Role profile: EU project manager multi-storyinnovation Programme Title: EU Project Manager Reports to: Head of Strategy and Operations Location: Flexible (option for home-based working) Role may require occasional international travel (mainly NL, FR, UK, DE) ‍ Remuneration: Competitive: up to 0.3-0.5 FTE (1.5-2.5 days per week) 1. Purpose Energiesprong UK seeks an external contractor to support the coordination and help deliver the project management requirements for a 35 Million EU funded project: MUSTBE0 (InterregNWE). The core element of this role will include: Support the project director in ensuring collaboration with all project partners works smoothly. Compile deliverables and integrate them in 6-monthly reporting for Interreg. Compile 6-montly financial claims and progress reports for Interreg. Provide partners with some support when it comes to resolving programme specific questions/issues. Establishing and maintain relationships with the Interreg secretariat and partners primarily across the UK, DE, FR and NL. Provide oversight and monitor spending of Energiesprong against the EU Projects. The amount of time for these tasks amounts to an estimated 0.3 FTE until project end (30 Nov 2023). Quotes are requested for a daily rate basis. Details of the expected amount of work will be established further into the procedure of appointing.   Starting date: as soon as possible. 2. Context Energiesprong is an approach to delivering net zero energy retrofit of homes at scale, financed by savings and with performance guaranteed. Dutch for ‘Energy Leap’, it was developed by the Dutch Government with their housing and construction industries between 2010 and 2017. The Netherlands has the same carbon reduction targets as those set by the UK Climate Change Act, requiring a zero-emission building stock by 2050. They realised that a radically different approach to the measure by measure, grant funded norm was needed. Delivery rates had to go up, and costs had to come down to enable financing without public subsidy. The key principles of the Energiesprong approach are: net zero in one go: whole house, super-efficient thermal wrap with renewable energy generation, storage and heating; guaranteed actual performance: annual net zero energy, comfort every day and affordable bills; offsite manufacturing: industrialisation for quality, cost reduction and minimal onsite disruption; retrofit cost financed by guaranteed long term energy and maintenance savings; affordable, grid friendly electrification: 90% carbon reduction now, zero carbon as the grid decarbonizes. Energiesprong UK is an independent, 100% publicly funded not for profit organisation. Our mission is to adapt the Dutch approach for the UK and develop a volume market that can deliver net zero energy retrofit and new build, at scale without public subsidy. We support landlords, supply chain, Governments and opinion formers and work closely with our sister Energiesprong teams in NL, FR, DE & IT. 3. How to apply Please submit your application with a cover letter and CV to join@energiesprong.uk . Please do so before the 14th of February 2022. You are requested to elaborate on your relevant experience and your personal ambition as well as style of working. The project proposal for MUSTBE0 can be made available on request.

Role profile: Communication & Event manager european projects Title:  Communication manager Reports to:  Head of Strategy and Operations Location:  Flexible (option for home-based working) Role may require occasional international travel (mainly NL, FR, UK, DE) ‍ Remuneration: Competitive: up to 0.3 FTE (1.5 day per week) Purpose Energiesprong UK seeks an external contractor to support the organisation and coordination of communication & events initially for a 35 Million EU funded project: Mustbe0 (Interreg), but the role may be expanded in case additional (EU) funding will be secured in the course of this contract. The core element of this role will include: Coordinate communications between all participating project partners Organise and lead bi-weekly calls Responsible for all Mustbe0 communication deliverables by the lead partner with support of other partners, such as leading on: drafting a Marketing Communication plan, newsletters, articles, update websites, press releases, knowledge papers, social media etc. Organise international project partner meetings (venue, logistics, information, briefings, budgeting, contracting, supporing material, catering etc.) Organise site visits to retrofit locations and companies for interested parties both in UK as well as internationally in case needed. Organise events for housing companies/construction companies and others to come together and discuss relevant topics. Budget responsibility to ensure invoices for payments from and to Energiesprong for these purposes is kept in check. The amount of time for these tasks amounts up to 0.6 FTE until project end  (30 Nov 2023) for the MB0 project, but is not a guarantee for work and will depend on project needs.  