Demo-Cases and Geo-Cluster approach

In order to increase the replication potential of the 4RinEU deep renovation packages (including technologies, methodologies and business models), the project adopts a geo-cluster approach.

In each geo-cluster, there will be either a Demo-Case, which will undergoes deep renovation process from the design phase to the monitoring during operation, and an Early Adopter building, where a feasibility study for a renovation with 4RinEU approach will be carried out.

Starting from the outcomes from the EU-funded project Ge2O, we defined the boundaries of 6 EU geo-clusters, according to climate, requirements in case of renovation and consistency of the residential building stock.

In particular, in order to take into account the climate conditions, we adopted the Heating Degree Days, for the building features the amount of multi/single family houses and the construction period as well as the main used construction materials (source: FP7 project iNSPiRe) and the minimum value of thermal transmittance for new constructions and renovation.

Accordingly, the project 4RinEU adopts the following geo-clusters:

1. Geo-cluster 1 | Northern
   Northern Europe countries with cold climate and prevalence of single-family houses – Demo-Case 1 in Norway
2. Geo-cluster 2 | North-East
   Country with cold climate, large amount of multi-family houses built between 1960 and 1990, with prefabricated concrete panels that present low energy performance – Early Adopter building in Poland
3. Geo-cluster 3 | East
   Continental climate, main building typology is single-family with a significant amount of multi-family houses built after the Second World War with prefabricated concrete structure – Early adopter building in Hungary
   
4. Geo-cluster 4 | Continental Central
   This cluster includes central and West Europe. The building stock in the cluster is mainly composed by single-family houses and there is no prevailing construction period, thus the stock presents different construction features (masonry, concrete or prefabricated structure) – Demo-Case 2 in the Netherlands
   
5. Geo-cluster 5 | Mediterranean
   This cluster includes Mediterranean countries with warmer climate where the building stock is split almost equally in single and multi-family houses built in different construction periods mainly with masonry or concrete structures – Demo-Case 3 in Spain
6. Geo-cluster 6 | Atlantic
   Focused on UK area, with cold oceanic climate and single-family houses as main building type – Early Adopter building in the UK

Further than the Demo-Cases and the Early Adopters, a set simulations and analyses to tailor the 4RinEU renovation packages, according to the geo-cluster features and needs, will be carried out for a set of representative Building Archetypes selected for each geo-cluster.