First feedback from passive social housing buildings in Brussels

Report from a study visit of passive buildings in the Belgian capital

Brussels, 16 January 2015 | Published in Energy

From a recent visit of passive buildings in Brussels by energy and social housing providers from France, some interesting feedbacks emerged.

Since 2011 for new public buildings (including social housing) and since 2015 for any new buildings there is an obligation to obtain a level close to passive house standard (for instance a need for space heating in residential building of equal or lower to 15 kwh/m²/year), with some exemptions due to technical or financial elements. Social housing providers in Brussels have therefore started for around 2 years to build nearly zero energy buildings.

Although it is still too early to have a full monitoring of the actual savings and overall cost of maintenance, one can already see that social housing providers are confronted with the challenge of installing new equipment, explaining to tenants how to use them (for instance ventilation systems) and maintaining them (for instance Canadian well).

For the inhabitants, although the reduction of energy used is important, rents increase (since in Belgium rents are partly set in relation to the cost of construction and renovation) and additional fees link to the maintenance of equipment add to that.

From a recent visit of passive buildings in Brussels by energy and social housing providers from France, some interesting feedbacks emerged. Thus, the question of the life-cycle cost or global costs for new build or renovation remains open. The overall comfort including acoustic comfort is the objective of the social housing providers in Brussels.

To meet those new obligations, social housing providers in Brussels are exploring alternative funding schemes, including the energy performance contract, with guarantee of performance and maintenance given by the energy providers or installation companies. Those feedbacks meet the findings of the NZEC project.