The need for accelerating building renovations has driven European regulations in the last decade. After the COVID-19 crisis, the European rescue plan dedicated a very significant amount to promote existing building decarbonization. These public investments, also known as Next Generation grants, were published in the Spanish regulation framework in 2021 and offered financing for renovations through six main programs that can cover more than half of the investment costs. The most relevant program funds renovations that could justify reductions of 30% in heating and cooling demand and savings in non-renewable primary energy, to reach three main objectives: 30%, 45%, or 60%. However, despite this comprehensive economic support, the Spanish society is still hesitating to conduct these major renovations and the agents or participants in these processes are struggling to achieve the renovation goals. Under this challenging scenario, this study analyses the reasons behind this lack of action in the building renovations and formulates future improvements that could help speed up the current renovation ratios. To do that, a workshop was organised with all the actors involved in these processes to share and evaluate the building renovation difficulties during the Next Generation EU funds. This event was coordinated by the Basque Government’s Laboratory for the Quality Control in Buildings on the 21st of March of 2023 in Vitoria-Gasteiz. The workshop gathered more than 90 participants and experts from different stakeholders. The results of the workshop describe the situation of the sector in detail. First, a detailed analysis of the current situation of the building renovations and the grant numbers was done, compared to the existing literature. Also, the expected numbers, dates, and planned scenarios. Second, the ideas commented on in the two round tables were studied following the seven chapters or sections, which include the experience of different stakeholders, administrative procedure, financing, stakeholder communication, technical requirements, quality control of the works, and future perspectives. One of the most interesting outcomes was the identification of the main barriers that hinder building renovations. These difficulties and/or limitations were listed and sorted by their relevance. Additionally, as the event was broadcasted live, there was an online communication tool to help gather comments from more than 40 online participants and complemented the debates of the round table and the room audience. This online tool included a survey to make a quantitative assessment of the previous questions, and the answers from 42 participants outline the situation and underline the debates of the workshop. The conclusions of this workshop and the ulterior study are relevant as they show the ugly truth of the renovation sector and help identify success stories and failures, that must be overcome if we aim to achieve decarbonization before 2050.

2. Department of Housing, Basque Government
termica@euskadi.eus
www.euskadi.eus/lcce
+34 945 011 800
linkedin.com/at-lcce @AT_LCCE
https://www.ehu.eus/es/web/enedi

3. Source: https://globalabc.org/news/globalabc-releases-
2022-global-status-report-buildings-and-construction

7. Parámetro
Objetivo
Min
% P.Proteg.
y lim.
ayuda
vivienda
Objetivo
Medio
% P.Proteg.
y lim.
ayuda
vivienda
Objetivo
Maximo
% P.Proteg.
y lim.
ayuda
vivienda
Exigencias CTE
Aplicación del DB-HE1 (envolvente, Ulim, kg), DB-HE0 (consumos CEPNR y CEPT)
y del DB-HE4 (contribución renovable ACS), “Criterio de flexibilidad - Env. EECN”
Reducción Demanda
Energética
EDIFICIOS y BARRIOS: 25% (zonas C) y 35% (zonas D - E)
VIVIENDAS INDIVIDUALES: 7% o 30% de reducción CEPNR (todas las zonas)
Prog 1: REHAB
BARRIOS*
Reducción CEPNR
30 – 45 %
40%
8.100 €/v
45 - 60 %
65%
14.500 €/v
> 60 %
80 %
21.400 €/v
Prog 3: REHAB
EDIFICIOS* Reducción
CEPNR
30 – 45 %
40%
6.300 €/v
45 - 60 %
65%
11.600 €/v
> 60 %
80 %
18.800 €/v
Prog 4: REHAB
VIVIENDAS
30%
40%
3.000 €
-

9. • Exploratory workshop, with all the actors to evaluate the building renovation difficulties, in person and online.
o Analysis of the current strategy for residential building
renovations, grant numbers, and future goals.
o Building renovation examples in literature and quality
control of the works
o Round table 1 to analyze NG grants management,
focused on the public sector.
o Round table 2 to analyze housing renovation situation
and NG grants, focused on the private sector.
o Online survey to gather wider views and numerical
assessment of the situation and NG grants.

10. • 93 people in person and 43 answers online, 136 in total

14. • The housing renovation in the Basque Country improved very significantly in
recent years: achieved 1.5% renovation in 2022.
• Promoting the sector’s trust with a decade of renovation policies and grants
from the Department of Housing.
• What barriers hinder housing renovations from reaching the European 3% goal:
• Main difficulties: administrative paperwork
and the decision-making processes of communities of owners.
• Easier aspects: technical documents for project and construction,
and the building renovation legal requirements (insulation, savings,…).
• All the participants say the building renovation sector is not ready for the
renovation wave and to double the renovation ratio, issues:
• The renovation grants short deadlines.
• Lack of skilled construction workers.

15. • PUBLIC side recommendations to speed up the renovation ratio:
• Provide a stable background (longer grants programs)
• Simplify the administrative side of grants
• Offer more public support with transparent information and templates
(company selection for example)
• More education programs about construction training.
• PRIVATE side recommendations to speed up the renovation ratio:
• Communities of owners: should acknowledge the importance of experienced
professionals and building managers to facilitate the decision-making process, these
decisions should consider wider technical aspects rather than the price alone.
• Construction companies: should improve the working conditions and salaries to
attract young people to this sector.