Figure 1. The OSS for renovation Umbrella.
EU policy framework: from facilitation to inclusion
The concept of the OSS for energy renovation was first introduced in the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED – EU 2023/1791) as part of the EU’s effort to make energy efficiency measures more accessible and to support consumers in implementing renovation projects. The directive recognises that effective renovation frameworks require not only financial incentives but also technical guidance and trusted intermediaries capable of translating policy into practical action. This early reference lays the foundation for a new generation of support structures that help households, businesses, and local authorities plan and deliver energy upgrades more effectively.
Building on this foundation, the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD – EU 2024/1275) consolidates the role of the OSS within the EU regulatory framework. Article 18 explicitly calls on Member States to ensure that citizens have access to reliable technical assistance and advice, ‘in particular through the establishment of one-stop shops that facilitate the entire renovation process.’ These structures are expected to guide consumers from the initial assessment of their homes to the completion and follow-up of renovation works, helping them navigate administrative procedures and access available financing.
This provision signals a broader policy shift: achieving large-scale renovation requires enabling frameworks that focus on people as much as on buildings. Articles 3 and 22 of the directive further link OSS with the National Building Renovation Plans and measures targeting vulnerable and energy-poor households. By linking advisory and financial support in a single mechanism, the directive recognises OSSs as both operational tools and social facilitators.
Figure 2. Suggestion for the development of the OSS listed in the EPBD recast.
In addition, Article 18 of the directive specifies that Member States, in cooperation with competent authorities and, where appropriate, private entities, must ensure the establishment and operation of technical assistance facilities, including inclusive OSSs for energy efficiency in buildings, accessible to all stakeholders involved in renovation —from homeowners to administrative, financial and economic actors, including SMEs and micro-enterprises. It also highlights that OSSs will act as contact points for complementary instruments such as Building Renovation Passports, Smart Readiness Indicators, and digital building logbooks. When combined, these tools can provide tailored renovation roadmaps for each property, supporting citizens in planning investments, selecting qualified professionals, and monitoring outcomes.
Additionally, OSSs can bridge the gap between technical renovation services and broader social and climate measures. By aligning with policies that address energy and transport poverty, as well as the forthcoming Social Climate Plans (SCPs) under the Social Climate Fund, OSSs can ensure that support reaches low-income and vulnerable households more effectively.
This integrated approach reinforces the idea that renovation is not only a technical process but also a lever for social inclusion and equitable climate transition. With this legislative recognition, OSSs move from being experimental projects to integral components of Member States’ long-term renovation strategies. The focus now turns to scaling up: expanding capacity, ensuring stable funding, and embedding OSS within durable governance frameworks.
Evolving OSS business models across Europe
As the OSS ecosystem has emerged in recent years, a clear typology of operational models can now be seen across Europe. While every initiative adapts to its local context, four overarching configurations (see, for instance, Milin&Bullier 2021) are commonly observed: advice, support, implementation, and citizen-hub models. Together, they trace the sector’s evolution from awareness-raising initiatives to fully integrated, community-centred renovation ecosystems.
The Advice model: building trust through information
The Advice model is the most accessible and widespread type of OSS. Its purpose is to inform and guide households at the stage when they first consider renovation. Usually operated by local or regional authorities, these centres serve as reliable contact points in otherwise complex renovation markets. Their role is to make the renovation process easier to understand and more accessible, helping homeowners understand what kind of renovation is suitable, where to find qualified contractors, and how to apply for financial support. By translating policy measures into practical advice, they help build the trust that encourages more people to take action. This model works well in areas where renovation is not yet widespread, particularly where people need reassurance before engaging with technical or financial stakeholders.
Examples include the FOSSTER LIFE project in Flanders and the municipal energy advisers in Denmark, which guide citizens through their first steps and connect them with certified professionals. Also, the LEAP project, for example, is developing regional advice centres across Mediterranean islands and remote areas to ensure equal access to energy renovation services. By building awareness and providing clear guidance, these OSSs lay the foundation for more advanced renovation projects, even though their impact depends on effective links with technical and financial intermediaries.
The Support model: facilitating decisions and coordination
The Support model, sometimes called the facilitation or coordination model, goes a step further by accompanying homeowners throughout the renovation process. The OSS stays neutral, but helps organise the entire procedure, from energy assessment and planning to tendering, financing, and post-renovation checks.
This approach tackles one of the main barriers to renovation: the challenge of managing multiple contractors, technical details and administrative steps. Support-based OSSs act as coordinators, ensuring the process is well-structured and efficient. This model requires greater technical knowledge and administrative capacity but can significantly reduce delays, costs, and mistakes. The RenoBooster project in Vienna extends one step further from the advice model to the support model, as it not only provides independent guidance to homeowners and co-ownerships but also assists them with the coordination and facilitation of renovation interventions, including financial planning, contractor engagement, and project management support. This is because the available services of the RenoBooster OSSs for building owners range from individual interventions, general awareness raising, or independent counselling on energy-saving measures to package solutions with financing advice and subsequent implementation of these interventions. The LIFE project SHEERenov+ builds on this approach by assisting multi-apartment building associations in Bulgaria with end-to-end project support, including energy audits, contractor selection, and access to financial instruments. Similarly, CONDORENO develops tools and guidance for condominium managers and owners’ associations to jointly plan, finance, and implement renovations. Both projects demonstrate how the Support model can reduce the administrative burden and bridge technical, legal, and financial steps within a single, user-friendly framework.
