SHE - Sustainable Housing in Europe

Housing Europe Centre official open

To mark the beginning of a new era in the promotion of decent housing for all in Europe, on November 7th, the Housing Europe Centre will be officially opened by Mr Michel Delebarre, President of the Committee of the Regions. This new initiative brings CECODHAS, The European Liaison Committee for Social Housing and the European offices of national housing federations under one roof to form a centre of expertise on housing issues. The event coincides with the publication of two books: The Review of Social, Co-operative and Public Housing in the 27 EU Member States which provides analysis, descriptions and key data to illustrate the state of the art of social housing in Europe and Social Housing in the EU: When community interest meets general interest which outlines the growing impact of EU legislation in this sector with emphasis tensions caused between the the need for social housing and EU competition law on the other.

Proceeding of the workshop 'Training for energy efficiency -know-how from & for social housing organisations'
Energy efficiency is an issue of increasing importance for social housing organisations: protecting their tenants against rising energy prices, responding to the changing legal frame work in the EU member states as well as a shared commitment to combat climate change. Particularly in the field of energy refurbishment, new skills and know-how are necessary to respond to this challenge. The workshop aims to analyse training needs and interests of social housing organisations and to present and discuss practical examples of training initiatives as well as best practice examples for energy-efficient retrofitting of social housing. The workshop is held in the framework of the “EI-Education” project, supported by the Intelligent Energy Europe Programme.

The "Ponte da Pedra" development in Matosinhos (Porto) has won the important award of the National Housing Institute, a public institute under the Ministry of the Environment, because "in a future perspective, it is a pioneering example that every promoter of social housing must follow".

Published the 2007 call for proposals of the European Commission programm Inteligent Energy Europe. Download

SHE awarded by the European Commission with the Sustainable Energy Europe Award 2007.

The SHE project, within the framework of the Sustainable Energy Europe Campaign promoted by the Directorate General for Energy and Transports of the European Commission, got the prize as best project in the category “Private-public partnership for saving energy”.

Portugal is now living a moment of profound legislative modifications. Almost every day a new set of instruments related to sustainability, energy efficiency and most recently accessibilities are being adopted. These new instruments have an increasing impact on the housing sector and, due to their social and societal mission, the coops of FENACHE are now including sustainability in their daily commitment and promoting sustainability on the political agenda and policies at national, regional and local level.

Therefore and in occasion of the SHE building inauguration, FENACHE, in partnership with the National Housing Institute, and with the support of the Municipality of Matosinhos, organized a seminar under the main theme of “The Social Housing Policy in face of the progressive legal framework and markets requirements”. Programme

At this most important event, members of the government, of the Housing Ministry, of the most important Portuguese municipalities, technicians from the National Housing Institute, architects, engineers, housing cooperative managers and technicians, representatives from other public organisations, and from the construction companies participated. Read more about the event.

The SHE project in Preganziol obtains regional incentive for installation of thermal solar panels

Coipes has obtained a contribution, from the thermal solar programme 2004 of the Region Veneto, of 22% of the accepted costs for the installation of thermal solar panels in the SHE project in Preganziol.

Federabitazione Europe, in the framework of the SHE Project “Sustainable Housing in Europe” is now an official partner of the campaign Sustainable Energy Europe 2005-2008, promoted by the Directorate-General Energy and Transport of the European Commission.

In the framework of the EU, undertaking to modify the energy landscape, this four-year initiative to make public opinion, organizations, private and public bodies, energy agencies, industrial associations and NGO aware of the importance of energy efficiency, has been launched all over Europe.

José Coimbra, Cooperative Union of NORBICETA, presentated the “Energy Efficiency in Portuguese Social Housing – Two Buildings, Two cases for success – The SHE Project in Portugal” explaining the experience gathered in two building projects, Bouça and Ponte da Pedra, and showing the audience the way that had led the Portuguese Cooperatives to success.

“Sistema Edificio®”: Presentation of the initial results of the ICMQ certification and the energy certification of the SHE intervention in Ozzano (Bologna)

In concomitance with the last edition of SAIE, on 27 October 2006 in Bologna, the annual convention of ICMQ on energy themes and certification systems took place.

