other training materials were downloaded approximately 6000 times.  
• Case study workshops were held in Croatia, Poland, and Hungary to show a clear path for the renovation of apartment buildings and to find optimal solutions for energy-efficient renovation based on practical examples.  
• Retrofit HUB online platform was established as the first point of contact for those interested in the energy-efficient renovation of apartment buildings. The online platform was developed under the domain retrofithub.eu. The platform is aimed at owners of apartment buildings, building managers, specialist planners and engineers working in the field of energy-efficient refurbishment, as well as other interested parties. The project resulted in further documents that provide an insight into the energy renovation processes in Croatia, Hungary, and Poland and an overview of current renovation practices.