Figure 3. Screenshot of the SHEERenov platform’s homepage, illustrating the model for integrated residential energy renovation services in Sofia, Bulgaria (source: sheerenov.eu)
The Implementation model: delivering renovation as a service
The Implementation model represents a deeper level of integration. Here, the OSS acts as the project integrator or general contractor, assuming responsibility for design, procurement, and implementation. Homeowners sign a single contract covering all stages of the renovation, from the first feasibility study to the final verification of results.
This arrangement demands strong financial and organisational capacity, but offers homeowners simplicity and accountability. It is particularly suited to deep renovations involving multiple measures and guaranteed energy performance. A good example is FORTESIE, a European project that builds on experience from OkTAVE in France and the social renovation work of JustAChange in Portugal. It creates a modular service framework connecting energy agencies, SMEs, and financing partners to deliver full renovation and retrofitting packages. FORTESIE shows how technology, flexible business models, and collaboration between different actors can lead to reliable, scalable services. Other projects, such as CONCERTO RENOV and REVERTER, are further refining the implementation model, developing replicable approaches. While most implementation models of OSSs target private housing, the same principle is also applied in the public sector through initiatives such as RenoWatt in Wallonia applies this principle in the public sector, aggregating renovation demand and implementing energy performance contracts for groups of municipal buildings. It is a one-stop shop which is responsible for the conclusion of EPCs, selects buildings that are suitable candidates for renovation, pools them together, launches the public procurement procedure and assists municipalities with the implementation of EPCs.
The Citizen Hub model: digital, local, and participatory
The most recent evolution represents the Citizen Hub model, which combines and expands all previous approaches. Rather than a single entity, it operates as a network linking citizens, professionals, financial institutions, and public authorities. This model is illustrated and highlighted by the Citizen-Led Renovation (CLR) initiative, launched by the European Commission to empower citizens and energy communities to take the lead in home renovation. CLR provides multiple, tailored support services that cover technical, financial, administrative, and communication aspects of renovation. These include guidance on energy efficiency and renewable integration, legal and procedural assistance, support in developing financing solutions, and tools for community engagement and awareness raising.
Figure 4. Screenshot of the Citizen-led Renovation (CLR) website, an initiative of the European Commission empowering citizens and energy communities to take the lead in home renovation (source: citizen-led-renovation.ec.europa.eu).
The CLR initiative has been developed through three successive phases, each expanding the scale and depth of support provided. The first phase focused on direct collaboration with a small number of citizen-led initiatives, providing hands-on technical, financial, and organisational assistance to help them plan and carry out actual renovation projects. The second phase built on these experiences by substantially increasing the number of supported communities and refining the methodologies, tools, and governance frameworks for wider replication. The ongoing third phase consolidates this knowledge by establishing a European network of enablers (regional and local actors) offering structured, on-the-ground support for project implementation. These enablers provide a comprehensive suite of services, including technical guidance on energy efficiency and renewable integration, administrative and legal assistance, financial advice and access to funding instruments, and communication and stakeholder engagement support. By offering a comprehensive suite of interconnected services, CLR facilitates the establishment and operation of local renovation ecosystems, energy communities, and also OSSs, as delivery mechanisms among other forms of local support.
One additional successful example is the SAVE the HOMES project, which responds to the growing complexity of the renovation process and the need for stronger citizen involvement and digitalisation. The model operates both locally and online: local offices meet citizens face-to-face, while digital platforms manage data, suggest renovation options, and link users with certified suppliers and funding sources. By aggregating renovation demand at the neighbourhood or municipal level, it achieves economies of scale and gives clearer signals to the supply chain. Most importantly, it treats citizens as active participants, involving them in co-design processes, local campaigns, and community financing schemes. The model also connects renovation to broader social policies by addressing energy and transport poverty and aligning with Social Climate Plans supported by the EU’s Social Climate Fund.
Projects such as OSR-Coop in southern Europe demonstrate how the Citizen Hub approach can combine technical support with cooperative financing and community participation. By merging digital services, social engagement, and coordinated governance, the Citizen Hub Model captures the inclusive spirit of Article 18 of the recast EPBD. It turns the idea of technical assistance into a practical system that ensures access for everyone, from households to SMEs, and supports a fair and inclusive transition in the building sector.
The next wave of OSS innovation lies in digitalisation. Projects like HORIS are leading this transformation by developing AI-driven platforms that enable predictive maintenance, real-time optimisation, and data-based decision-making for municipalities, industries, and citizens. Also, under the HORIS project, the #OSS4RenovationCluster has been developed, which brings together LIFE and Horizon projects such as EASIER, crOss renoHome, and others. Together, these projects exchange experiences, organise joint events, and publish knowledge materials to strengthen the overall OSS ecosystem. This coordinated effort reflects a growing European movement towards smarter, more connected, and inclusive renovation support, ensuring that OSSs continue to evolve as the cornerstone of Europe’s Renovation Wave.
