The 4RinEU strategic network: upscaling innovative deep renovation solutions

Renovating building stocks is one of the major challenges for the European Union. The European Green Deal’s Renovation Wave has shown the critical role buildings can play in achieving climate neutrality by 2050.

Europe needs innovative approaches to renovate buildings in a way that not only dramatically improves energy efficiency but also improve comfort and living conditions, at a cost that makes it affordable for the majority of building owners.
H2020EE funded 4RinEU project developed state-of-the-art renovation solutions designed to reduce a property’s energy consumption by up to 60 % while improving the building’s indoor environment by reducing damp and making homes easier to heat. After having successfully developed these solutions, the 4RinEU consortium has deployed them to several demonstration sites in Europe for testing and validation in real-life conditions.
But that did not stop there: Experience has shown that excellent research and successful demonstration of innovative solutions are not sufficient to ensure market uptake and broader outreach. This is even more true in the buildings sector, where solutions have to be tailored to specific national and regional markets and endorsed by professionals on the ground.
For this reason, 4RinEU has devised and implemented a dedicated strategy to increase the replication potential of the project’s solution. This strategy makes use of a Geocluster strategic network – to further test application and replication potential of the 4RinEU solutions across Europe. This network involves early adopters to supplement the demonstration cases already implemented in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Norway. These early adopters come with sample buildings to be renovated and work with the project consortium on feasibility studies to assess how 4RinEU solutions could be applied to the buildings. The process involves three steps to:

1) Set the strategy;

2) select renovation packages and assess foreseen performances;

3) discuss performance analysis and deliver a roadmap towards implementation.

Early adopters from three countries have been involved in this replication strategy: Ireland, Poland and more recently, Latvia, where the first workshop with the Latvian early adopter took place end of January 2021.

The 4RinEU replication strategy, based on close collaboration with targeted early adopters, is very illustrative of what projects can do to support a rapid uptake of innovation. Combined with academic excellence, ambitious demonstration and sound business strategies, it can dramatically increase the impacts of innovation towards achieving climate neutrality in the EU.

Norwegian demo before

Norwegian demo after