Key learnings from Navarra’s District Renovation Model

From the online discussion, we can take note of the following key takeaways: 

• Political commitment, legal framework and institutional setup are factors outside of the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) but they are crucial for its success. Navarra region is committed to energy renovation. The region has competence in housing. Nasuvinsa is the regional public company for the technical and operational support to housing and urban planning and has established inter-institutional collaboration with 50 local authorities for the implementation of development and urban regeneration strategies. Nasuvinsa is responsible for the OSS. Navarra also has an exceptional legal and financial framework for homeowners’ associations (HOAs).

• A long-term approach with the ambition to achieve the energy renovation targets for the whole region is needed. Continuous efforts, coherent EU and regional projects and a dedicated team allow to build up capacity and competence, develop and refine methodologies, onboard key stakeholders and thus create an overall supportive framework for energy renovation in Navarra.
   
• Knowing the baseline helps correctly plan activities. A regional inventory of building stock, with age, characteristics and information about the ownership and contacts to the home owner associations is important. Navarra has ca. 220.000 buildings, with 50% built before the ‘80ies with no insulation.
   
• Attractive financial subsidies enable the thermal insulation of apartment buildings. Navarra has permanent renovation subsidies providing long-term planning security, recently combined with recovery fund money. Currently, a single dwelling in an apartment building can apply for 22,800 EUR, combining regional funds and fund from NextGenerationEU recovery fund. This allows to cover up to 70% of the eligible renovation works, providing a very good public co-financing for the private investment of home owners associations.
   
• Citizens as owners and through their homeowner associations are the drivers of change. Working with them step by step along the renovation process to empower them to take decisions in a trusted environment is at the heart of the OSS work. The OSS staff consists of a management team that works with all the stakeholders and acts as intermediary and facilitator. Concretely, they go to homeowners’ assemblies: this is where the decisions are made. Trust and impact can only be achieved through regular presence.
   
• Aggregation is a must to be able to reap scale economy benefits and achieve large-scale renovation impact. The OSS team works with HOA of similar or adjacent buildings in parallel to mature renovation projects at the same time. Then it bundles the projects of different buildings and issues joint tenders that allow for economies of scale. Once selected, the construction companies sign individual contracts with each HOA.

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