The HAPPEN project comes to an end

With 3,5 years of implementation in 7 countries, the H2020 HAPPEN project has allowed to develop a new approach to adapt the deep retrofit of residential buildings to the Mediterranean area, and a set of tools that allow to apply it to a renovation project, hence contributing to an increased energy efficiency of buildings in the Mediterranean area.

Now that the project comes to an end, it is time to summarise the key results and share some future perspectives.

The 13 partners have worked together to develop five key results that allow to promote and implement the MedZEB approach.

  1. HAPPEN digital platform: it is the main result of the project and integrates the other tools listed below. The platform is designed to act as a digital marketplace aimed at matching the demand and offer of the retrofitting market in the Mediterranean area. Actors involved in the renovation process can meet, build their knowledge and get guidance for the generation of cost-optimal renovation projects through dedicated tools and services. The tools are available on the platform and are accessible for free upon previous registration.
  2. Packages of Optimal technical Solutions (POS): it is an extensive set of integrated and holistic deep retrofitting solutions, based on a homogeneous database of climates and building types typical of the Mediterranean area, and calculated according to a cost-optimal approach. The POS are designed to allow a “one-step” or a ”step-by-step” renovation approach, and have been turned into a digital tool hosted in the platform, the POS Calculator. This tool allows to customize an array of technical parameters to produce preliminary renovation layouts.
  3. Versatile Energy Loan financial solution (VEL): it allows to define the best way to finance the renovation works by relying on the energy savings achieved, thus boosting the financial sustainability of the interventions; VEL is fully integrated with the POS, also in the form of a digital tool on the platform.
  4. MedZEBinars and other training resources: available on the platform, these are a system of courses, tools and documents to build the knowledge and skills of home owners, renovation professionals, policy makers about the MedZEB approach and the energy renovation of buildings in the Med area.
    • The extended MedZEBinars course in English consist of 15-hours online and free trainng and allows to receive the MedZEB Expert certification. These courses are accessible by creating an account on the HAPPEN Platform selecting the “Service Provider” profile.
    • The condensed MedZEBinars in French, Spanish, Greek, Croatian and Slovenian are a shorter version of the abovementioned course, aimed to provide an overview of the MedZEB approach and tools. They are accessible by creating an account on the HAPPEN Platform selecting the “Clients” profile.
  5. MedZEB Protocol and Voluntary Certification Scheme: it is a guarantee framework conceived to foster quality and viability of the deep retrofitting projects along the whole renovation process and value chain. The Protocol includes tools such as the Building Renovation Roadmap, based on the HAPPEN step-by-step approach, and the Business Plan, based on the VEL financial solution, which allow to manage both short and long-term renovation plans, according to a pre-given and coherent design framework.

The HAPPEN partners have also made an extensive effort to disseminate the project results to the technical and scientific community. For this purpose, they produced several thematic and scientific articles. Those available online are accessible on this repository.

You want to learn more about the project and the future perspectives? Contact our project coordinator:

Istituto per le Tecnologie della Costruzione – CNR – Marco Padula | padula@itc.cnr.it |+39 02 9806305

You can also get in touch with the project partners.

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