As one of the first in Italy, the SHE project of Ozzano, promoted by the Consortium COPALC, has obtained the energy certification of the “Sistema Edificio®” of ICMQ. Read more

Reopening of the Round Table on the "Eco House" at the Ministry of Environment and Territory.

Launched in the occasion of the National Convention on Sustainable Housing, organized by Federabitazione-Confcooperative, the Round Table, composed of the main stakeholders of the building sector, wants to promote and incentive sustainability in this sector, through actual actions of awareness, dissemination and training of public and private actors. Read more

An agreement with the the most advanced cities on the energy efficiency will come soon.

The French Professional Association of Architects published the Chart of Sustainable Development

The document presented in France is based on the 4 principles of sustainable development: cultural, environmental, social and economic. The Chart in English and in French

On the 15th September 2006, in occasion of the Fair RECAM 2006 on housing and sustainable building, that took place in Montebelluna (Treviso) from the 15th to the 24th of Sept, the Studio Memar of the Arch. Masud Esamillou won the Prize “RECAM for the INNOVATION”, in the section “Buildings and components”, for the SHE pilot project of the Consortium COIPES.

The Regional Prize RECAM wants to sustain, promote and disseminate the ecological culture of buildings and forniture in the Region of Veneto, whose territory is characterized by small and medium but very reach and dynamic business realities.

Over 25.000 visitors came to the Fair and they had interest for the SHE approach of the COIPES project of Preganziol.

·     Provincia di Treviso;
·     Comune di Montebelluna;
·     Camera di Commercio I. A. A. di Treviso;
·     Federazione Regionale Architetti;
·     Distretto Trevigiano della Bioedilizia;
·     Confartigianato di Montebelluna;
·     Associazione Artigiani C.N.A. di Montebelluna;
·     Università IUAV di Venezia.
·     Unindustria – Treviso

Spain has become one of the countries with the most advanced solar legislation in the world.

On the 17th March last, the Spanish Government approved the new Technical Building Code (CTE, Codigo Tecnico de la Edificacion), the most significant reform of the Spanish building sector for decades. The new CTE includes the following main areas: security of the buildings structure, fire safety, other safety and health issues, sustainability and energy efficiency of buildings. The latter part goes far beyond the minimal level of implementation of the EC Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings and includes and obligation to cover 30-70% of the domestic hot water demand with solar thermal energy. Read the full text of the law (in Spanish only) Source: ACE..”

On May 5th, the Council of Ministers reached an agreement on European Regional development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) spending for the next budgetary period (2007 – 2013). ERDF spending on housing will be eligible in the new Member States, under certain conditions.

To be eligible for ERDF funding for housing, spending must be in the context of an integrated urban development initiative or to upgrade rundown areas or areas threatened by social exclusion. The housing concerned must be multi-family housing destined for low income households. The ERDF funding is available only for housing projects in new Member States.

New Member States can allocate a maximum of 3% of the ERDF allocation to Operational Programmes concerned or 2% of the total ERDF allocation.

This compromise is the result of negotiations between the Council and the European Commission which have been on-going since the European Council introduced the option of using the European Regional Development Fund to finance ‘housing project’ on December 6th 2005.

While new Member States want as much flexibility as possible to decide how to interpret the term ‘housing projects’, the European Commission wants to limit the spending on housing to interventions which are in line with the goals of the EU cohesion policy. Negotiations to define the exact type of interventions which can be supported are on-going. Urban renewal projects in the EU 15 will remain eligible for support as in 2000-2006.

Milan, 28 Feb - 4 Mar. First edition of the Next Energy Award national competition dedicated to the issues of energy savings and renewable energies, organized by Milano Fiere International, with the aegis of the Ministry for Environment and Territory and the Italian Kyoto Club.

Among others, the SHE pilot project of Preganziol (TV) won this important award for the hight level of energy efficiency and quality of life.

Agreement between the Ministry for the Environment and the “Ecological House” Associations

The Roundtable on the “Ecological House”, which was launched after the 1st National Convention on Sustainable Housing organized by the Federabitazione, with participants of the Directorate General for the Protection of the Environment of the Ministry for the Environment and Territory, environmental associations and other associations and organizations of the sector, has produced its first concrete result. By signing the draft programme agreement the parties commit to implement the four phases of the programme aimed at the promotion of sustainable architecture.

