The local partners open their doors to online visitors with three videos and a virtual tour. Walk through 4RinEU demo cases with them!

N.B. All tours are in local languages.

Norway – guided video tour

The Netherlands – virtual 360° tour

Spain – video presentation

Italy – guided video tour

The “La Vall 9” building in Bellpuig, Spain, was renovated with cutting-edge technology for deep energy renovation

The residential four-story building is part of the EU-funded project 4RinEU. The renovation took place between 2020 and 2021 and involved the use of prefabricated multifunctional timber façade modules to improve the insulation and cut the primary energy demand of the building by 60%.

Read La Vall 9 full story

The makeover of 4RinEU demo case in the Netherlands was completed in July 2020. According to the latest estimates, energy demand will be reduced by 80%

Mariënheuvel is a residential building for elderly people located in Soest and owned by the social housing agency Woonzorg Nederland. 4RinEU intervention consisted in the installation of timber prefabricated façade modules with integrated sun shadings and the placement of an upgraded HVAC system which couples mechanical ventilation and heat recovery. The prefabricated modules were designed by an international team made of project partners Gumpp & Maier, Eurac Research and Aderma and were then produced by the local manufacturer Prefabfabriek Culemborg. The onsite installation was carried out under supervision of Trecodome and lasted only three weeks. The whole process is documented by a time lapse video.

The results so far are promising: it is estimated that thanks to the deep renovation the building will increase its value by 50% and cut down its energy demand by 80%. Over the next few months Woonzorg Nederland will hand out questionnaires to the residents to collect feedback on their experience.

Read more on the renovation process of Mariënheuvel and watch the gallery here!

Haugerudsenteret (Oslo, Norway) – Our first success story. Energy performance to be assessed

The Norwegian demo case, located in Oslo, is the first example of a successful implementation of 4RinEU methodology. The renovation works took place in the second half of 2018 and lasted only eight weeks, during which the tenants kept living in their dwellings.

The interventions implied a massive use of 4RinEU timber prefabricated technology to refurbish both the roof and the façade of the building, the latter being integrated with new windows and PV panels. New air handling units connected to the prefabricated façade by means of ventilation ducts have been installed in dedicated technical rooms. Our researchers are currently analysing the data collected before and after the renovation works to assess the improvement of the building’s energy performance.

Read more about Haugerundsenteret deep energy renovation

Mariënheuvel (Soest, The Netherlands) – Renovation works on hold

In the Netherlands, 4RinEU is renovating part (15 over 79 total apartments) of a big apartment block for social housing.

Our strategy here includes the application of a timber prefabricated façade with integrated sun shadings, the replacement of balconies and the enhancement of the HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) system through the introduction of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery.

The renovation works were supposed to start towards the end of March with a view to being completed by May. Due to the global emergency caused by COVID-19, the building site had to stop its activities. Despite this, the production of prefabricated façade modules  could go ahead as planned, and so did the evaluation process for the installation of the monitoring system which will allow us to compare the building’s performance in terms of energy efficiency before and after the interventions. The construction site will reopen by July 2020.

La Vall 9 (Bellpuig, Spain) – Tender to find a constructor postponed

The Spanish demo of Bellpuig consists of a recently built multifamily house with poor performances.

4RinEU will renovate the east-oriented main façade by installing timber prefabricated façade modules, which will include new windows with shading system, decentralised ventilation machines with heat recovery and PV panels. The placement of the façade has been optimised using EarlyReno, a tool created by the project to help designers and professionals choose the best renovation strategy to maximise the use of renewable energy. In line with the other demos, a monitoring system will be set-up to evaluate the performance in the pre and post retrofit condition.

After a few months of closure, the activities in Bellpuig are now resuming starting with the procurement process for the selection of a constructor. Renovation works will start by autumn 2002 and will last approximately four months from the appointment of the construction company.

A new demo: Pinerolo, Italy

The recently acquired demo case of Pinerolo, Italy, will see the implementation of the 4RieEU plug&play hydronic technology in a multifamily house with 13 dwellings.

