2024
With DRIVE0, we set out to make deep renovation of existing buildings easier to deliver, more circular and more attractive to the people who have to choose and live with it. The project ran from October 2019 until December 2023 under Horizon 2020. From the start, we knew that lowering energy use could not be separated from the realities of a home, a neighbourhood and a local construction market. A technically strong solution will not make a difference if it is too difficult to install, too expensive, poorly understood or out of step with the needs of residents.
That is why we worked across the entire renovation process. We assessed existing technologies and their circular potential, defined performance criteria and developed solutions such as prefabricated envelope elements and modular HVAC platforms. At the same time, we examined the user experience, local drivers, business models, monitoring and the policy conditions that shape whether renovation can happen at scale. The work brought research, design, technology, demonstration projects and policy learning into the same conversation.
Circular deep renovation was one of DRIVE0’s central concerns. We developed methods for benchmarking circularity in demonstration sites and created a Circular Readiness Indicator to make the discussion more concrete. We also worked on digital building and installation details that support the mounting and demounting of prefabricated two- and three-dimensional elements. The intention was practical: make it easier to maintain, replace, reuse or recover parts of a renovation system later on, rather than locking everything into a single life cycle.
Those technical details only matter when they can be used in a real project. For that reason, the project also produced monitoring protocols, end-user information services, research into consumer and social-responsibility questions, circular business models and policy recommendations. The European circular-renovation atlas is part of that wider effort to turn isolated experiments into knowledge that others can use.
This final report brings together what we learned. It does not argue that one façade product or energy system can transform Europe’s building stock by itself. Our experience was the opposite: decarbonisation relies on coordinated choices about technology, material flows, industrial delivery, financing, policy, local conditions and everyday decisions at home. DRIVE0 offers a record of that work and, we hope, a practical starting point for people who want renovation to deliver lasting value rather than a short-term technical fix.