In case additional funding is found this role could be extended up to 0.8 FTE. Quotes are requested for a daily rate basis. Details of the expected amount of work will be established further into the procedure of appointing.   Starting date: as soon as possible. Context Energiesprong is an approach to delivering net zero energy retrofit of homes at scale, financed by savings and with performance guaranteed. Dutch for ‘Energy Leap’, it was developed by the Dutch Government with their housing and construction industries between 2010 and 2017. The Netherlands has the same carbon reduction targets as those set by the UK Climate Change Act, requiring a zero-emission building stock by 2050. They realised that a radically different approach to the measure by measure, grant funded norm was needed. Delivery rates had to go up, and costs had to come down to enable financing without public subsidy. The key principles of the Energiesprong approach are: net zero in one go: whole house, super-efficient thermal wrap with renewable energy generation, storage and heating; guaranteed actual performance: annual net zero energy, comfort every day and affordable bills; offsite manufacturing: industrialisation for quality, cost reduction and minimal onsite disruption; retrofit cost financed by guaranteed long term energy and maintenance savings; affordable, grid friendly electrification: 90% carbon reduction now, zero carbon as the grid decarbonizes. Energiesprong UK is an independent, 100% publicly funded not for profit organisation. Our mission is to adapt the Dutch approach for the UK and develop a volume market that can deliver net zero energy retrofit and new build, at scale without public subsidy. We support landlords, supply chain, Governments and opinion formers and work closely with our sister Energiesprong teams in NL, FR, DE & IT. Required skills: Significant relevant experience of working within an international context, marketing and/or communications, including growing and managing multiple audiences The ability to create engaging content and deliver this across a range of channels including, web, print, social, and email Capable of managing the delivery of high-quality outputs within a transnational environment Exceptional interpersonal and negotiation skills, including able to negotiate favours and save costs where possible, all while maintaining an excellent relationship with counterparts; On the spot problem solving skills and stress resilience in such situations; Excellent sense of taste for organising appealing events that inspire both in setup as well as choice of location; Eye for detail and ability to tightly plan complex events. A creative eye for graphic design outputs Working English is essential, French and Dutch are desirable You know the basics of working with Adobe Indesign and Photoshop Able to work with video editor software such as Final Cut Pro or Adobe Premiere is a big plus How to apply Please submit your application with a cover letter and CV to join@energiesprong.uk . Please do so before the 14th of February 2022. You are requested to elaborate on your relevant experience and your personal ambition as well as style of working. The project proposal for MUSTBE0 can be made available on request.

At the two-day Energiesprong Hackathon, which took place on 4 & 5 November, three teams developed exciting concepts for the German market as part of the “Build (ing) on ​​data” challenge. The winning team impressed the judging panel with a prototype for a data-building tool. At the Energiesprong digital hackathon, three interdisciplinary teams took up the challenge to work with Vonovia, one of Germany’s biggest housing organisations, on a concept looking at how data on a building can be interrogated as quickly, efficiently and cheaply as possible so that work can begin on a retrofit project. In 36 hours, the three teams: "IL33", "Renovata" and "serSan" were able to prove which creative approaches can speed up the process of interrogating building data. In addition to plenty of time being available for joint working, the sessions with the coaches also enabled important questions to be clarified. It was not an easy decision for the judges but, in the end, the “serSan” team were honoured to be named as the winning team and to win the prize money of EUR 2,500. What’s next The winning concept will be further analysed and developed with Vonovia, and will hopefully result in further collaboration. In addition, the team will present their idea to other stakeholders at the  Energiesprong Germany annual event . For the other two teams, the journey into the Energiesprong universe has also only just begun and they will hopefully continue to work with Energiesprong in the field of scalable retrofits.

