Attractive, acceptable, affordable home renovation combatting energy poverty

During our three-year journey we developed: (1) a Boardgame to facilitate decision-making about deep retrofit. This board game can play an important role for Housing Europe’s members when the involvement and the acceptance of the occupant is required to undertake energy renovation. (2) A Combined Labelling Scheme to provide clear evidence-based data on energy performance, indoor environmental quality, and well-being indicators. (3) An open user-centred gamified platform for validation and community building.

Housing Europe, together with other EU umbrella organisations in the TripleA-reno project consortium, were responsible for organising raising awareness events across Europe, to share the achievements of the project. This outreach took place in the form of series of "Road Shows" and "Home Shows" events.  Which demonstrated how the TripleA-reno project could help the social, public, and cooperative housing sector to achieve investments in energy efficiency and deep retrofits, while increasing the affordability, acceptability and attractiveness of renovation for their residents.

The International Social Housing Festival held in Lyon on the 5th of June 2019, provided a perfect landing spot for the first Road Show of the TripleA-reno project. Entitled “user-journeys towards deep renovations”, this Road Show introduced the main objectives of the project, more particularly, it focused on the aim of fostering new people-centered models and decision-support tools, to increase the acceptance of deep renovations among residents.

During the Road Show, valuable inputs were gathered to feed the gamified platform which was under development at that time. The participants (housing federations, housing providers, building professionals and consultants) learned from the different speakers who presented some very creative ideas about the way gamification methods were being used in the TripleA-reno in its first year. Find out more here.  

As COVID-19 pandemic rendered physical gatherings problematic, the consortium decided to implement what they called “Home Shows”. Home Shows are the virtual version of “Road Shows”, that took place through a digital platform. The first Housing Europe Home Show “a conversation with Sébastien Garnier”, took place in June 2020, very early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The idea behind this Home Show was to utilise technology in communicating with the TripleA-reno viewers, such as housing federations, housing providers, building professionals, and consultants. Sébastien Garnier, former project manager of Housing Europe, shared inspiring inputs on the barriers of the social housing sector to make home renovations more affordable, attractive, and acceptable. Moreover, Sébastien shared insightful ideas on how to plan home renovations through digital platforms. He also spoke about the role of Housing Europe and its added value as part of Horizon 2020 project. Find out more here.

The second Home Show entitled “can renovation with tenants be as easy as a game? Measures that make retrofits attractive, acceptable, and affordable” took place on the 15th of February 2021.

This Home Show was dedicated to the explanation, use, and demonstration of the Energy Transition Game. During this game workshop, the players (Housing Europe’s members) were challenged to accomplish two different scenarios; low maintenance costs and Zero-Energy Building, by choosing and matching the right upgrade measures and learning more about different renovation concepts and technical possibilities. Themes varied between energy saving and economics, to comfort, installation, and maintenance. Extra points were added for striking a good balance between sustainability and cost. The online game workshop was the best solution to test the Energy Transition Game with our members, and gather feedback from them. Find out more here.

To celebrate the success of the TripleA-reno project, Housing Europe, together with its Italian member Federcasa, organised a hybrid combined closing event in Venice on the 15th of October 2021.

The combined event included a conference, a consortium meeting and a Road Show. The aim of the closing event was to share results of the project, to provide lessons on social engagement, and to present a user-centred approach. All the involved partners enthusiastically shared their latest updates, news, and achievements in making successful deep renovation.

TripleA-reno platform shows that deep renovation can be as easy as a game! Find out more here.