The LIFE HORIS project held today a first introductory call with its Advisory Board members. The Board will support the project by providing feedback and ideas to the work done by the 10 partners in the next 2 years, to enhance and develop a digital retrofitting platform called Green Menu (already available in Portugal and in The Netherlands by DGG and FCT NOVA).
The project Board members represent various sectors and stakeholders that are key for the project, they include building professionals’ confederations and alliances, research and standardisation organisations, and more. They will provide independent feedback to the project team, and bring in external experience, examples and best practices.
HORIS will develop a digital One-Stop Shop with the aim of empowering homeowners (of several building types, including flats) during the home renovation process. Homeowners face several key barriers when deciding to retrofit their properties, such as uncertainty and lack of trust about reported energy savings. In addition, they also must choose a home renovation professional and navigate the complexities of the financial process.
These aspects were confirmed today by our new Board members, highlighting the ambition of the project that must deal with the competition of other platforms and projects, and a legislative tsunami facing building professionals. They, as well as end consumers, are bombarded with information and need to be at the core of the project. That’s why we believe HORIS comes with a different angle answering somehow this need to build trust: led by consumer organisations – with the future platforms hosted on their websites. Professionals will be certified according to a checklist of criteria.
Board members are:
- Blanca Gomez, from CNI Instaladores y mantenedores (Spain).
- Caterina Serra, Itecons, Institute for research and technological development in construction, energy, environment and sustainability (Portugal).
- Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of EuroACE, the EU Alliance of companies for energy efficiency in buildings + Renovate Europe campaign. (Belgium)
- Giulia Linfozzi, Assotermica, representing the producers of heating systems (Italy).
- Marco Degregorio, technical officer and project manager in UNI, the Italian standardisation body (Italy).
- Joao Gomes, ANFAJE, National association of efficient windows producers (Portugal).
- Nuno Climaco, Lisboa E-Nova, Lisbon energy and environment agency (Portugal).
- GBCE, Spain.
- I-Com, Institute for competitiveness, Italy.
