Heritage preservation and climate protection have long been seen as two contradictory aspects that are almost impossible to combine. Of course, listed buildings are excluded from obligations to meet certain energy standards, but they shouldn’t be exempted at all from energy efficiency measures for two reasons: First of all, they constitute a relevant part of the building stock in the Baltic Sea Region.
Listed buildings account for up to 8% in some countries, and even 13% in Denmark. On the other hand, economical aspects become more and more relevant as rising energy costs force owners of listed residential buildings to invest in energy efficiency to stay competitive. Otherwise these listed buildings would be in danger of being lost.
This situation produces a set of needs, like the growth of broad awareness and the increase of all stakeholders’ know-how. It is very important to be able to show and explain alternatives to common methods like the insulation of outer walls, especially for daily, practical work with architects and owners.
With this background in mind, Co2olBricks was initiated to find more intelligent solutions to overcome the conflicts between heritage preservation and climate protection.
For the last three years, 18 partners from 9 countries with 9 languages worked together on three different fields: Policy Development, Technical Innovations and Education and Economic Promotion.
Examples and results concerning energy-saving weak points and potentials of buildings with historical value were compiled. Four pilot projects had the goal to implement, monitor and evaluate energy saving measures in historic buildings. The results of these researches and the practical examples are published in several brochures.
Based on these findings, the project aimed to improve the knowledge and education of architects, engineers, craftsmen, etc. to harmonise their curricula with the objective of an open market. The main work was the development of different learning packages. For the investigation of the relevant issues, a baseline study about the state of national educational and the state of the labour market was conducted.
To create the political and administrative basis to implement the technical, educational and economical solutions and to declare a transnational common position, the project was working on forwarding the political discussion on national and transnational level about the installation of new cooperation models between administrative institutions, architects, engineers, housing and building companies and affected building owners.
One practical example, which including all aspects, is the model area Kiel-Elmschenhagen in Germany. For the about 1,800 units of mainly detached houses from the 1930s, a technical model conservation plan was developed and afterwards discussed and adjusted with house owners, architects, energy experts and monument conservators. To motivate the house owners to refurbish their homes, the city administration organised consultations to find specific solutions and concepts. Additionally, 80,000 Euros of funding support the realization of investments. So far, 103 house owners have been advised, 66 of them have implemented refurbishment measures for a total invest of half a million Euros.
All outcomes of the project are ready to download on www.co2olbricks.eu after the Results Conference in Hamburg on 3rd December 2013.