Administration as Delegated Promoter
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
Category
Project Description
Retrofitting of 302 private dwellings in a degraded area where Visesa played the role of Delegated Promotor, contracting, supervising and managing both design and execution of rehabilitation projects and their financing, including several subsidies and grants management on behalf of the beneficiaries and delivering a final “turnkey” product: a renovated building with a new envelope and connected to a brand new district heating network to foster energy efficiency and fight against energy poverty.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
The action deployed in Vitoria-Gasteiz is framed within the European Innovation Project H2020-SmartEnCity (GA Nº 691883), with the objective of transforming European cities into sustainable urban environments, intelligent and resource-efficient, through the reduction in energy demand and CO₂ emissions and the supply of energy.
In total, there are 35 members from 6 European countries participating and the different members of the project are led by Visesa (Department of Land Planning, Housing and Transport of the Basque Government) as local coordinator and head of rehabilitation action in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, Spain). Within the scope of this action are: the energy rehabilitation of buildings and the connection to a new district heating network, both actions finished and claimed in this application. Other actions include sustainable mobility measures (Smart Electric Bus), the application of ICTs to empower citizens in the field of energy efficiency through the ad-hoc developed Citizens Information Platform (CIOP), and regenerating the urban environment of the neighbourhood.
The project is an opportunity to rehabilitate the private housing stock and to improve the quality of life (reducing energy costs and improving thermal comfort) in a targeted neighbourhood: declared Degraded Area in 2017 with buildings of over 50 years old, housing an elderly population, with high levels of unemployment and incomes below the city average. The needed action in the right place.
Key objectives for sustainability
302 dwellings in 26 buildings have been retrofitted in Coronación District, Vitoria Gasteiz, with a new envelope and roof and new windows when needed. Rehabilitation works included:
- Energy rehabilitation of the building envelope.
- Insulation of the façade and the roof (12-14 cm) and reduction of leaks.
- Installation of new windows (when needed).
- Interior adaptation of the heating network for heating and domestic hot water. Visesa covers the costs of the heating network and its connection.
Energy retrofitting has shown a great impact on energy consumption in the dwellings, being the savings up to 40% of the pre-retrofitting figures. At the same time, indoor comfort has raised and temperature and humidity inside the retrofitted dwellings show now a more stable behaviour.
In parallel with this retrofitting process, a brand-new district heating network was deployed in the streets. This allowed to connect all the dwellings to a more sustainable energy supply based in local biomass obtained in surrounding forests.
In order to make it more profitable and, thus, more economically sustainable, the partner in charge of the Heating Network carried out a commercialization campaign to join more buildings to the network, increasing its efficiency by reducing energy losses. Several non-residential buildings joined, as well, to the network like a gym & spa and the district church.
Sustainability aims were fulfilled by means of this double achievement: less energy consumption and a more sustainable energy supply. In the same vein, all the dwellings are now monitored by temperature, humidity and consumption sensors which have arisen tenant awareness about the importance of energy efficiency in their dwellings.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
From the very beginning of the project it was clear that, beyond functionality, retrofitting works must achieved a high aesthetic level. Following that spirit, and in agreement with building tenants, architectural firms designed high quality façades to renovate buildings’ envelopes.
Two main technical solutions where used:
- ETICS: external thermal insulation systems
- Ventilated façade systems
Beyond functionality, and taking into account that the actuation was carried out in a district declared degraded area, achieving high levels of quality and aesthetic was something non negotiable and unpostponable.
Once finished, it has been proven that renovating 26 buildings with high quality criteria impacted in the whole district making it more appealing, charming and walkable, whilst real state value increased by means of the renovation process and the mirror effect in the surrounding buildings that opted for replicating this experience: up to 50 dwellings were retrofitted out from the boundaries of SmartEnCity project.
Retrofitted dwellings’ inhabitants declare that the change has been remarkable not only in functionality terms (thermal comfort and energy savings) but in aesthetic and self-perception of their homes that have experienced a major change. Better dwellings that look better and make tenants feel better.
Key objectives for inclusion
Visesa fosters inclusion and citizen participation by an innovative management model taking the role of Delegated Promoter, thus, administrating, contracting, supervising and managing both the correct design and execution of the rehabilitation projects and their financing, including the management of the various subsidies and grants on behalf of the beneficiaries and delivering a final “turnkey” product. Enabling citizen engagement and ensuring the support of the neighbours by means of their participation in the decision-making processes along the whole project, both in aesthetic and functional decisions.
It is the first project in the so called “Golden Districts” (>50 years) of Vitoria Gasteiz. Municipality’s long-term strategy is focused on extending project results to other districts already included in this priority list. So, the replicability of the project in further areas is another key objective fulfilled with the publication of the “Citizen Engagement Toolkit”, a public outcome of the project that has been chosen by European Commission’s Innovation Radar as an “Excellent innovation”. The Innovation Radar is a European Commission initiative to identify high potential innovations and innovators in EU-funded research and innovation projects. Other interesting actions:
- Citizen involvement actions
- 10 public information events, radio campaigns, leafleting, media, press releases.
- 400 meetings with Neighbourhood Home-Owner Associations
- 1,600 visits in the “Neighbourhood Office”, located in the heart of the district in a former abandoned commercial premise, to deal with neighbours’ enquiries.
- 650 door-to-door visits information campaign aimed at those citizens who could not reach us by other means (elderly or handicapped people).
- Post-rehabilitation accompanying process: monitoring and follow-up with the neighbours to ensure optimum use in the dwelling.