The renovation concept that will be tested in this demo is based on three pillars: reducing fossil fuel consumption, increasing the efficiency of the HVAC and finally producing and delivering DHW (domestic hot water). The project involves the installation of an inverse heat-pump connected to the existing condensing boilers via hydronic modules. Thanks to a digital controller, the hydronic modules supply water for domestic use and space heating while minimising energy consumption. The heat pump will be placed over the rooftop, while the 13 hydronic modules (one for each dwelling) will be located under the roof, in a space which is not used at present. All the duct connections between the hubs and the components with the apartments will pass through a cavity in the ventilated façade.

As for the impact of the current crisis on the renovation works and monitoring phase, hydronic units and other components are being produced by Thermics, but the delivery to the demo will be delayed of a few months.

Read more on 4RinEU new demo site in Pinerolo

Looking ahead

«At the time the lockdown was announced, the four demo buildings were at different stages of progress, from procurement to monitoring of the building’s performance after deep renovation» said the project’s coordinator Roberto Lollini from Eurac Research. «Fieldwork stalled, but in conformity with 4RinEU approach, we could still analyse data and work on several activities, like the off-site preparation of prefabricated components». Despite the challenges and uncertainties posed by this situation, Mr. Lollini is confident on the possibility to complete the activities in the construction sites by the end of the year and then start evaluating the benefits of the interventions in terms of energy consumptions, comfort, timing of the construction site and costs in the life cycle, as well as the environmental impact.

A new demo case has been introduced within the project. This demo will be used to test the Plug&Play Energy Hub (PPEH) technology developed within 4RinEU by partners Eurac Research and Thermics.

This building is a multifamily house with 13 dwellings. Flats vary from one to three rooms, with different sizes between 35 m² and of 60 m². The building consists of two floors and it develops in length. There is a total of six flats on the ground floor and seven flats on the first floor.

The building already has undergone some retrofit in the last years. This consisted of the replacement of the external doors and windows of the units and the substitution of old boilers with condensation ones. An attic, under the two-pitched roof, was isolated with thin fibreglass insulation covering the ground. In addition, a photovoltaic system of 8 kW of peak power was installed.

This demo case has recently been deeply renovated thanks to a European H2020 project  BuildHEAT. With this demo case, 4RinEU has taken the advantages of the deep renovation and contributed to enhancing the performance of the building, testing PPEH technology developed within 4RinEU project. The interventions for Pinerolo demo case are summarised here below:

• renovation of the building envelope;
• installation of a new ventilation system for each flat;
• installation of a new heating and cooling system;
• installation of a new system for sanitary hot water production;
• substitution of the insulation on the horizontal parts.

Plug and Play Energy Hub

The preliminary concept is to install an air-to-water inverter heat pump with 2 pipes, provided by Thermics, partner of 4RinEU project. This unit gives the possibility to manage separately the high-temperature and low-temperature circuits. This solution works in combination with a storage tank where the temperature is monitored and therefore a three-way-valve is controlled.

The PPEH system is a hydronic system controlled by an integrated digital controller providing the following functionalities:

• the supply of space heating and instantaneous domestic hot water when connected to a hot water source;
• the provision of an account of thermal energy consumed by the final user, distinguishing between domestic hot water and space heating.

The PPEH system is integrated into the heating system. Thanks to these connections and proper managing of the valves in the circuit, also the cooling operation should be guaranteed during the summer period, since the heat pump can work in cooling mode, providing cooled water to fan coils.

Thanks to the integration of the PPEH coupled with the heat pump, together with passive measures aiming to the increase of the thermal performances of the building envelope, a reduction for heating consumption from 51.4 MWh/year to 18.1 MWh/year is expected. Moreover, at least the 90% of this 18.1 MWh/year will be provided by renewable energies (in this case photovoltaic system).

As far as the sanitary hot water consumption is concerned (9.6 MWh/year with 200 m³/year of water), after the renovation, 3.7 MWh/year will be produced using the photovoltaic system combined with the heat pump. The remaining 5.9 MWh/year will still be produced by the heating boiler.