GreenWin’s Roadmap and its compatibility with the RDP
The Government of Wallonia’s priority objective as stated in its RDP 2019-2024 (Regional Development Plan 2019-2024) is the establishment of a Transition Plan, structured around a limited number of key priority and game changing reforms across three segments
> Ecological transition:
> Energy Renovation (insulation) ✔️
> Mobility
> Renewable types of energy
> Biodiversity
> Agriculture and food
> Transition of knowledge and know-how : Training, courses, literacy, valorisation of skills, orientation towards STEM fields,… ✔️
> Economic and industrial transition :
> Circular economy, regenerating and zero waste
> Development of the sectors of the future : digital, biotechnologies, silver economy, AI, bioeconomy ✔️
> Modernisation of industry ✔️
> New economic and work organisation models ✔️
> Support for free enterprise ✔️
RDP themes that converge with GreenWin’s roadmap in relation to the construction and renovation sector
Non-geologic stocking/ CO2 use in demolition waste for producing secondary pellets with enhanced properties.
The RDP aims to reduce GHG emissions by 55% in 2030 across Wallonia (compared to 1990) and reach carbon neutrality in 2050 (-95%). The 2030 goal represents a 29% reduction in emissions compared to 2019, which is ambitious.
Within the framework of the Plan Air Climat Energie à l’horizon 2030 (Air Climate Energy Plan on the 2030 horizon) - or PACE 2030 - Wallonia’s contribution to the implementation of the Belgian Interfederal Energy Pact (2030, 2050) and the National Energy Climate Plan 2030, a path towards the reduction of GHG is envisaged by sector.
Integrated and financially attractive solutions for the improvement of energy efficiency in Wallonia’s building stock (focus on renovation).
The case for the renovation of Wallonia’s built sector is without doubt one of the central dossiers, if not THE central dossier, of the RDP’s ecological transition.
Tripling the rate of renovation while making the built sector 5 to 10 times more efficient by 2030 is a considerable challenge, technically (solutions for renovations and materials), economically (job creation and public investments / leverage effect) and socially (access to housing and right to energy).
The stakes are massive and vital.
While supporting the sector by combatting social dumping and shortages in qualified labour, at the same time following the investment programmes of previous assemblies, the RDP intends to address the construction sector in a holistic manner by making provisions for:
> A reassessment of Wallonia’s Renovation Strategy, to ensure it is coherent with 2030 climate goals
> A pledge to renovate 250,000 homes (including social housing) and 2,500 public buildings
> The setting up of a job creation-renovation alliance aimed at stimulating renovation demand, strengthening capacities in the sector, and developing expertise in terms of energy and eco-friendly construction
> The creation of a register of public buildings, along with a 10-year insulation plan with adequate support (RENOWATT) capable of galvanising the sector
> The introduction of a "Building Pass" that allows to clearly prioritise works adapted to situations
> To undertake continuous performance monitoring of the built sector
> To consider the problem of access to housing and of co-ownership in the energy equation
> The development of innovative types of financing for the renovation of public buildings (third party investors, EPC) and private (PPP…)
> Financial incentives (Zero interest loans, access to facility grants, reduced registration fees …) and administrative incentives (urbanistic procedures …) for owners, together with stricter normative constraints in respect of rental property
> Adequate support in respect of bio-sourced materials (public information, financial incentives, integration into public tenders)
> Encouraging pilot experiments (renovation of complex neighbourhoods, public buildings,…)
…
In addition to the points above one must not forget the support given by the Minister for Energy and Climate to the RENO+ structuring project : this provides a one-stop-shop for developing and demonstrating, within the framework of large-scale projects, that integrated solutions (technical / energy-related / financial / sociological), efficient, and with contained costs for renovating the constructed sector can prove to be an adequate solution. The elaboration of digital tools for the development of solutions (industry 4.0), the study and analysis of building efficiency (BIM, drones, thermographic imaging…) is another. The driving role of GreenWin in the setting up of structural collaborations between independent parties and the integration of public parties in innovative partnerships will further stimulate the process.
Finally, beyond the social, economic, and environmental impacts, the implementation of renovation solutions should also enhance the attractiveness of cities as engines of living zones and reduce urban sprawling (RDP Chapter 24-2. A Walloon policy for the city) .