Unlocking net-zero retrofit at scale in the UK: 5 asks of government As Energiesprong features as an ‘exemplary sustainable project’ as part of COP26, Energiesprong UK outlines their 5 key asks for the UK government that could help scale this innovative approach to whole house retrofit. Four years ago, 10 homes in Nottingham became the first in the UK to receive whole house retrofits using the Energiesprong approach. Today, this project is being showcased as one of the 17 exemplary sustainable projects in the Build Better Now COP26 virtual reality (VR) online exhibition. Challenges arose and there were many lessons learned. But NCH2050 Homes – led by Nottingham City Homes and Melius Homes and funded by Horizon 2020 – demonstrates how whole house retrofit can be instrumental in achieving our net zero goals and providing healthier, happier, cheaper-to-run homes for millions. But it can’t happen at scale without 5 key policy interventions. What is the Energiesprong approach? Over the last 5 years, we’ve been rolling out the Energiesprong model in the UK – a revolutionary whole house refurbishment and funding approach for achieving net-zero homes. It is designed to unlock in the UK: Zero carbon retrofit at scale Paid for by energy and maintenance savings Delivered by a new high-tech British industry Guaranteed actual performance, comfort and costs long term Warm, affordable, desirable homes for life Homes are fully insulated using offsite manufactured wall and roof panels in conjunction pre-assembled ‘energy pods’ providing low-carbon, high efficiency heating, hot water and renewable energy production delivered. The result is homes that are brought up to a net-zero energy standard, creating warmer, more desirable places to live – financed by energy and maintenance savings. Developed in the Netherlands, 5000 homes have already been retrofitted to net-zero energy with 20,000 homes in the pipeline. Here’s what we need to make this a reality in the UK Energiesprong UK’s 5 asks of Government 1. Net-zero target for homes – now Stepped targets to net zero are counterproductive, resulting in a piecemeal approach that’s costly, difficult to finance and creates stranded investment. A clear target for net zero homes ensures investment in cost-effective retrofit and industrial innovation, moving away from the poor-quality, low-cost approaches that have given the sector a bad reputation. The target must include all energy use and generation and be based on actual performance. Energy efficiency measures for vulnerable households should continue. 2. £250 million innovation investment Offsite manufacture is required to increase volume and pace of retrofit - in addition to many more skilled people, which is already being called for across the industry. Alongside a clear target, 5 – 7 years of innovation funding following the “commit and review” Offshore Wind Accelerator arrangement, would enable the development of factories, products and processes to decrease unit cost and increase speed of deployment for deep retrofit. This would kickstart and create a self-sustaining market to deliver our 2050 goals without expensive subsidies. For many years the retrofit industry has been calling for a long-term funding policy. This needs to be split between deployment of existing methods which can alleviate fuel poverty and take us some of the way towards achieving our next carbon budgets, and developing those which will get us to net zero by 2050. 3. Zero carbon = zero VAT Remove the VAT disincentive for manufactured energy efficiency products to unlock an industrialised approach to net zero and enable a level playing field for all housing providers – all at no net cost to Treasury. Zero VAT on new build incentivises demolition and new build, which creates more carbon emissions through construction and embodied carbon in materials. The policy was developed to rapidly increase building of new homes. The need to rapidly increase rate of retrofit is acknowledged so now is the time to make the UK VAT policy support this. Reduced VAT for a ‘retrofit-led renovation’ was also one of the financial incentives outlined in Construction Leadership Council’s recent ‘National Retrofit Strategy.’ This proposed that the Government could “extend a reduced 5% VAT rate to cover all general home improvement works (with some eligibility criteria), provided a certain EPC rating was achieved.” 4. Create secure business models for retrofit We need to enable landlords to finance deep retrofits through combined rent and ‘comfort plan’ payments that align with energy efficiency grants and tariffs, effectively creating a fair ‘Total Cost of Living’ model for landlords and tenants. A comfort plan is a package of services for heat, hot water and electricity at a fixed price - providing tenants with a warm, comfortable home at the same price or cheaper than before, while the energy savings are used by the landlord to fund the costs of retrofit. The Netherlands introduced an Energy Plan policy which gives tenants a guarantee of zero energy bills in return for a fixed monthly fee paid to their landlord. This has been instrumental in bringing forward their 20,000-home pipeline. 5. Zero or low interest rate for net-zero retrofit Currently, the cost for financing net-zero retrofit in the UK is 2 - 4.5% compared to <1.5% in the Netherlands and 0.75% in Germany. Cutting this could unlock non-Government investment, stimulating a new high-tech British industry that delivers jobs and growth as well as healthy homes for all. This was also explored by the Bankers for Net Zero’s ‘Retrofit Revolution’ paper in March 2021. Show your support for scaling up whole house retrofit in the UK by supporting these asks on Twitter and LinkedIn . To find out more about how the Energiesprong approach could be scaled up to help meet the UK’s carbon emission reductions, please read Green Alliance’s Reinventing Retrofit report .

