Renovating condominium buildings is essential to Europe’s building decarbonisation challenge, but these projects are rarely straightforward. Unlike a single-family home, a condominium brings together multiple private owners who must make collective decisions while navigating technical choices, financing, legal requirements, and different personal circumstances.

Over four years, the LIFE-funded CondoReno project explored how Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS), also known as one-stop shops, can help overcome these barriers. Between 2022 and 2026, CondoReno developed and tested IHRS models for condominium buildings, combining public-led approaches in Flanders with a market-driven approach in the Netherlands and applying them in real-life pilot projects. 

The project leaves a clear message: accelerating condominium renovation requires more than better technical solutions. It requires services that can guide groups of co-owners through a long, complex collective journey.

Why are condominiums so difficult to renovate?

A condominium association is not a single homeowner; every major renovation decision affects a group of co-owners, and those owners do not necessarily start from the same position. Some may see energy renovation as an urgent investment, while others may be more concerned about immediate costs; some may plan to stay in the building for decades, others may not; reaching agreement can therefore take considerable time.

The CondoReno project evaluation found recurring barriers related to fragmented ownership, lengthy collective decision-making, limited technical knowledge, uncertainty about costs and benefits, and difficulties in coordinating the stakeholders involved. These obstacles can delay renovation even when suitable technical solutions and financial support are available.

This changes what is expected from renovation support: providing an energy audit or a list of recommended measures is useful, but it may not be enough to bring a condominium association to an investment decision. Co-owners also need help understanding their options, discussing them together, and navigating the different stages of the process.

Supporting the whole renovation journey

CondoReno explored how IHRS can provide this continuity. Instead of leaving condominium associations to find technical experts, financial advice, and other services separately, the IHRS approach brings the different elements of the renovation journey together. 

The project worked with a six-phase roadmap covering initiation, orientation, deepening, transaction, construction and aftercare: CondoReno developed 14 key deliverables for this purpose, addressing four groups: IHRS providers working with condominium associations, SMEs and market actors, policymakers, and organisations seeking to establish or scale IHRS ecosystems. 

The project tested both public-led and market-driven approaches. The evaluation found that both can support condominium renovation, provided that they operate within a supportive ecosystem and have access to sustainable funding and viable business models. 

Eight buildings, eight real-life renovation journeys

Eight pilot projects implemented in Antwerp, Mechelen and Ostend in Belgium and in the province of Amsterdam and Limburg in the Netherlands, provided real-life testing environments for the IHRS approach. The buildings varied considerably in size and context, ranging from relatively small condominiums to buildings with more than 200 units. 

Across the pilots, partners supported condominium associations with initial diagnoses, financial analysis, stakeholder engagement, and the development of renovation strategies. In most cases, this resulted in renovation masterplans or similar feasibility studies and investment scenarios. 

Only a limited number of the pilots progressed to full implementation within the project timeframe. This was not simply a question of whether the proposed renovation measures were technically feasible; long decision-making cycles, legal and governance constraints, financial uncertainty, affordability concerns, changes in ownership, and unexpected technical issues all affected progress. This experience also helped the project look differently at what an IHRS can achieve. A completed renovation is, of course, the ultimate objective, but there are important steps before real work begins. Helping a condominium association move from general awareness to a structured renovation plan, a clearer financial picture, and an informed collective decision can significantly improve its readiness to renovate. The pilots therefore became an important source of lessons for the future development of renovation services.

Six main recommendations for the future

This journey has led the partners, made up of local municipalities, energy experts, academia, property owners and construction SMEs, to the following recommendations:

• Strengthen IHRS as a core renovation infrastructure. IHRS, including services for co-owners' associations, should be recognised and supported as a fundamental component of the renovation ecosystem, with long-term funding, clearly defined roles, and sufficient operational capacity to guide condominium associations throughout the entire renovation process, in line with the requirements of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
• Recognise and fund process coaching as an essential service. Public support schemes should explicitly include and finance process coaching and facilitation, within clear criteria for the use of public resources that preserve fair competition, as the project demonstrates that condominium renovation is primarily a collective decision-making challenge that requires dedicated support to build consensus, manage stakeholder dynamics, and guide co-owners through complex choices. 
• Reform governance frameworks for condominium associations. Legal and regulatory frameworks governing condominium associations should be adapted to reduce barriers to renovation, including simplifying voting procedures, enabling more flexible decision-making mechanisms, and encouraging the establishment of sufficient reserve funds to support long-term investment planning.
  Develop interoperable integrated renovation tools. There is a need to improve the interoperability of digital platforms, financial calculation tools, and renovation roadmaps across regions and actors, in order to reduce fragmentation while respecting national, regional and local specificities, and enable the large-scale replication of IHRS.
• Enable accessible and inclusive financing mechanisms. Policy frameworks should support the development of innovative financing solutions that encompass an integrated, long-term approach to renovation aimed at reducing energy costs. This includes long-term, low-interest loans for condominium associations; guarantee funds; and housing-cost-neutral approaches, not only to reduce financial risks, but also to improve affordability and ensure that renovation is accessible to a wide range of co-owners, including vulnerable households. 

• Strengthen public–private collaboration for implementation. The scaling of IHRS requires structured and long-term collaboration between public authorities, financial institutions, market actors, and intermediaries, ensuring coordinated service delivery, aligned incentives, and effective implementation of renovation projects at scale, allowing co-owners to choose trusted and qualified professionals.

   

From projects to long-term renovation services

CondoReno's experience suggests that Europe does not lack renovation technologies; the harder task is creating the conditions in which hundreds or even thousands of individual owners can confidently agree to use them. That requires combining technical expertise with financial guidance, process facilitation, and stakeholder coordination, and it also requires stable institutions capable of accompanying condominium associations over the long periods that collective renovation can demand.

The project's pilots show that IHRS can improve renovation readiness and structure this otherwise fragmented journey. Integrated Home Renovation Services can help organise that process; their contribution is not only measured by the number of renovations completed during a project period. They can also help condominium associations become ready to renovate: with a clearer plan, better information, realistic financing options and greater agreement among co-owners.