A project for the neighbourhood, carried out in close collaboration with the neighbours
Results in relation to category
Prioritising the places and people that need it the most: a transforming action in a degraded area for a needed neighbourhood.
The effectiveness of the action is summarized in the following results:
- General Satisfaction of the residents, specifically with Visesa’s one-stop-shop role.
- Knock-on effect on other buildings and neighbourhoods not connected to the project.
- 90% reduction of CO2 emissions
- Savings of up to 50% on consumption (kWh) in heating
- Average Savings of 20% in household energy bills.
- Aesthetic Improvement of the neighbourhood and increased property values.
- Energy Certification A in all the rehabilitated properties.
- Total substitution of gas by renewable energy sources for domestic hot water and heating: local biomass. Lower CO2 print.
- Improvement of comfort in the dwellings: fewer temperature changes and less overheating in summer.
- Efficient use of rehabilitated dwellings by informed residents with better controlling capability thanks to the installed monitoring systems.
- Extension of the new District Heating Network to other buildings and installations in the neighbourhood (church and gymnasium-spa).
- Discounts awarded by:
- Vitoria-Gasteiz City Council: 50% discount on property tax for households with Energy Certification A and ICIO (construction works tax).
- Provincial Council of Alava: fiscal ruling that ensures the compatibility of the European grants with standard grants. Exclusion in the income tax calculation of any grants or subsidies received by the homeowners.
- Mirror effect for other neighbourhoods both in and outside the city.
- Improvement of public areas.
How Citizens benefit
The innovation was applied according to a plan which had been established at the outset of the project. It was considered that the only way to rehabilitate an area with a high number of private houses in a degraded area was, for a public entity such as Visesa, to adopt the role of leader and representation on behalf of those persons who wished to sign up to the initiative. In this way, initial hurdles were overcome such as the mistrust of technical solutions, the reluctance to carry out administrative paperwork or technical tasks which are often tiresome and complicated for the layperson, or the lack of awareness of available grants. All these tasks were taken on by Visesa on behalf of the neighbourhood residents by means of a one-stop-shop and sole interlocutor. Moreover, in this role Visesa was responsible for coordinating the neighbours and agents involved in the process, setting up both participation processes with citizens to determine the most suitable technical solutions as well as numerous informative neighbourhood meetings. Visesa also sent individually tailored economic proposals to each person according to their specific case, thereby managing to adapt the actions to be taken for each household: grants to receive, amounts to pay, the most favourable financing options to apply for, etc.
The results transcend individual benefits, generating local employment, reforming the urban environment and adding value to the neighbourhood due to the positive driving effect of the action.
- Energy Rehabilitation of 302 private dwellings in 26 buildings and connection to an efficient and new renewable neighbourhood heating system: subsidised between 54% to 100%.
- Generation of local employment: 14 architectural firms + 5 building companies + dozens of SMES (scaffolding and construction materials, energy certification, termographies, professional photographers, notaries, property management companies, etc.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
The innovative features of the action are summarized in the following:
- Drawing up of a Toolkit to achieve citizen involvement in a project which is initiated by the institutions for the benefit of the neighbourhoods and seeks acceptance from the latter.
- Visesa as the Delegated Promoter for driving building rehabilitation in neighbourhoods acts as a one-stop-shop for the Homeowners Associations to deal with the various Administrations and agents necessary for said rehabilitation, including the application for different grants and subsidies.
- Model of interinstitutional governance and a public-private system acting across different axes within the city: rehabilitation, heating network, public and private transport electrification and regeneration of urban space.
- Making available a Guarantee Fund which enables the more disadvantaged sectors of the neighbourhood with income below 21,000€ per family unit to access the project. Up to 100% of the project can be financed. Contributors to the Guarantee Fund:
- Vitoria-Gasteiz City Hall: 990,000 €
- Basque Government: 2,310,000 €.
- Post-rehabilitation phase, accompanying process:
- Follow-up after finalizing rehabilitation: training about the efficient use of a rehabilitated dwelling.
- Access to the consumption and comfort data of the participants in order to:
- Foster awareness and actions with the focus on reducing consumption and increasing comfort.
- Greater energy efficiency and better conservation of their homes.
Learning transferred to other parties
The idea to carry out a turnkey project is not new in the industrial or engineering fields, but it is innovative in the area of rehabilitation of private collective housing, even more so when it is a public company that adopts the driving role in the process. It is this adaptation of the turnkey business model via a public entity which constitutes an innovation, recognised in fact as an “excellent innovation” by the Innovation Radar of the European Commission.
The lessons learned during the project have been innumerable and have been recorded in different documents. Some of these learning experiences refer to the importance of working closely together with citizens and providing clear information since the very beginning.
The carried-out action is absolutely replicable, moreover, this is a fundamental requirement of any European project This abovementioned replicability is supported by the various public deliverables created during the project summarizing the results, as well as the dissemination actions implemented during the last years. More specifically, a “citizen engagement toolkit” has been created to promote citizen participation in future rehabilitation processes, managed by Visesa or other agents.
At the same time, along the duration of the project it was developed a step-by-step methodology (called Cities4Zero) for local authorities, able to guide them through the process of developing the most appropriate plans and projects for an effective urban transition; all from an integrated, participatory and cross-cutting planning approach.
Applying this methodology allows local authorities to effectively address the decarbonization of urban environments in the long run following an iterative strategic approach and a project-oriented vision, combined with a stable institutional commitment, which opens a window of opportunity for cities to achieve effective decarbonization.
