This is the Stronghouse Legacy
As part of the energy transition, Stronghouse worked on sustainable housing for strong communities. The consortium analysed and redesigned existing measures to motivate and facilitate homeowners – individually and on a neighbourhood level – to invest in energy renovation/retrofitting their homes.
The Stronghouse partners are proud of what has been achieved during the project lifetime
The Stronghouse Legacy
Now the Stronghouse project is officially over, what have we done? In short, a lot! We're really proud to say that the consortium has far surpassed its initial goals.
Do take a look at the following short summaries, told by the Stronghouse partners themselves, and learn more about the project's sustainability successes and amazing achievements. This is the Stronghouse Legacy.
Hein Braaksma, Stronghouse Project Coordinator Province of Drenthe
"Working with Persona’s, representing different groups of homeowners, Stronghouse helped to target both awareness campaigns and practical support. For this Stronghouse established cooperation with a wide range of organizations and enterprises, improved financial support and developed digital tools empowering homeowners."
Ugo Leever, Province of Drenthe
"For us at the province of Drenthe, the Customer Journey is one of the most important Stronghouse instruments. Together with our 12 municipalities and the Drents Energie Loket we’ve worked on supporting homeowners in every step: from the initial awareness through to actual renovation, and the encouragement of others to follow their example."
Roy Stavenga, Municipality of Noordenveld
“At the Municipality of Noordenveld we’ve focused on our neighbourhoods.These communities have the perfect scale to organize awareness, support, and even collective renovation. Here we were able to build on the existing social fabric and collaborate closely with our local Energy Cooperative."
Bert Scheper, Municipality of Hoogeveen
“Our ambition at the Municipality of Hoogeveen is to realize a hydrogen neighbourhood. In our Nijstad-Osst Neighbourhood we’ve asked homeowners to switch their heating source from natural gas to hydrogen. For this we want to use the existing natural gas infrastructure. We’ve put great effort into organizing public and private stakeholders, such as network operators, regulators and suppliers of natural gas boilers."
Daniel van der Kleij, Drents EnergieLoket
"During our participation in Stronghouse we’ve seen an enormous growth in the demand for support. The geopolitical situation and soaring energy prices has made everyone very aware of the costs of fossil fuels."
Ine Lobelle, City of Roeselare
"In Stronghouse we developed Personas for vulnerable households. This improved our understanding of the challenges they are facing. It also helped us to consider, for example, who these homeowners trust, where they look for information and what can motivate them to renovate."
Emile Vanden Burie, Vives University of Applied Science
"We’ve worked on such topics as hydrogen as a home-heating source and on a digital twin as a policy and support instrument. In Stronghouse Vives was stimulated to look beyond technical innovations - to focus on the end-user."
Evelien Impens, IGEMO
"In Stronghouse we were able to tap into the energy and enthusiasm of volunteers, many were students. With thermographic scans they demonstrated to homeowners how much energy is lost through leaks and how much efficiency can be gained through renovation."
Amar Bennadji, Robert Gordon University
"One of the challenges we’ve focused on is taking the indoor climate into account when making renovation choices. We’re training building professionals and other stakeholders about how to prevent moisture and damp, for instance. Such perspectives are also leading in our research on existing digital instruments and the consequent development of improved digital self-assessment tools."
Amar Bennadji, (on behalf of) Kishorn Insulations
"Kishorn Insulation specializes in Spray Foam Insulation. In Stronghouse, especially in cooperation with Robert Gordon University, we’ve learned how our services can contribute to energy efficiency and have a positive climate impact."
Bernd Josef Leisen, (on behalf of) Bremerhaven
"In the city of Bremerhaven, citizens have a leading role in our climate policy. Our youth climate council is a great example of how the next generation can stimulate all of us to take action. In Stronghouse, we’ve built on this civic engagement and developed an approach for the renovation and ‘greening’ of a neighbourhood with challenges."
Jeremy Apken, University of Vechta
"Our mission at Vechta is to understand the barriers and complexities that prevent citizens from actively participating in energy-efficient solutions. We've acted by implementing practical initiatives, such as eco-friendly neighborhood businesses that utilize the CoBenefit content-sharing approach."
