News

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, a report by the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) pointed to a worrying post-Covid trend for the construction industry: the sector's CO2 emissions increased last year, to surpass their pre-pandemic level.

Today’s renovation trends lean toward sustainability and eco-friendliness. According to a recent Zillow report, homes with energy-efficient features that reduce monthly utilities have a much quicker turnaround than those without. For example, listings highlighting a house's smart thermostats, lighting and irrigation systems sell six days faster than anticipated.

Whether you plan to sell in the spring or want to reap the rewards of energy savings and sustainable living, consider these seven winter renovations experienced DIYers can do themselves.  

Territories, cities and infrastructures must arm themselves today to face the climate challenges of tomorrow. However, how can effective resilience strategies be developed to protect buildings when faced with increasing climatic hazards such as droughts, floods, heat and cold waves, fires or storms? To find out more, here is an interview with Hubert Kieken, Climate Director of the international group Egis, which specialises in consulting, construction engineering and operation.

ISO has just published on the occasion of the COP 27 a document on net zero carbon emissions. This text is ambitious because it considers all direct and indirect emissions (including scope 3) and covers the full boundary that has been established for the organization.

19 project proposals are in the last phase of the evaluation process under the Horizon Europe Missions Work Programme 2021-2022: Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities “Cities Mission”. The main goals of the Mission are to deliver 100 climate-neutral and smart cities by 2030, and ensure that these cities act as experimentation and innovation hubs to become climate neutral.

The new CoolLIFE project aims to provide a user-friendly and open-source tool, which will be able to map the space cooling demand of Europe’s buildings and up to the continent level. The project will also set up a “knowledge hub”, an online repository of fair and quality-controlled sources to address the lack of data on space cooling.

The second domOS newsletter is out!

A general approach has been finally agreed for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Some ambitious targets have been set, such as new buildings being zero-emission by 2030 and existing residential buildings being zero-emission by 2050 following a national trajectory for minimum energy performance standards (MEPS).

INFINITE project has just published the November newsletter with the latest news and developments of the project and upcoming events. INFINITE aims at increasing the market penetration of industrialised all-in building envelope kits for the deep renovation, as competitive, reliable, stakeholders-accepted and life-cycle-based sustainable approach.

Construction companies in the UK are looking for a traditional and digitally skilled workforce but find it very hard. This is due to the high cost of living which is not reflected in salaries and the fact that skilled workers are not enough to cover what is and will be more and more needed by the industry from electricians and bricklayers to augmented reality and virtual reality skilled workers.