Figure 5. Screenshot of the HORIS platform’s “Vivienda unifamiliar” interface, illustrating available home renovation measures for improved energy efficiency
(source: horis.ocu.org)
The EU Peers community: building a shared European practice
The EU Peers community plays a pivotal role in transforming OSS projects into a coherent community of practice. EU Peers provides a permanent structure for knowledge exchange, joint learning, and capacity building among Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS). It builds on the diversity of existing models and helps them evolve towards shared standards, comparable data, and replicable business structures. The project acts as the backbone of the IHRS, which gathers OSS operators, local and regional authorities, financial institutions, and civil society actors. Through this network, practitioners exchange practical lessons on governance, funding, digital tools, and user engagement.
By mapping more than 50 OSSs across Europe, EU Peers has already identified key operational trends, common challenges, and opportunities for scaling up. Its analysis has shown that effective OSSs tend to combine three characteristics: strong local partnerships, sustainable financial models, and clear communication strategies that make the renovation more approachable for ordinary citizens.
EU Peers also facilitates direct collaboration between projects funded under the LIFE-CET and Horizon Europe programmes. Through regular working groups, cross-project webinars, and shared online resources, the community enables joint discussions on policy developments, including the implementation of Article 18 of the recast EPBD. In doing so, it helps Member States and municipalities interpret the new requirements on technical assistance facilities and inclusive OSS coverage in practical terms. The network also provides input to European institutions, ensuring that feedback from local implementation feeds into upcoming policy cycles and funding instruments.
Figure 5. The EU Peers Community.
At its core, EU Peers seeks to make renovation services more consistent, visible, and reliable across Europe. Fostering collaboration between technical, financial, and social innovation projects creates a common reference point for the future development of OSS ecosystems. Through this effort, EU Peers is helping shape a European renovation landscape that is not only more efficient but also more inclusive, ensuring that One-Stop-Shops remain a central tool for empowering citizens in the energy transition.
Challenges and future directions
Despite their recognised value, OSSs face persistent challenges related to long-term funding, professional capacity, and digital transformation. Many OSSs have emerged from EU-funded projects and rely heavily on temporary funding, which complicates continuity once funding ends. Establishing stable governance, sustainable funding streams, and institutional commitment from national and regional authorities is vital for their long-term success.
A central challenge is the shortage of qualified professionals able to operate within OSS structures. Effective renovation support requires teams that can combine technical, financial, and social expertise, yet such multidisciplinary capacity is still limited in local administrations and small municipalities. Addressing this gap calls for systematic training and reskilling programmes, supported by vocational and higher education institutions, as well as continuous professional development programmes for municipal staff and local energy agencies. Strengthening these skills is not only essential for maintaining high-quality services but also for ensuring that OSSs can adapt to evolving regulatory and technological contexts.
Digitalisation presents both opportunities and new responsibilities. The shift towards data-driven and AI-assisted tools enables OSSs to provide more accurate, personalised, and efficient services. Digital platforms can centralise information, automate administrative steps, and connect users with qualified professionals and financing options. However, they also require robust data management, interoperability across systems, and adequate cybersecurity. Developing and maintaining such digital infrastructures is resource-intensive and requires sustained technical expertise. Ensuring that these systems remain inclusive and user-friendly, particularly for vulnerable or digitally excluded groups, is an emerging policy and operational priority.
Beyond technical and human capacity, the financial and organisational sustainability of OSSs remains a key concern. Many services still depend on short-term project cycles and lack viable business models once public funding ends. Strengthening financial viability will require the combination of public investment, private sector participation, and innovative instruments such as revolving funds or pay-for-results schemes. Equally, fostering trust and engagement among homeowners remains essential. Clear communication, transparency on costs and benefits, and locally tailored support can substantially increase citizens’ willingness to renovate and participate in collective schemes.
Finally, scaling up OSSs will depend on improved coordination between national, regional, and local levels. Aligning funding mechanisms, data standards, and capacity-building actions can ensure coherence and efficiency. Emerging collaboration platforms, such as the #OSS4RenovationCluster, show that knowledge exchange and peer learning across projects are among the most effective tools for overcoming fragmentation. Through joint action, digital integration, and investment in human capital, OSSs can evolve from promising pilots into permanent, citizen-centred services at the heart of Europe’s renovation efforts.
Conclusions
One-Stop-Shops (OSSs) have proved to be a visible and trusted interface between homeowners, professionals, and public authorities.
The BUILD UP community brings together a unique network of experts, practitioners, municipalities, and project coordinators who can help shape the next generation of One-Stop-Shops. We invite readers to share insights from local or national experiences, including examples of digital and physical OSSs, community-based renovation services, or new training schemes for building professionals. Contributions that showcase how different models have adapted to local realities, addressed social inclusion, or built sustainable business frameworks are particularly welcome.
Share your insights directly via the BUILD UP portal.