Shout out ... ... to all innovators, idea finders, programming enthusiasts, designers and students! Join us on 4-5 November for our  innovation hackathon – build(ing) on data , as part of the "Energiesprong Lab“, the think tank to transition existing building into buildings that no longer use fossil fuels. Spend two days working with international cross-industry teams to develop a tool to map any building remotely, by smartly combining existing data sources and new technologies. Help us build a world that converts buildings faster, cheaper, and more easily into net zero energy buildings. In addition to gaining wide brand awareness and the opportunity to present to one of the largest building owners in Germany, the winning team will also receive an award of €2,500. 2-day online hackathon The Energiesprong objective is to redesign retrofit processes so that buildings no longer use fossil fuels, at a lower cost, with high quality and prefabricated elements. To accelerate this development, we have launched the Energiesprong Lab: Over the course of a two-day online hackathon, contribute with your creative ideas - as a team or as an individual - on the topic of optimising building data and work digitally on an exciting new challenge. CHALLENGE:  Innovation hackathon – build(ing) on data We're looking for the best ideas for a tool that can map a building by bringing together publicly-available data and existing data. In this way, we can obtain a good picture of the inside and outside of a building, so that providers of net zero energy retrofits can better and more easily tailor their offer to the customer’s requirements. This is a step on the way to developing a plug-and-play net zero retrofit concept, taking into account the specific design requirements of each customer! Why participate You will gain access to a free online 2-day hackathon on 4 and 5 November You will have the opportunity to present your idea to one of the largest building owners in Germany You will gain access and be connected to the national and international  Energiesprong eco-system The winning team of the hackathon will Win prize money of €2,500 Get the opportunity to present their concept idea on a big stage in front of other relevant national and international stakeholders Receive coaching and have access to a meeting room in Berlin to further develop the concept. It’s worth it, so why not join in! When From Thursday 4 th  November to Friday 5 th  November, you will have 36 hours to work on your idea. Our coaches will be available to offer support and mentoring. Where You will work virtually from your own home. We will send you further information upon registration. Register before October 23! Language Please note that the hackathon will take place in English for the German market. We are inviting anyone and everyone who is interested to join us! The webpage is German, but don't let that deter you from registering. We answer in English. If you are curious, but not sure if your idea/concept is suitable, please feel free to contact us for a preliminary conversation at  sanne@energiesprong.org

According to the this month released U.N. Report, residential buildings are the source of around one-fifth of all greenhouse gases emitted globally. Retrofitting older homes and buildings to make them energy neutral is one of the biggest challenges. NewsHour Weekend special correspondent WillemMarx reports for PSB news ongoing series Peril and Promise: the Challenge of Climate Change. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-2DfPl9iy8

Listen to "Why Energiesprong could be a gamechanger for retrofit" in this episode of BBCRadio4, 39 ways, to save the planet with Tom Heap. This podcast also features insight from Energiesprong's Ron van Erck, as well as the residents benefitting. See 39 ways on BBCSounds to hear the programme in full.

A packed newsletter with our latest international developments. Did you know Energiesprong Italy was launched? You definitely want to watch the video of the first completed project in Germany and get your updates from New York. Ready? Click here and enjoy your read.

