The DistrictEES project, supported under the European research and innovation programme Horizon2020, developed a district-level renovation approach to accelerate the clean energy transition in cities and municipalities in the Netherlands. The project, led by  WDW, which is an subsidiary  company of Van Wijnen, triggers investments into energy efficiency and sustainable energy on district-level and thus helps to put the Dutch decision to become gas-free by 2050 into practice.

The project’s objective was to develop a district-level renovation solution, which is on the one-hand tailored to the type of real estate (private, public, commercial, social housing) but on the other hand standardised enough to accelerate the transformation of entire districts. This allows to take advantage of economies of scale, which generate volume and drastically reduce the cost of renovation, and at the same time achieve higher conversion rates among building owners. This in turn significantly accelerates the energy transition and reduces the energy consumption as well as CO2 emissions of the entire district.

The applied approach of a standardised facilitation service with area-specific tailoring is integrating the three dimensions: the district and the data of the district gets inventoried and analysed (assessment of the status-quo), participation and communication process is started (stakeholder engagement) and the execution and monitoring (measures are taken to make buildings more sustainable). The district-level renovation approach develops a long-term vision for the district and takes into account all relevant stakeholders: The municipality, energy cooperatives, housing associations, private homeowners, entrepreneurs, etc. To do so an online and offline visitor centre was developed, which provides real estate owners with the right level of information, including different renovation scenarios.

One of the key premises of this approach is the availability of data, which builds one of the corner stones of the DistrictEES approach. The Dutch government provides access to building-related data as well as the University of Delft, which has developed a 3D model of all existing buildings. With this 3D model and different data streams WDW has developed a viewer, which is a visual twin that makes the different datasets insightful and makes it easier to engage stakeholders.

Figure 1: Overstegen district, WDW viewer, WDW

To date the project signed contracts with three different Dutch districts, where the transformation process has started and converted over 3000 houses. Investments into building renovation and renewable energy generation amount to over EUR 19 million and a CO2 emission reduction of at least 462 tonnes CO2 per year. 
The pilots further highlighted that aspects such as biodiversity, social cohesion, mobility and urban planning become more and more important for district-level renovation processes.