The Andalusian Energy Agency leads the BUILD2LC BOOSTING LOW CARBON INNOVATIVE BUILDING REHABILITATION IN EUROPEAN REGIONS project, promoting the rehabilitation of innovative buildings with low carbon emissions in European regions, after nearly five years of work, in collaboration with 7 European regions: the Andalusian Energy Agency in Spain (coordinator); the Lithuanian Agency for Public Investment and Development, VIPA; Severyn Wye Energy Agency Ltd, SWEA, in the UK; Rzeszów Regional Development Agency, RRDA in Poland; Regional Energy Agency of Northwest Croatia, REGEA; Jämtland Härjedalen Region, RJH, in Sweden and the Gorenjska Local Energy Agency, LEAG, in Slovenia. The project has been funded by the Interreg Europe program of the European Commission, that selects the best projects through a competitive competition system, with more than 1.6 million euros.
The results of BUILD2LC, that held its final event at the end of last year and which will be running until the end of March 2021, can be consulted through the project´s website. The final meeting was attended by 100 experts from all over Europe. The meeting was opened by the General Director of the Andalusian Energy Agency, Mr. Francisco Javier Ramírez García, as leader of this project. During the opening session, the BUILD2LC project was presented, taking into account the five years of joint work of the project since April 2016, including more tan 70 Good Practices and 7 Action Plans implemented.
During the event, the results of the Interreg Europe program were presented by Charo Camacho from the Joint Secretariat, who also presented the Policy Learning Platform and other projects related to energy efficiency. In addition, the meeting included a presentation on the role of the S3 Interregional Associations, including the Sustainable Construction Partnership of which the BUILD2LC project takes part as a reference project, led by Isabelle Seigneur from the European Commission, and showing the European way of incorporating buildings into the circular economy led by Josephine Lindblom from the Directorate General for the Environment of the European Commission.
The final results of BUILD2LC were presented, including an Innovation Map related to partner regions, 4 interregional thematic seminars, 7 study visits, 9 bilateral meetings and 4 multilateral meetings between partners, involving 32 exchanges of good practices, as well as 35 regional workshops, with stakeholder groups, and 7 outreach events at the regional level and 1 high-level outreach event at the European level.
During the online final meeting, each partner presented their regional Action Plan. During this first session, the partners shared their results of experiences on New Financial Instruments. Demand promotion and investment promotion, facilitating citizens to carry out energy rehabilitation activities, going beyond subsidies and exploring new solutions, with presentations from Lithuania, Slovenia and the Sustainable Construction Program of Andalusia.
The second session focused on the Professionalisation of the Construction Sector. Promotion of the competitiveness of the business fabric: reformulating the business models (ESCOS) and integrating all the actors in the value chain of the energy rehabilitation sector. The Action Plans of RRDA Poland, RJH Sweden, the Institute of Construction and Civil Engineering in Slovenia and the Training of Future Installers of the Severyn Wye Energy Agency in the United Kingdom were presented.
During the next working session related to New Energy Culture, Citizen Participation and Energy Poverty, partners presented SWEA UK Housing and Health, the Energy Poverty Action Plan in Croatia by an expert from the Ministry of Physical Planning of Construction and State Assets, and the results of the Slovenian Action Plan.
The last session focused on Innovation and how to promote innovative solutions through the use of new materials, promoting public procurement and cooperation between companies and knowledge institutes. Presentations were made by the REDEJA Energy Management Network of the Andalusian Regional Government, the Innovation System Dominium by LEAG in Slovenia, and Innovation Passive Building Pilot Project by a Member of the Podkarpackie Chamber of Civil Engineers in Poland, and the presentation of Innovation Actions of the Jämtland Härjedalen Region.
The presentations of the BUILD2LC final event can be downloaded at:
https://www.interregeurope.eu/build2lc/library
More information on BUILD2LC: https://www.interregeurope.eu/build2lc
More information on the European Sustainable Building Partnership:
https://s3platform.jrc.ec.europa.eu/sustainable-buildings