Mustbe0 projects is all about apartments buildings, so let's check out a realised high-rise project. Housing organisation Portaal with construction company Dura Vermeer After completion of successful net zero retrofits for single-family homes, Housing Organisation Portaal decided to moving on up to retrofit multi-story buildings. Together with construction company Dura Vermeer, a net zero deep retrofit for 110 apartments at the Kwangodreef, Gambiadreef and Kasaidreef in Utrecht was realised. Portaal is one of the pioneers in realising net zero energy homes and has completed hundreds of them all over the Netherlands. Together with builder Dura Vermeer, also a frontrunner in this area of expertise, they again successfully delivered these multi-story apartment buildings. While the residents were at home, window frames were renewed, facades repackaged, new ventilation systems and PV panels installed and kitchens and bathrooms replaced. Most important elements: Energy use  before  the renovation: 3.245 kWh/m3 per year Energy use  after  the renovation: 848 kWh/m3 per year Ventilation by means of balanced ventilation with a Heat Recovery Unit CO2 controlled (system D) Entire shell thermally insulated: Roof: Rc= 7 Closed façade : Rc = 6 Open façade, triple glas: U-value = 0,9 Ground floor: Rc = 4 Cooperation: Housing organisation Portaal with construction company Dura Vermeer . Click  here  for the complete photoalbum

An European initiative building an industry from scratch HotHouse, By Willem Marx The homes were terraced, pale-brown brick, and woefully energy inefficient. The two-story townhouses in Hem, a small town in the northeast of France, kept residents sweltering in the summer and shivering in the winter. Utility bills were crushing.  But ten of the townhouses were finally due for an upgrade in 2018. The private company Vilogia owned them as part of its contract with the French government to provide affordable housing, known as social housing in Europe. Vilogia owns thousands of other properties just like them across the whole of France, where lower-income tenants rent properties at below-market rates.  Even developers of new buildings have found it “impossible” to reach net-zero in France, recalls Fabien Lasserre, the company’s head of technical innovation. But he and his colleagues were preparing upgrades for the old homes in Hem that had to last decades. That presented an added risk: any improvements could become obsolete in a few years if French regulators imposed stricter residential emission standards.  Lasserre decided to try an experiment that had never been done at scale in France: a zero-carbon retrofit for old homes.  After winning approval from his CEO, Lasserre got to work. Over the course of three months, his team installed new polyurethane facades to each of the terraced houses to avoid heat loss. Above the existing roofs, they built timber and steel structures filled with insulation panels. Solar panels were installed on all the roofs. Most of these components were manufactured or assembled in a nearby factory, rather than created onsite, to save money. Heat recovery ventilation systems extracted stale and moist air from each home, recovered the heat, and then used that heat to warm fresh filtered air. The cost to upgrade each unit was around €120,000 ($145,000), slightly higher than a conventional retrofit. But energy use fell by 75%, enabling the solar panels to handle the remainder. Just as important, annual energy bills fell by half to just €900 ($1085) (most of which were outmoded energy taxes the French government is considering abolishing).  “It was a kind of revolution,” Lasserre says of the project. The upgrades ensured expensive upgrades wouldn’t be needed in the future, and tenants could be more comfortable for decades to come without having to leave their homes during refurbishments. Other large affordable housing owners in France soon took note. Three years later, Vilogia plans to deliver dozens of zero-carbon apartments and refurbish 160 single-family homes in the nearby community of Wattrelos, France. Another 800 homes are due for completion by 2025. The firm has partnered with its peers and the local government to expand this effort dramatically in the years ahead.  Replicating zero-carbon homes anywhere It can’t come soon enough:  17% of the world’s total greenhouse emissions  come from housing. Most of those aren’t from new buildings, but from existing properties. The great challenge is how to retrofit millions of buildings to meet a net-zero standard. The Dutch may have found a way.  Lasserre’s inspiration came from a business concept he had learned about from European colleagues called  Energiesprong , a Dutch word for “energy jump.” It began back in 2010 as a vague idea inside the Netherlands ministry for home affairs. An unspent portion of that year’s innovation budget, just under €50 million, needed to be allocated. It was decided the funds should be spent on reducing carbon emissions from the country’s housing sector.  Private sector individuals with a range of backgrounds pulled together in a government-funded business incubator. They brought professional expertise from housing development, energy efficiency, and marketing, according to Silicon Valley veteran Ron van Erck, who joined the effort early on and now oversees international development at the not-for-profit Energiesprong Foundation.  But it was an unconventional marriage that turned out to be exactly what the industry needed. “If we are not figuring out something that's more compelling for people to buy—that actually brings the building stock closer to where we need to go—this is going nowhere,” says van Erck, describing the Dutch government’s strategy. “This is not where we would like to end up.”  