First Veneto Workshop of CABEE with SMEs

The event and the two workshops were made Friday 11th October 2013. From a public event, concerning the presentation of the CABEE project and issues, at the European level, on the assessment of energy and environmental sustainability, know as "From Ecobuilding to Districts energy", Urban Section of Veneto Region organised two Thematic Tables of discussions (workshops ), one with PAs and one with SMEs, on the theme "Development of tools and services to support the implementation of the energy and environmental sustainability of buildings and settlements".

SETTING and METHOD

The workshops with SMEs and Public Administrations (PAs), each with the support of facilitator, occurred in parallel and have seen a moment of joint conclusion.
From the CABEE life cycle of buildings and their neighbourhood, it was discussed, at first, on the needs of each phase and on the strengths and weaknesses of the practices and, at a later time, on the tips, suggestions and proposals regarding the definition of a structure of accompaniment for SMEs and PAs to provide a package of tools and services to support all phases of construction of sustainable buildings (new or renovation).
For the first time, PAs and SMEs meet to exchange ideas on the building issues, from the point of view of energy and environmental, to build sustainable buildings and to design possible solutions for the entire supply chain.

The participants have also wrote proposals and suggestions to submit at the next stage of the project CABEE in Vorarlberg, the CESBA Conference.

OBJECTIVE

The objective of the workshop with the SMEs has been to present and discuss an hypothesis of supporting structure able to provide SMEs and PA with a package of tools and services to support all phases of the implementation of sustainable public buildings (new or renovation): from the definition of the purpose and objectives of sustainability by the purchaser, the tender and evaluation of submitted projects, up to the phases of the construction, compliance audit and monitoring of the use of the building.

STIMULATION WITH EXPERT KNOWLEDGE

Mr. Andrea Moro from IISBEE Italia introduced participants with the building life cycle and the different evaluation systems for sustainable building construction in Europe pointing out the work to create a common definition done by CESBA. Mrs. Angelisa Tormena from the SMEs eco-building cluster “Consorzio per lo Sviluppo della Bioedilizia” (CSB) introduced participants with the idea of building up a supporting structure which will be an interface among PA and SMEs starting from the current experience of support to PA by CSB in Veneto. Mr. Francesco Musco from the IUAV University of Venice presented to participants a comparative analysis of the EU, Italian and Veneto Region legislative and policy framework on the matter of NZEB and Urban Planning. Organized in a work group SMEs has then discussed in deeply needs/problems and possible service for the implementation of the different steps of the building life cycle.

WHAT HAPPENED: RESULTS AND SUGGESTIONS

SMEs participants did not identify particular phases of the building life cycle to which refer the individual problematic but a urgent need for establishing an integrated design and construction processes for sustainable building (network of SMEs, Architects, Customer etc.). A greater legislative simplification and better integration of the different regulations is needed moreover incentives and funding policies should be more effectively tied to forms of control for the proper execution of the planned interventions. With regards to sustainable materials, difficulties were reported about their availability and the label are not always fully declare their content.

More training is required not only in relation to sustainable construction techniques but especially with respect to issues of integration of skills and dialogue between  Architects, SMEs and the customer. With regard to tenders a problem is that in current awarding system the quality standards are of secondary importance while the criteria of the best economical offer prevail (very low competences in implementing GPP and lack of awareness on the issue). Verification and monitoring of the building after construction is missing and more attention should be paid to the education of the NZEB users. Several proposals were elaborated by participants to solve the problems identified in the different phases:

– Financial resources: 1) Use of Italian funds for underdeveloped areas (FAS) and local housing tax to establish revolving funds; 2) use of non financial incentives in urban planning instruments (e.g. Volumetric bonus etc.);

– Purpose and target: 1) establishing reference criteria for sustainable construction / renovation shared with the client (Public Administration). A guideline for intervention per typology and use of the public building that define the sustainable renovation/ construction targets including possible technical solutions based on local building culture and territorial characteristics (to be included in urban planning instruments); 2) consulting services as interface between SMEs and PA for the definition of purpose and target and their transfer into the tendering phase

– Planning / implementation: 1) Establishing a Network of professionals established by the National Association of Builders (ANCE); 2) Example of consortium / partnership of SMEs base on an official agreement (Rete INNOVA); 3) more education and training on use and installation of materials for sustainable constructions;

– Procurement: proposal of a reference law on sustainable materials to ensure transparency on their composition thus increase responsibility of producers and users;

– Commissioning: a specific professional should be foreseen to guarantee contract compliance (materials, costs, solutions);

– Monitoring and use: the introduction of a building use manual (maintenance, use and behaviour)