Interreg Europe Project Highlight: VIOLET

The Interreg Europe VIOLET Project is honoured to be featured in the latest edition of the FEDARENE (European Federation of Agencies and Regions for Energy and the Environment) bulletin as a highlighted European project. 

Describing VIOLET…. 

Energy renovations can be particularly challenging and costly to implement in older, culturally significant buildings, especially those situated in city centres. VIOLET (preserVe tradItiOnal buiLdings through Energy reduction) is an Interreg Europe project that addresses this common challenge across the EU, home to a large building stock of many important traditional buildings, which are assets not only to residents, but also to various industries that sustain European economies, such as cultural tourism and ICT. VIOLET aims to preserve traditional and heritage buildings by simultaneously integrating both topics into policy planning, management and monitoring through interregional cooperation.  

To achieve this goal VIOLET brings together five regions at different stages of development and one expert advisory partner, to foster a multi-sector, integrated planning approach bringing together organisations in charge of energy efficiency and those in charge of cultural heritage at regional and EU level. Each region contributes to the main output of the project: an action plan describing the policy actions required to improve energy efficiency in traditional buildings. The action plan describes concrete measures and includes commitments from relevant public authorities to secure financial resources and policy support. More advanced partners will start implementing some actions, using own resources. In parallel, partners define recommendations for the EU level recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).       

If energy efficient renovation is not addressed in a forward-looking way, historical buildings that are now a valuable asset to owners will become a burden in the near future. VIOLET addresses the need for policy change to endorse the objectives of a building culture that is sympathetic to modern requirements of energy usage and carbon emissions, without endangering European architectural heritage.  

Project details: 

January 2017 – December 2021  

Total budget:     € 1,300,513.00 

ERDF Funding:   € 1,089,123.05