Solutions from our Workshops
To date, the renovation rate of buildings owned by homeowner associations (HOAs) is less than 0.5 percent, far below the national average and the rate that would be necessary to achieve climate targets. To achieve climate neutrality in the building sector, the renovation rate in Germany must reach at least 2% .
The GREEN Home project aims to increase the refurbishment rate in HOAs building stock. In doing so, the project serves to develop practical instruments for the implementation and financing of energy efficiency measures on the common property of individual owners. The implementation of the aforementioned project goals for the promotion of energy efficiency in the residential building sector connects different stakeholder groups and thus organizations, groups of people or even individuals and relies on their participation. The project has already conducted round tables in the target federal states of Brandenburg/Berlin, Nordrhein-Westfalen and Baden-Württemberg, analysing and identifying barriers of HOAs that stand in the way of renovations.
In order to meet the identified needs of HOAs, the project is currently modeling concrete solutions together with relevant stakeholders, such as administrators, financiers and energy service companies. Ideas were generated in the last workshops based on the following questions: How can long-term refurbishments be initiated? How can the relevant experts be found? How can information on refurbishment and financing be made comprehensible to owners? Which renovation models can energy service companies offer to HOAs?
It became apparent that the initiation phase of the refurbishment is often a central issue. One solution to this is an online tool that managers can use to pass on information quickly and easily to all owners. A cost comparison before and after the refurbishment is required, but also a simplified presentation of the refurbishment roadmap.
External facilitation, which can support administrators in transferring professional knowledge and thus facilitate decisions, can also lead to increased renovation decision-making in HOAs. Networking of refurbishment companies and HOA through an intermediary website in combination with “best practice” examples, should increase confidence in refurbishment implementation. Energy services can implement refurbishments in HOAs partly bundled by variants of your offer, which in turn would relieve the organization of the administrations. Loans for HOAs facilitate the financing of refurbishments, as the risks of an entire HOA are considered. Nevertheless, we have also examined here which framework conditions would have to be created in order to remove all obstacles.
To flesh out the results, and make them applicable to HOA, we need feedback from relevant market stakeholders like you. Feel free to drop by the next GREEN Home workshop in Berlin in November.
If you would like to skip this step and go directly into the implementation with your HOA building, the GREEN Home project would like to accompany you. Please contact Valentina Fröhlich (DENEFF) by e-mail with the following data:
– City/Region
– Year of construction
– housing units
– Information on renovations already carried out
– If applicable, refurbishment roadmap
– Final energy demand, energy classification
– heat source.
