In This Issue

Jump to Page

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36 | 37 | 38 | 39 | 40 | 41 | 42 | 43 | 44 | 45 | 46 | 47 | 48 | 49 | 50 | 51 | 52 | 53 | 54 | 55 | 56 | 57 | 58 | 59 | 60 | 61 | 62 | 63 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 100 | 101 | 102 | 103 | 104 | 105 | 106 | 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 112 | 113 | 114 | 115 | 116 | 117 | 118 | 119 | 120 | 121

ONLINE BRUSSELS HERITAGE - ONE-DAY SEMINAR - 11/12/2014

CONCLUSION

The seminar was most instructive and clearly showed the need, after a period of experimentation and innovation, to take time to evaluate and reflect with a view to a possible reorientation of priorities, such as those provided for in the Government agreement.

The issue of standards being applied to existing buildings was extensively covered. One key observation is regarding the significant differences between the theoretical consumption resulting from models and the actual consumption of buildings. This observation is one we share with other European cities. It is therefore necessary to work on refining the models to take greater account of the diversity of structures and their environment on the one hand, and the methods of occupation of buildings, apartments, etc. on the other. This is an essential aspect of the sociology of buildings. Having a keen awareness of this data (with actual consumption often being less than half the theoretical results) will enable adjustments to be made to renovation works and the cost of investment. We must aim for a balance between the results sought and the resources required to achieve them in order to achieve a satisfactory pay-back period.

The first step in this process is to implement monitoring of work on buildings in order to gather and evaluate the data. It is important that we move away from our somewhat entrenched opposing positions to be able to discuss the issues at hand on a real, sufficiently documented and informed basis. Such monitoring should include consumption before and after work and provide an opportunity to put in place a protocol for the collection of data. Since this work is not starting from scratch, this data collection must incorporate data from audits already carried out. These data currently remain in the records of public authorities who steer the audits or in the hands of private companies who carry them out, and even though they exist in large quantities such data are not necessarily known or compatible and therefore not capable of being compared. Pooling all of these elements in a common database would facilitate access to them and enable comparative analyses to be carried out.

The absolute priority is to generalise a base level of renovation and insulation for the building stock. Initial investments, as has already been shown in a number of cases, are the most cost-effective, while those necessary to achieve the final KhWs to comply with the normative requirements are the most costly. In short, the key is to work on a greater number of buildings with a view to regional economies of scale by intervening less intrusively on a systematic basis. The importance of a global approach is well established, both at city and neighbourhood level as well as in terms of preserving the urban planning and architectural qualities of old buildings. In this sense, we have arguably already made progress, particularly insofar as protecting rear courtyards is concerned, which has been a requirement since the introduction of the sectoral plan in 1979.

The question of embodied energy was also raised in the course of the seminar: the overall assessment of any works must include embodied energy, i.e. the energy consumed when implementing the techniques and materials used in the renovations. Although this question is difficult to address in practical terms, it must not be ignored.

All of this speaks in favour of enhanced cooperation between different institutional partners (foremost of which are Brussels Environment and Brussels Urban Development) and the construction sector, public or private actors in urban development, a range of scientific partners such as the Belgian Building Research Institute (BBRI) and the various universities running programmes addressing these issues of energy performance and modification of existing buildings. Enhanced cooperation in the near future between Brussels Environment and Brussels Urban Development is included in the Government agreement, particularly with regard to the management of



118