Claire Piqueret Rose, atene Kom
"In Stronghouse, atene Kom worked on including the digital in the green, meaning how digital technologies and smart home components can kickstart or complement the journey of making homes more energy efficient. We created an e-Learning series and the Stronghouse Smart Home Manual, which shows homeowners and other stakeholders how a smart home could potentially improve their energy efficiency."
Anne Branderup, ProjectZero
"We at ProjectZero have been sharing our best practices, while we also continue working on the further improvement of homeowner support in energy renovations. We’re closely engaged with all professionals and stakeholders in the built environment. And we know that the support of real-estate agents and bank advisors is almost as important as the contractors who do the actual renovation."
Anne Branderup (on behalf of) Henrik Dahlerup, Bolius
"We’ve been following the national and European legislation on energy efficiency for homes and have been inspired by the great example of ProjectZero in Sonderborg Through our participation in Stronghouse, Bolius has been making these best practices available to other Danish municipalities."
Tommy Olsen, Gate 21
"Together with Albertslund, Fredensborg, FORS and iNudgeyou, we’ve helped to combine European best practices with the Danish context and vice versa. In doing so, many more homeowners have become interested in energy renovation."
Niels Hansen, Municpality of Albertslund
"In Albertslund, we try to motivate homeowners by offering free energy audits, and the option to rent an energy efficient substation with no money up front, and at a low rent. We have established effective cooperation with contractors and installers to make energy renovation as easy as possible."
Tommy Olsen, (on behalf of) FORS
"As a Danish regional utility provider, FORS supports homeowners on their renovation journey. Stronghouse has provided us with the opportunity to set up the Grøn Puls business network and successfully upskill many of the professionals now needed in the energy renovation sector.”
Johan Vedel, (on behalf of) iNudgeYou
"As specialists in applying behavioral research for communication and activation strategies, iNudgeYou were able to develop behavioural-informed campaigns that directly addressed the needs of homeowners in several municipalities in Denmark. We, thereby, translated complex and technical information into concrete, easy-to-understand options for homeowners."
Johan Vedel, Muncipality of Fredensborg
“Fredensborg municipality wants to follow the large-scale ambitions of the region, while also staying true to our own social fabric and local strengths. In Stronghouse we’ve translated the regional goal - CO2-neutral electricity and heat by 2030 - into the active support of homeowners renovating tto become more energy efficient."
Krushna Mahapatra, Linnaeus University
"Our One-Stop-Shop model specifically addresses homeowners' concerns and supports both public agencies and private enterprises in effective service delivery. We're immensly proud of the local adoption and implementation of our model by Klimafastigheter Småland, and the subsequent attention of E.ON Sweden. As a university, we believe it is part of our role to translate EU policies, incorporating the latest research findings, and delivering practical solutions.”
Georgios Pardalis, (on behalf of) E.ON
"At first sight E.ON Sweden is not a typical Interreg partner. However, we’re very happy to have discovered what can be learnt outside your own company. Participation in Stronghouse has helped us to develop instruments for our customers. Inspired by the partners, we’ve developed a neighbourhood approach. We hope that our colleagues and competitors will follow our example."
Juho Lindman, University of Gothenburg
"At the University of Gothenburg's Blockchain Lab we are researching trust in the digital context. As part of grant and loan schemes, homeowners who have contracted renovations need to prove that these have taken place according to plan. At the moment, this is a bureaucratic and cumbersome process. Blockchain can make it both more efficient and more transparent.”
Andreas Nilsson, SPRING
"SPRING is a digital development agency, specializing in creating user-friendly solutions for complex issues. In Stronghouse, we have successfully developed a blockchain-based application for homeowners. The application allows homeowners to easily apply for green finance or grants to fund their energy renovation projects."
E-Learnings
For more in-depth insights on the Stronghouse Customer Journey, working with Personas and speeding up the European Renovation Wave you can also follow our e-learnings.