Retrofitting multi-apartment buildings in Mizil

By project Social Green

Published on 28 September 2022

Romania

Sud-Muntenia

About this good practice

The main challenge faced by the municipality of Mizil is that many apartments are not energy efficient. Mizil began providing support for retrofitting apartments just before the the COVID-19 pandemic hit and before the sharp rise in gas and electricity prices began, in order to help vulunerable persons. The project aimed at improving energy efficiency in aparments to decrease gas and electricity bills for tenants.
To achieve this work, the municipality conducted an inventory of the multi-apartment buildings eligible for retrofitting with public funds, implemented the retrofitting by a company contracted by the municipality, issued the energy performance certificate, and made a final reception after the warranty period of 3 years from reception.
The retrofit work included installation of external thermal insulation, replacement of existing exterior windows and doors (including carpentry for access to the block with energy-efficient carpentry), installation of terrace thermal insulation in cases where roof framing existed, and installation of thermal insulation of the basement floor for ground-floor apartment units.
The Covid-19 pandemic affected this project by slowing down its implementation, mainly due to the lockdown restrictions, and some workers were affected by the virus and had to be quarantined. In addition, prices for construction materials have increased during this period, leading to a much larger overall budget than originally estimated.

Resources needed

This project cost around 250.000 euros

Evidence of success

Total energy consumption for the retrofitted buildings (40 apartments) has decreased by 30%. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, the thermal insulation of the apartments has helped to keep heating and cooling consumption much lower, and the population is less affected by the rising prices. As a result of these investments, the population living in these social apartments had lower gas and electricity bills.

Potential for learning or transfer

The good practice can be transferred to other public authorities implementing the project both to private and public buildings, from European, national, or local funds. Public authorities have a key role to play as the public buildings represent about 12% by area of the EU building stock. Thus, retrofitting public buildings would result in an important saving of energy and public funds allocated for energy consumption. In addition, the investments can lead to savings in heating which can be invested in other type of works for rehabilitating social housing.