Details on project implementation

The project starts with research activities which asses and concretize the demand of the target groups (crafts enterprises, architects/planners and decision makers). These activities are focused on the pilot regions and are centred around four research questions; these aim at a transferable and communicable methodology for renovating the building stock:

• How can vernacular architectures and settlement structures as well as the building stock of the 20^th century be simultaneously registered, assessed, documented, and finally renovated on the AlpHouse quality level?
• Which scientific findings and tools in the fields of energy efficiency and ecology are already available?
• Which geographic factors are to be considered and by which information systems can these voluminous data be made available for local and regional players in a way easy to handle for them?
• Which topics out of the domains of law, public incentives, business administration, marketing and soft skills must be covered by the qualification modules so that local SMEs can place AlpHouse renovations on the market in a professional way?

The findings will be audited and optimized in cross-sectoral networks of research institutes, educational service providers and decision makers on regional, national and transnational level regarding their practical relevance and suitability for sustained implementation. Thereby the user groups are being integrated into the development of the project’s outputs from the beginning. The development of (initially informal) quality standards in the networks of planners and craft enterprises will be supported. Subsequently the findings will be made available in a database optimized for the individual target groups by application specific IT-tools (e.g. in form of a database with building types and components, of overviews over location factors, of interactive maps, and of tools for planning and marketing).

Simultaneously the research findings will be edited for qualification modules and flanking information services, which procure practical knowledge that raises the competencies of the target groups. The qualification modules encompass target group specific training sequences (for SMEs and decision makers), practical units on building sites (for SMEs) and auxiliary train the trainer programmes (for educational service providers).

These measures will be developed and performed in selected pilot regions after analyzing the concrete educational requirements, backed up by education consultation for the involved enterprises and their employees. The qualification modules will be evaluated, optimized and transferred to other regions. The educational offers will be certified, and recommendations will be given for the implementation of quality requirements in national and regional sets of regulations.

A continuous public relation work disseminates the outcomes of the project, coordinated with and supported by communal, regional and national institutions in the countries involved.

The project builds on broad preparatory work of the involved partners, e.g. the projects:

• Vokal, Chamber of Crafts for Munich and Upper Bavaria/Education Centre Traunstein (DE)
• Med Eco Quartier and Team Eco Construction, Chamber of Commerce Drôme/Neopolis, Valence (FR)
• Alpine Settlement Patterns, Technical University Munich, Chair of Planning and Building in Rural Areas (DE)
• Research and practical projects on the construction of passive and low energy houses, Energy Institute Vorarlberg (AT)
• Research projects on energy efficiency and traditional architecture in the context of settlements, Regions of Aosta Valley and Lombardy (IT)
• Action research projects on development of geographical indicators, sustainable regional development and renewable energies, Research Studio iSpace (AT)

Additionally synergies with the networks of the partners and with related projects (e.g. EnerBuild) will be made use of, and Observers will be included into the project to supply information and to disseminate findings.

The project life cycle is 36 months, ranging from September 2009 to August 2012. At the end of this period the qualification modules and the information platform will be handed over to service providers who secure the further continuing of these offers.

>> current status of the project