Good practice:

GPP for energy refurbishment of public building promoting recycled & short supply chain materials

ECO-BATI project - funded by Italy/France Interreg ALCOTRA Programme - aims at improving the use of local materials and sustainable construction products in the energy refurbishment of public buildings thanks to the use of GPP.
The objectives of the project were:
• promotion of new green building and energy efficiency models in public buildings
• booster the use of raw material from local territories (provinces of Cuneo, Imperia and Nice)
• promotion of renewable, recycled/recyclable construction products
• application of the Green Public Procurement (GPP)
In order to reduce the environmental impact of the public building energy refurbishment works, new GPP models were tested and many actions were implemented by partners:
• spread environmental certification of local products
• development of new tools for Public Authorities (local product catalogue with environmental certification)
• development of new environmental criteria for GPP
• pilot project
During the project SMEs were supported by partners to improve their industrial process and to obtain environmental certification and label. As well many PA were supported to introduce in their public procurement environmental criteria so to improve the use of recycled/local construction products. 2 practices were implemented by the Municipality of Boves and the Chamber of Commerce of Cuneo using GPP tools and criteria developed within ECOBATI for energy refurbishment of 2 public buildings

Total budget of the ECO-BATI is 1.801.241 euro, divided in 8 partners.
Sums allocated to pilot actions:
110.000 € - Chamber of Commerce of Cuneo (IT)
100.000 € - Chambre de Métiers et de l’Artisanat (FR)
59.106,64 € - Chamber of Commerce of Imperia (IT)
150.000 € - Municipality of Boves (IT)

End results:
• more than 90% of the construction materials by weight, out of the total used in the two pilot sites, have a supply distance of the entire production process within 150 km from the site
• more than 15% of the construction material by weight, out of the total used in the two pilot sites, was recycled
• product catalogue with environmental certification was adopted by Piemonte Region; it has been published in 2 editions and 410 products have been surveyed

Now market offers a limited number of construction products with environmental certification/label and often local supply chain isn’t completed. Lack of competence could be a strong constrain for GPP implementation, therefore PA, SMEs, architects, engineers must be supported with training and tools

This initiative could be interesting for other European regions because it allows, on the one hand, to limit the environmental impacts of construction sites and, on the other hand, it can encourage the use of local and sustainable products by improving both local environmental and economic conditions.
Common European Directives encourage the use of GPP in Europe, but National Regulations on public procurement could hinder the transfer of successful initiatives developed under the ECO-BATI project to other territories.