Top Condomini: Accelerating residential retrofit in Emilia-Romagna

This project acts as an one-stop-shop providing information and technical assistance to accelerate the retrofit of residential buildings in the Emilia-Romagna region.

Co-funded by the European Investment Bank through the ELENA Facility (European Local Energy Assistance), the Top Condomini project started in October 2021 and will run for three years. It is a regional One-Stop-Shop with ‘two hubs’ that provide information and offer the initial technical assistance to mobilise investment in the residential sector. The retrofit interventions include the energy upgrading of existing residential buildings, through the following energy measures:

• insulation and improvements to the envelope (walls, roofs and floors);
• replacement of windows and glazing; heating, cooling and ventilation;
• domestic hot water;
• interior lighting and smart energy management applications;
• renewable energy solutions (solar panels, PV and heat pumps);
• charging points for electric vehicles.

Through the project website, private citizens or condominiums managers can candidate their buildings and request a preliminary screening for the building energy retrofit. Afterwards, they can request an energy audit and feasibility study of the retrofit intervention. To date, more than 2,100 private dwellings have benefited from the service.

Regarding public social housing, the technical assistance consists of preparing technical documentation for tenders. Three big tenders have been published, involving more than 3,600 dwellings.

In addition to providing energy diagnostics, feasibility studies and technical-decision support, Top Condomini accompanies participating parties through all stages of design, from bidding to contracting with companies that will physically perform the work.

The project also addressed the design and dissemination of collective self-consumption scheme: a model similar to the energy community, but on a condominium scale, consisting in local production of electricity from renewable sources. ESCos (energy service companies) have been involved to finance the PV plant installation in residential buildings.

Top Condomini is becoming a fundamental service to support energy investments in residential buildings. AESS has already identified a business model to continue the One Stop Shop activities after the end of ELENA contract, based on the involvement of ESCos providing the service to citizens. The initial third-party technical assistance will be covered by the ESCos investment costs.

This best practice is extracted from our publication ‘Sustainable Regions in Action‘. Discover more best practices here!