A decade after its inception, the group is now thinking about retrofitting as far more than materials. They’ve created a commercial ecosystem in the Netherlands for businesses that are willing to rethink and then tackle the necessary housing transformation. They built a dedicated factory for insulation panels, so as to drive down on-site costs; convinced banks and local governments to offer attractive financing for homeowners; and consulted tenants on the buildings’ aesthetics.  The soup-to-nuts approach means  Energiesprong  promoters - like local housing organizations - can refurbish homes that are visually desirable, with lower energy costs and carbon footprints. But  Energiesprong  is also a market development tool: a public-private model that can be replicated in developed nations seeking to reduce its carbon footprints. By building out a viable ecosystem of companies that work together to deliver zero-carbon retrofits, it scales up a service for millions of homes. Government, meet the zero-carbon home industry Almost 6,000 properties in the Netherlands have already undergone an  energiesprong  makeover. There are at least as many planned in France — including Vilogia’s efforts — plus hundreds more under construction in the UK, Germany and Italy, and even a few dozen planned for New York state through a $30 million program called RetrofitNY. So far, the concept has only worked in a small number of locations, and only with significant financial and logistical backing from government. The task ahead, UK researchers  say , means a radical change to the business models behind residential renovation, and a shift in how governments pay for it. Rather than simply paying for building upgrades, governments need to support the creation of a viable commercial industry aimed at eliminating emissions from buildings (similar to how NASA is  nurturing a commercial space flight industry , rather than just building and buying rockets).  Energiespong  aims to do this by directing funds toward early adopters of effective technologies, sourcing financial support for them until they reach commercial viability. With tens of millions of homes across North America and Europe needing to be upgraded in the coming decades, old techniques aren’t up to the challenge. There may never be enough workers to retrofit all the homes that require energy efficiency upgrades, house by house with individual surveys, argues Ian Hutchcroft, head of Energiesprong’s market expansion efforts in the UK. Instead, retrofit efforts must come to rely on the expanded use of digital tools, like portable 3-D laser scanners that can measure millions of data points on an individual property, then instruct an assembly line nearby to build bespoke insulation panels for each home.  “We need a new industry that's capable of delivering at scale in a cost-effective way,” he says. “We're very much about industrializing the housing retrofit and new-build process as well.” He points to the automobile industry as a model: thousands of customized cars a day roll off assembly lines.  Hutchcroft’s team now talks with the British government “every week” to expand the market beyond social housing groups and public sector landlords. He’s encouraged by their willingness to listen. Given the chance to present a few slides to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he thinks he could be persuasive: “I think we’ve got that compelling narrative, I think we have the pitch, and we can point to where it is working, and point to the companies that consider this to be the future.”  The ultimate goal, says Hutchcroft, is raising awareness among homeowners who demand zero-carbon retrofits. Supply will follow. “Some carrots and sticks from government,” he explains, “will drive householders to put their hands up and say, ‘Yes, please do this to my house too.'”

Do you have excellent social media and content management skills? Energiesprong EU is looking for a Social Media & Content Manager to join their team to support the Interreg NWE funded MustBe0 project. The Project: The MustBe0 project is funded by the Interreg North-West Europe Programme . The project is led by the Energiesprong Foundation and aims to provide affordable, desirable, long-term performance guaranteed net zero energy retrofits for apartment buildings in the North West Europe region following the Energiesprong approach. The award-winning Energiesprong net zero energy standard and funding approach provides modern and comfortable homes that people love to live in. In the MustBe0 project, nine housing providers in the UK, France, Germany and the Netherlands have committed to collaborating on retrofitting at least nine demonstrator buildings (415 apartments). This will launch the market for retrofitting multi-unit buildings in Europe. The Role: As a key member of a small team, you will be responsible for monitoring social media feeds and creating content related to the project’s activities for social media channels. Your responsibilities: Manage social media feeds: regular monitor and update social media; Create content on project news and activities for social media channels; Write articles on the demonstrator projects and related topics; Edit articles and press releases composed by the different market development teams in the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands; Provide media coverage overviews of press attention regarding the project activities across Europe and further afield. Skills and Experience: Experience of managing social media feeds (Twitter & LinkedIn); Experience of creating and managing content; Excellent English language skills; Proven copywriting experience; Foreign language skills a plus; Passion or understanding of the sustainability market desirable. Terms: Location: Home or own office based. Terms: Part-time position. Flexible. 200 hours over a 12-month contract. To apply, please submit a quote to: info@energiesprong.org

