Emerging renovation strategies and technical solutions for mass-construction of residential districts built after World War II in Europe
Lauri Lihtmaa, Targo Kalamees
Abstract
While deep energy renovations of buildings have been implemented for over a decade, the pace and volume of building upgrades are still insufficient to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Therefore, it is urgent to adopt technological and management innovations to significantly improve renovation performance. A significant portion of Europe's building stock was constructed after World War II using industrial methods, often in concentrated districts. It is reasonable to consider mass-renovating these dwellings that require urgent structural and energy performance upgrades. This paper aims to assess the extent to which EU member states are planning to implement mass-renovations and identify the main barriers to initiating and mainstreaming mass-renovation approaches. We conducted a content analysis of EU member states' long-term renovation strategies (n = 29) and used in-depth interviews (n = 16) with representatives of the renovation supply side in Estonia. Our findings reveal that the recent iteration of national long-term renovation strategies demonstrates a weak approach to mass-renovations. Only the regions of Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium have provided specific action plans. While one third of states have mentioned the theoretical benefits of mass-renovations, most countries have not addressed this approach at all. The interviews revealed that maintaining consistent demand, involving large new builders, and adopting offsite prefabrication of renovation components are key factors for initiating or mainstreaming mass-renovations. First, we propose that EU member states include mass-renovation goals and action plans in the next version of strategic documents that determine the financing of energy efficiency. Second, central governments should empower local governments with the necessary skills and resources to lead district-based renovation adoption. Third, we suggest that countries make significant investments in industrializing current resource-consuming onsite renovation practices to transition towards off-site prefab serial renovation.