Periodic Reporting for period 3 - RenoBooster (RenoBooster - the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2022-10-31
"Mission Statement":
Vienna has set itself ambitious targets in its Smart City Framework Strategy. To achieve those targets, efforts must be increased considerably. With a large share of multi-storey buildings and the highest share of large buildings from before 1919, Vienna’s building stock differs significantly from those of the other Austrian provinces and calls for specifically targeted strategies and actions.
RenoBooster – the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna proposes a tailored and timely answer to this challenge. It is the joint effort of renowned institutional, technical and social expertise led by the City of Vienna, to create an attractive offer - One-Stop-Shop - for the Viennese private home owners and their building managers built on existing services. The project is designed as comprehensive participatory process, involving the key stakeholders in Vienna and thus laying the ground for stable local partnerships for renovation. Substantial support has already been achieved in preparation of the proposal. The project combines new consulting services, banking and finance instruments, targeted subsidies, communication formats as well as technical and legal framework conditions into integrated services. Careful market segmentation and target-group specific communication will support the development and thorough testing of a number of new packages – including topics like efficient technologies, renewable energy and energy poverty. Quality assurance to support home owners in achieving the expected energy savings will be the essential element.
Vienna has set itself ambitious targets in its Smart City Framework Strategy. To achieve those targets, efforts must be increased considerably. With a large share of multi-storey buildings and the highest share of large buildings from before 1919, Vienna’s building stock differs significantly from those of the other Austrian provinces and calls for specifically targeted strategies and actions.
RenoBooster – the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna proposes a tailored and timely answer to this challenge. It is the joint effort of renowned institutional, technical and social expertise led by the City of Vienna, to create an attractive offer - One-Stop-Shop - for the Viennese private home owners and their building managers built on existing services. The project is designed as comprehensive participatory process, involving the key stakeholders in Vienna and thus laying the ground for stable local partnerships for renovation. Substantial support has already been achieved in preparation of the proposal. The project combines new consulting services, banking and finance instruments, targeted subsidies, communication formats as well as technical and legal framework conditions into integrated services. Careful market segmentation and target-group specific communication will support the development and thorough testing of a number of new packages – including topics like efficient technologies, renewable energy and energy poverty. Quality assurance to support home owners in achieving the expected energy savings will be the essential element.
The project started with the official kick-off workshop on May 21st 2019. All beneficiaries worked together on further project planning, concrete task descriptions with detailed responsibilities, and stakeholder and project environment analysis, which were altogether pulled together to form the “project handbook”. A few days later, the project was kicked-off with a meeting with the City Counsellor Kathrin Gáal and the Sounding Board.
The first 14 months have been used for two main objectives:
1. Understanding the situation of the different home owners and the situation of the renovation professionals including their needs and motivations through a profound phase of analysis;
2. Preparing the pilot phase of the one-stop-shop (OSS) by analysing existing service offer, developing new services and starting to organise the operational set-up of the pilot OSS.
Overall, the project is well on track, the budget is equally on track and the results of the deliverables show a high level of quality. The first 8-10 months were dedicated to an intensive fact finding and analysis of the status quo including a large survey among homeowners. While the following 6 months focused on developing new services for the OSS.
It has been acknowledged that the success of the pilot phase can only be measured when having a “real-life environment”, i.e. having an actual location where customers can come and receive support. This is why the pilot phase, starting in October 2020, will take place in a more extensive form than originally planned. The project team found a temporary location at the Forum of the wohnfonds_wien and will perform consultations two days per week.
The advanced timing led to earlier decisions regarding name and branding: End of July a name for the new hub was decided: “Hauskunft”, a newly created noun, derived from merging the two words Haus and Zukunft (English: building and future), also reminding of the work Auskunft, which hints to a calling for advice.
The first 14 months have been used for two main objectives:
1. Understanding the situation of the different home owners and the situation of the renovation professionals including their needs and motivations through a profound phase of analysis;
2. Preparing the pilot phase of the one-stop-shop (OSS) by analysing existing service offer, developing new services and starting to organise the operational set-up of the pilot OSS.
Overall, the project is well on track, the budget is equally on track and the results of the deliverables show a high level of quality. The first 8-10 months were dedicated to an intensive fact finding and analysis of the status quo including a large survey among homeowners. While the following 6 months focused on developing new services for the OSS.
It has been acknowledged that the success of the pilot phase can only be measured when having a “real-life environment”, i.e. having an actual location where customers can come and receive support. This is why the pilot phase, starting in October 2020, will take place in a more extensive form than originally planned. The project team found a temporary location at the Forum of the wohnfonds_wien and will perform consultations two days per week.
The advanced timing led to earlier decisions regarding name and branding: End of July a name for the new hub was decided: “Hauskunft”, a newly created noun, derived from merging the two words Haus and Zukunft (English: building and future), also reminding of the work Auskunft, which hints to a calling for advice.
In the first 5 years of the Smart Renovation Hub Vienna the new integrated services are expected to lead to an increase of the renovation rate and quality, triggering at least 110 mio € investments, 5.5 GWh/a of primary energy savings and a reduction of 1000t of CO2 emissions/a. Moreover, RenoBooster is expected to create a positive dynamic going beyond this project and stimulate further energy-efficient renovation initiatives.
In the first months of this year the whole topic building renovation gained growing importance, due to the European Green Deal and the forthcoming local elections as well as later on also as recovery measure after the COVID-19 lockdown. The project team managed to position the new OSS as an ideal support to prepare to “ride the renovation wave” in Vienna. The development of the hub is thus perceived as very timely.
This dynamic also led to a raise in ambition, particularly regarding the start of the new facility "Hauskunft".
In the first months of this year the whole topic building renovation gained growing importance, due to the European Green Deal and the forthcoming local elections as well as later on also as recovery measure after the COVID-19 lockdown. The project team managed to position the new OSS as an ideal support to prepare to “ride the renovation wave” in Vienna. The development of the hub is thus perceived as very timely.
This dynamic also led to a raise in ambition, particularly regarding the start of the new facility "Hauskunft".