EFFESUS, an initiative underpinned by European funding, is looking at energy efficiency in historic urban districts, with the UK case study operating in Glasgow.
Effesus writes
We’d like to draw your attention on EFFESUS, a new project, funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program.
EFFESUS is researching the energy efficiency and sustainability of European historic urban districts and investigating measures and tools to make significant improvements whilst protecting their heritage value.
Historic urban districts are an integral, important part of European cultural identity and heritage. Improving their energy efficiency sensibly will help to protect this heritage for future generations.
The term historic urban district means, in the context of EFFESUS, a significant grouping of old buildings, built before 1945 and representative of the period of their construction or history. These buildings do not necessarily have to be protected by heritage legislation.
The main output of EFFESUS will be the Decision Support System, which will balance data on building stock and urban districts (including data on heritage significance, climatic conditions and energy generation and use) with information on improvement measures, thereby helping to prioritise improvement interventions suitable for historic urban districts. EFFESUS will also develop new and adapted technologies which are cost-effective and suitable for use within historic urban districts. These technologies will include: aerogel insulation products, thermal insulating renders, secondary window solutions, radiant reflective coatings, intelligent energy management systems and systems for energy generation from renewable sources.
EFFESUS will validate the Decision Support System through trialing in case studies at real scale. Similarly the technologies, developed through EFFESUS, will also be tested in case studies to demonstrate their applicability and suitability. EFFESUS will organise seven case studies in the historic districts of seven European cities: Bamberg, Budapest, Genoa, Glasgow, Istanbul, Santiago de Compostela and Visby. All case studies, except for Glasgow, are located in UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
EFFESUS will encourage an active stakeholder dialogue with the heritage sector, the construction industry and local, national and international policy makers as well as building owners and occupants and will provide training courses for students and advanced training for construction and heritage professionals.
To find out more about EFFESUS, its publications, future events and training opportunities and newsletter please visit EFFESUS online at www.effesus.eu