Mark Douglas Wessel Whether it’s a goal of putting someone on the moon for the first time, coming up with a vaccine for COVID-19 or in the EU’s case becoming carbon neutral by 2050, announcing such admirable goals while inspiring, is the easy part. Sorting out how to get there – as mentioned previously, is where the real work begins. And such is the case with Europe’s goal of retrofitting as many as 35 million buildings over the next decade. This also helps to explain why despite its early success, Energiesprong has adopted a mindset of constant improvement with respect to everything from financial models for retrofitting, to the evolution of products and materials used to ongoing enhancements to the renovation process itself. For example, revisiting the way façades are produced – ideally at the factory level, in a manner that will make them a more desirable, more affordable choice for individual homeowners. “If you look at wraparounds for post war stock (the best candidates for this work), I think the façade component requires another step,” observes Ron van Erck, head of Energiesprong’s international market development. “They make sense for certain houses where the façade quality and insulation values are poor and it’s financially viable for housing providers to invest in this work over a 30-to-40-year period. But currently, many private homeowners will continue to think that sort of investment is going to be too steep. So, for façades, we still need another step in innovation to put a push on in the coming year.” Photo's by Olivier Samyn Knocking Down that First Domino Innovation not just in terms of how façades are produced, but the scale on which they’re made. Sébastien Delpont, director of Energiesprong France feels the key to ramping up and industrializing the retrofitting process comes down to achieving much higher production volumes, not unlike other mass-produced products or services. “There is one domino after another that we need to get down and in our view, social housing is the first domino. If I had to knock on the door of each and every homeowner to convince them to retrofit their homes, it’s going to take a lot more time (to ramp things up). So a better solution at least in the short term, to get the numbers we need, is to target social housing organizations that can deliver hundreds or even thousands of homes right from the start.” Yet another area of innovation that has become a priority is ensuring the circularity of façades and other building materials used to retrofit homes.  “We continue to work on ways to bring down the cost of retrofitting homes and such elements as the façades – which in itself, is a huge innovation. But now we have another step… and that’s ensuring as many materials as possible we use are recyclable or cradle to cradle.” Energiesprong is proud of the strides they’ve made thus far “but now we want more,” he candidly observes. “On a project-by-project basis, we’re getting more focussed on sourcing more low carbon materials. From a neighbourhood wide perspective, a critical next step is to get more private homeowners on board with energy conversions.”  Designing More, for All To accelerate building innovation tied to cost effective net zero retrofits, over the past year Energiesprong has launched design competitions on both sides of the Atlantic. In the MustBe0 Design Competition (the MustBe0 project is funded by the Interreg North-West Europe programme) launched in the UK, the central theme of ‘Build Up’ focussed on best practices for adding new layers of dwellings on existing flats, while transforming the entire building to net zero. And in a design competition in Berlin themed ‘Net Zero Now!’ the emphasis was on retrofit solutions for multi-story buildings, including the use of such essential components as roof solar panels and insulated façades. Arguably one of the most exciting aspects of this innovation drive, is they’re being made not for the profit of one company or group, but for the benefit of all players in the industry. “The thing is we are an open-source change maker,” observes Delpont. “Basically everything we’re doing is public because we’re working for local authorities and States within the EU. So it’s not a matter of supporting one specific company or cause… we’re just helping everyone because it’s in the public interest to make it easier and less expensive to do deep energy retrofits.” Knowing What the Puzzle Looks Like Energiesprong’s openness and ‘a rising tide lifts all ships’ mindset carries over into the group’s long-term objectives as well. In sharp contrast to the corporate world, where the focus is on such criteria as market share and longevity, Energiesprong’s mindset that van Erck openly admits is “we want to go away as quickly as humanly possible. Because that means the problem has been solved.” To get there, he says “we’ll continue to work with a handful of actors that make-or-break projects. The homeowners. The financier. The solution provider. And the regulator. If you can put those four into a room and make them understand what they must do… then a very real opportunity to bring about change emerges. I don’t think anyone else is going about it in that way,” he says, adding “it helps if you know where you want to go. Because I think a lot of people look at just one piece of the puzzle, before knowing what the completed puzzle looks like in the end.”