Pilot sites

This project belongs to a large development in the south of the city called Parque Arturo dating back from the seventies, where it is Group C. It amounts 126 dwellings, in three connected ten storey high plus attic towers. Each tower has four identical flats per level of about ninety square meters of interior space, with no exterior wall insulation. The energy positive renovation will be done according to EOS’ all-included Energy Performance Contract package, improved with the incorporation of LEGOFIT’s BIM environment.

Main objectives:

Energy rehabilitation of the building through  

• Intervention on the building envelope with 80% savings in heating and DHW demand, and minimization of future cooling demand.
• Electrification of the installations with a heat pump with the possibility of centralized cooling
• Renewable energy capture with a positive final energy balance, including other energy uses

Besides the purpose of improving the thermal performance of the building both in winter and summertime, the façade intervention responds to three additional purposes: the basic structural and equipment maintenance, a regularization and improvement of the image, and the production of energy associated with the prior.

The demo site is Dormitory 6 at Ozyegin University (Istanbul), built in 2017. It consists of 5 interconnected structures including dormitories, a social center, lodging, and a guest house. The total construction area is 44,500 sqm on 17,910 sqm of sloping land. The dorms have various room configurations, shared kitchens, and study areas. The building has a plain architectural style with exposed concrete and color elements inside and out. Its energy performance is rated as B, representing high efficiency in Turkey’s context. The calculated annual heat loss is 1,066,892 kWh, showing good thermal insulation. The building primarily uses natural gas for heating, with boilers, accumulation tanks, and efficient combustion. It has a water softener system, LED lighting, appliances, and 8 elevators.

Main objectives:

• Deployment of energy management system and utilisation of passive energy interventions to minimise heating loads,
• Solar energy utilisation (on roof and other feasible locations) to facilitate energy production capability of the building that is also assisted with electric storage system for improving quality and reliability of electric system
• E-charge station to reduce transportation related carbon footprint of occupants,
• Program to monitor and understand occupant’s energy related behaviours as well as to encourage for energy efficient living

The demo site consists of 24 single-family houses with PV-equipped carports for energy production. Each house will have photovoltaic installations and salt-water battery energy storage. Energy production will be managed in a virtual community, allowing shared consumption and EV charging. Heat pumps and greywater heat recovery will cover heating, cooling, and water needs. Circular economy principles will guide construction using monoblocks and dismountable designs. Low VOC materials will be used for indoor air quality, and sensors will monitor energy, water, and indoor pollution levels. Greywater recovery will supply toilets. Administrative authorizations are secured, with infrastructure starting in late 2022 and completion by the end of 2024. The project aligns with Luxembourg’s sustainable building certification, LENOZ.

Main objectives:

• Provide feedback on the technologies implementation (passive and active)
• Enable quantitative impact measurement (by deploying a Post-Occupancy Evaluation approach based on additional performance measurements (sensors) and running interviews and questionnaires with occupants), thus contributing to improve LEGOFIT design process.

The residential area in Pécs, located south of the city center, comprises 5-10 storey prefabricated buildings constructed between the 1970s and 1990s. It is a significant housing estate with about 50,000 residents. The pilot site, built in 1985, includes 100 flats, services, shops, and garages. The building lacks proper thermal insulation, with outdated windows and doors. Heating and hot water are provided by the local district heating company using renewable biomass fuel. The building is connected to utilities and sewage systems. Despite lacking renewable energy technology on-site, the district heating company supplies the majority of heating needs with renewable energy sources. Individual heat meters are not currently installed in the apartments, but their water and electricity consumption is metered individually in the apartments.

One of the two wings of the building will be renovated (approximately 2400m2).

Main objectives:

• Improvement of the thermal envelope to minimise heat loads
• Provision of individual thermal controls for each apartment
• Maximising the renewable energy production on site

The proposed Suikerpark Veurne Pilot is situated within a 49 ha area close to Veurne’s center, near the ‘Ijzer’ river basin. The 18 ha residential portion is being developed in phases, with the first phase nearly complete and the second phase being designed by ION. The existing residential units in Phase 1 adhere to the regional ‘almost energy neutral’ standard, while the goal for Phase 2 and subsequent phases is energy neutrality or positivity. Sensors installed in Phase 1 track thermal energy, DHW flow, electricity, tap water, and heat network data. Phase 2 envisions additional multi-sensors for temperature, air quality, occupancy, humidity, light intensity, and window/door status, along with electrical solar production meters. The larger development area encompasses a new town district, business park, and nature park. Effective water management and preservation of valuable species are crucial for the 15 ha nature park. Interaction between the residential area and existing industrial zone is planned, with waste heat from Pepsico being utilized for district heating in the residential area.

Main objectives:

• Use Phase1 as a normalised benchmark for subsequent phases and adding some more sensors and involving the currently passive inhabitants using LEGOFIT toolbox to assesses retroactively possible better design choices, reduce the active energy usage and energy community engagement by means of user-engagement
• Implement from the start more sensors in Phase 2 to improve the overall learning process, enrich the BIM model with more details to be used to late in operations as an active digitial Twin to enhance even more the smartness and its related use-cases/values
• Improve energy community values across all phases by means of implementing smart community assets like solar, (V2G) EV(own/shared) and stationary storage technologies spanning multi-energy (electrical/thermal) and multi-vectors (also mobility)
• Take into account the learnings and data from Phase1, 2, using LEGOFIT full design toolset to improve overall the implementation of Phase 3,4,5,6 and future ION developments.