Experts Discuss potential updates for the v2 of the Latvian Renovation Strategy

On 30th of September the 3rd BUILD UPON project workshop was held to discuss recommendations for the Latvian Renovation Strategy v2. The seminar took place in the Splendid Palace, which is an architectural monument of Riga and was renovated in 2010.

Around 30 participants gathered together to discussed the most crucial and important issues regarding a new version of the Latvian Renovation strategy. Representatives from (Ministry of Economics, Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development, State Construction Control Office, Consumer Rights Protection Centre, State Fire and Rescue Service of Latvia, Riga Energy Agency, Municipality of Liepaja City, Riga Technical University, University of Liepaja, Finance Development Institution ALTUM, Latvian Construction Engineers’ Association, representatives of construction businesses, NGOs and others were present at the workshop.

At the beginning of workshop t sustainable building practices, challenges and experiences were shared by the developers “E.L.L. Real Estate”. The Chairman of the Latvian Sustainable Building Council’s Board Mr. Gints Mikelsons presented research results of the public procurement processes and shared recommendations for implementing green procurement principles. Presentations were followed by discussions among stakeholder groups.

During the workshop two surveys were conducted:   1) survey on the most important public procurement criteria to assess possibilities to move away from the lowest price criteria in the procurement process putting principles of quality and sustainability first. 2) survey to assess new recommendations for the Latvian renovation strategy. In addition, recommendations for the Renovation strategy v2 were further analyzed by stakeholders’ groups. New proposals were identified and formulated for further discussions during the 4^th BUILD UPON workshop.

The main conclusions for Latvian Renovation Strategy include:

1. Quality of renovation works and investments must be planned in the long term ensuring the life expectancy of buildings at least for the next 50 years.
2. Energy providers must offer new financial instruments for improving energy efficiency of consumers, inter alia, following the requirements of EED.
3. Legal framework for EPC contracts must be developed to ensure partnership with ESCOs and make sure that initial investment from homeowners for energy efficient renovations are minimized.
4. Life cycle analysis for buildings must be carried out to ensure that renovation works are being implemented in a timely manner to make sure that the life expectancy of buildings is prolonged, as well as to ensure the reuse of building materials. Buildings must be designed, built and renovated following sustainability principles, using optimal materials and creating minimal amount of waste. (following circular economy principles).
5. Publicly available on-line database of EPCs must be developed and made accessible for everyone interested in dealing with real estate to be able to find information on buildings’ energy efficiency parameters.
6. Potential of implementing building materials’ conformity tests with their technical specifications must be evaluated. Such testing could ensure restriction of the production of inadequate materials. Tests of building materials must be carried out on the spot, i.e. during the construction and renovation process to ensure that the requirements of design are being met.
7. Property tax for renovated buildings should not increase for at least the period of loan repayment to ensure stable lean payments and quality of life.
8. State and municipal employees, as well as building management companies and building users need to be educated to respect energy efficiency requirements and standards.
9. Apartment owners’ responsibility for their buildings energy efficiency must be ensured through targeted awareness raising campaigns and communication with building owners and users, also involving innovative approaches, i.e. social networks, etc.
10. The decision making process for renovating of multi-apartment buildings must be simplified by allowing quorum voting in such cases when apartment owners repeatedly do not show up without and adequate reason.