Participants to the 3 Bilateral Exchanges:

ARRR (Italy) => Sergio Gatteschi
CITY OF MALMÖ (Sweden) => Olle Strandberg and Gustav Lindblad (28/4/2022)
PNEC (Poland) => Patrycja Plonka and Iwona Korohod (12/4/2022)
Durham County Council (UK) => Rich Hurst, Dorothy Gibson, Maggie Bosanquet (03/05/2022)

ARRR and the above partners we have focused on the changes in the use of buildings due to the pandemic. ARRR was consulted because it has interesting experiences on this topic, and expands its expertise on other fields as well, from energy efficiency in the hospital system to support for MA in the programming of the ROP ERDF funds.

During the Bilateral Exchange, ARRR presented the activities it has undertaken as part of the new Rebus phase to:

1. Examine best practices for making public buildings more efficient in the hybrid work phase that has opened due to the pandemic.

2. Establish how to improve public policies by studying the initiatives undertaken and the results achieved.

ARRR illustrated the policy document on smart working prepared by the Tuscany Region on the basis of the "Guidelines on the Organizational Plan for Agile Work (POLA) and Performance Indicators".

The Extraordinary Home Teleworking involved almost all the employees of the Tuscany Region, with the achievement of some specific results, as cost reduction of Personnel expenses. The expenses for electricity and other operating expenses recorded an overall contraction of 42% equal to € 756,657 in 2020.

This experience also showed that there were no appreciable reductions in the field of thermal consumption, and that the consumption related to transport to the office was not analyzed.

Although partial, the data deriving from the application of agile work in the Offices of the Tuscany Region coincide perfectly with the Durham experience: Home Working Energy Usage Project.

For the future strategies it is interesting to consider that The Tuscany Region involved all employees in an internal satisfaction and experience survey: 73% of the survey participants expressed a high rate of satisfaction with Extraordinary Telework.

PNEC recognized the experience presented to be of great interest, and intends to apply the lessons learned to the planning of public buildings in the Krakow area, at least as a recommendation to property owners, who will apply hybrid forms of work.

ARRR responded also to the requests of the Malmo representatives about the improvements made in the network of hospitals and offices in the health sector that belongs to the North West ASL, which thanks to EPC-type contracts was able to: create a computer network that refers to a single control room that collects data from 13 structures; improve the energy efficiency of buildings thanks also to the contribution of the Tuscany Region.

The savings obtained in the healthcare facilities of the North West ASL involved first of all the replacement of traditional boilers with co-generation systems, already reaching around 40% of savings for some buildings.

Malmo is very interested in the concrete measures that have achieved structural improvements to save energy; less to EPC contracts of which they already have considerable experience.

Gustav and Olle talked about the Environmental programme for the city of Malmo: reuse and recycling have a real focus, where building material from dismantled buildings reuses in new buildings.

On the 3rd May, ARRR had the meeting with Durham, especially focused on the Hybrid working impact on energy efficiency.

Durham’s research found that staff spent more on energy when working from home. Council buildings did not generate energy savings during Covid lock-downs because buildings did not have energy zoning capacity and still needed heating and lighting throughout. With County Durham being a large, primarily rural area with high levels of car use, transport savings (e.g. time, cost and carbon emissions) provided the main benefits, which were greater than the increases from homes.

Durham is currently trialling a hybrid working model. Like Tuscany, some staff like the approach, while others do not.

The council’s Inspire Steering Group is leading the work to help the Transformation Team drive change in the way the council operates. Productivity, staff well being and energy efficiency are just some of the factors influencing the hybrid working model.

The hybrid model is being applied in existing premises, although there are plans to move staff from the outdated County Hall into two new premises on the outskirts of Durham City, plus a third, renovated building in the North of the county. The new buildings are expected to have energy efficiency zoning options.

In its Climate Emergency Response Action Plan, Durham is committed to reducing carbon emissions by 80% by 2030. However, a more ambitious proposal has been put forward for DCC to be climate neutral by 2030 and for the county to be climate neutral by 2045. A decision is expected in June.