The objectives of the agreement are the promotion of sustainable principles in architecture, sustainable use of natural resources, and energy efficiency, and the dissemination of solar technologies in the construction sector, through awareness raising, communication, training and demonstration activities targeted at both public and private stakeholders.

The parties of the agreement are, on the one hand, the Minstry for the Environment and Territory, and, on the other hand, the Federabitazione, WWF, Legambiente, Agenda 21 Coordination, ANAB, INBAR, Ambiente e Vita, Legacoop, FIRE, Assoedile, ANCE, and Biocostruire.

The agreement is one of the first concrete result of the SHE Project dissemination activities aimed at advancing the issue of sustainable construction on the agenda of policy and decision making institutions.

Ecological Housing - Factor Four Housing - Green Housing - Healthy Housing Low Emission Housing - Passive Housing - Net Zero Energy Housing

A growing number of architects, designers, developers, builders and homeowners throughout the world are working to reduce the environmental impact of housing through innovations in design, technology and materials that weren't possible even a decade ago. This movement goes by several names but the common theme is to lower environmental impacts for the lifecycle of a house -- from site selection through design and materials choices, construction, operation, maintenance and demolition.

Low Impact Housing is a study of this common theme and a survey of recent advances in the design and construction of homes. Canada Mortgage Mortgage & Housing (CMHC) has recently contracted Abri Sustainable Design carry out this project, identifying and cataloguing the best examples of cold-climate low impact housing in Canada and the world today. The survey will include the full range of housing forms from single detached to multi-unit projects and community or subdivision developments; from owner-built to custom-designed demonstration projects.

A broad selection of projects will be featured as in-depth case studies to be published by CMHC. The projects chosen will best illustrate CMHC's Healthy Housing principles: occupant health; energy efficiency; resource conservation; environmental impact; and affordability.

If you've been involved in a low impact housing project, please take 5 minutes to submit a project overview via online form, or by printable PDF form which can returned by fax or mail. If you know of others who would be interested in this survey, kindly pass this message on to them.

The Sustainable Urban Development European Network SUDEN has been established. The association aims to integrate sustainable development into the urban renewal projects. On 17th September 2004, in Paris, the first General Assembly on the association will take place.
For more information: http://www.suden.org

Catherine Charlot-Valdieu / Philipe Outrequin
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First meeting of Technical Working group on Sustainable Housing, launched by the Italian Minister of Environment, in collaboration with Federabitazione, on 3rd March 2004.

SHE at Batibouw 2004 in Bruxelles. During "European policies for social housing" session, held on 3rd March 2004, the SHE project aroused strong interest.

Important event with the participation of the Minister of Environment, Altero Matteoli. SHE objectives and the interventions of di Preganziol and Aahrus (Denmark), included in the SHE European Project, will be illustrated. Results of the inquiry on facilitations given by the Italian Municipalities to eco-sustainable intervention, leaded by Federabitazione Europe-ANCI (National Association of Italian Municipalities), will be commented.

Federabitazione Europe and ANCI promoted a survey to the Italian Mayors concerning existing and foreseen facilitations for sustainable housing. Results will be illustrated during the above Convention.

The Danish SHE-project was chosen through an international project competition held in the summer of 2003 under the name “Architecture & Sustainability in Danish Housing”.

The two winning projects among these the SHE-project designed by the world famous German architect, Professor Thomas Herzog, will be presented in a conference at the Danish Architectural Centre in Copenhagen January the 8^th 2004.

Around 100 participants from the building industry, politicians, municipalities, education institutions, architects etc. will be introduced to the context of the SHE-cooperation and to the future consequences and impact of these pioneer winning projects.

Organizers: Boligforeningen Ringgaarden, Danish Centre for Urban Ecology and Carl Bro A/S (Danish She partners).

Building Sustainably - How to plan and construct new housing for the 21 st century

A new report from the Sustainable Housing Forum (SHF) states that the UK’s building regulations and the planning system must be reformed to help bring sustainable housing into the mainstream.