Improvements in productivity, efficiency, well-being at work, and the climate footprint (grey energy) by the prefabrication and installation of building modules (new build).
In terms of new builds, the RDP pledges a net increase of 12,000 new housing units, 6,000 under management, and 3,000 renovated entirely (similar to new builds), which would practically double the volume of housing units managed by the AIS (Agence Immobiliere Sociale- Social Housing Agency) and benefiting from rent aide from the Walloon housing fund (currently 6,000). In addition, the wish expressly stated in the RDP to consider the evolution of the demographic structure and innovative solutions in relation to housing (intergenerational housing, social service homes, housing cooperatives, lightweight housing…) also implies innovation in terms of construction processes.
The expected future NZC norm (Nearly Zero Carbon) together with the desire to renovate in an energy efficient, integrated and swift manner will require the industrialisation of certain construction-related solutions.
Prefabricated modular construction is a way to address this need, by allowing, notably:
> to better guarantee the energy efficiency of the realisations and the quality of implementation (quality label)
> to reduce the length of the construction site phase while also reducing externalities
> to optimise manufacturing processes by incorporating digital technology to develop industry 4.0 in construction
> to improve wellbeing in the workplace and job quality
In renovation, modularity also provides a solution to the question of the densification of urban habitat and therefore to a reduction in sprawling, as sought by the RDP.
The development of solutions that allow an increase in the re-use and recycling of construction materials (eco-conception, reutilisation, recycling, digital tools).
Already supported by the previous administration (RDP 2014-2019), the circular economy is now defined as one of the cross-pillars of ecological transition (3rd chapter of the Transition Plan : Economic and industrial transition), with regards to existing opportunities and related environmental and societal externalities. To honour expectancies, the RDP anticipates that growth in this sector will require a series of financial investments, skills developments, support tool implementations and administrative adaptations.
On this last point, the Government’s commitment to serve as a driving force in the deployment of the circular economy by allowing the use of recycled products and materials within public tenders will prove a real incentive to the sector. Helped by the offer of training and the development of adapted skills as provided for in the RDP, companies will now be able to develop services, products, and materials in line with the requirements of public specifications with more guaranteed outcomes.
Even though no specific commitments have been made in the RDP in respect of construction waste, the desire to pursue a reduction in the amount of waste going to landfill, until the practice is ended once and for all, will mean the development of new industries for several types of waste considered of little value or not valorised (including concrete pellets). The development of circular solutions that will make it possible to reach 30% of construction waste is an important first step in the integration of the principles of circular economies (re-use, recycling), in a sector that is traditionally highly resource hungry.
Also, digital tools and the eco-conception (of buildings) adopted across the RDP will need to allow for the creation of registers and material databases in order to increase circularity potential in the sector.
New economic models based on usage and performance (rather than property or product) and the sharing economy.
Construction is one of the sectors that has been the least "dematerialised", in the sense that it is supplied to final users as a service and no longer exclusively as a product. These last few years however, initiatives aimed at providing a housing service rather than a possession are growing in numbers and type, assisted by opportunities generated by the energy efficiency of buildings.
To bolster access to property for those on low incomes, the government intends to act in favour of mortgage and social loans and grants, and promote legal mechanisms to enable access to the right to own surface, long leases, property leasing and rental with option to buy of public utility housing. Novel financing for the renovation of public buildings (third-party investors, EPC) and private (PPP,…) and financial incentives for property owners and landlords wishing to invest in energy renovation (zero rate loans, access to facility grants, reduced registration fees…) are also provided for. Support for the development of community land trusts is also anticipated in respect of public housing.
The functionality economy is only considered in the RDP as one of the potential strategies for a change in business model within the framework of the circular economy that enables the decarbonising of industrial processes and improves the life cycle of products.
However, the arrival of new players on the construction markets (energy suppliers, ESCOs, integrators…) generates opportunities for developing new innovative business models that aim to offer housing as an integral service.
GreenWin will assist those who are usually considered service suppliers to reposition themselves in an innovative way in a sector that is traditional, under the angle of the economy of functionality.
Production and utilisation of recycling and grinding sands to address the increasing shortage of natural sands for use in concrete (notably: the use of waste from quarry exploitation).
The « zero waste » economy supported by the RDP (Transition plan – Economic and industrial transition) has in fact already been studied for several years now in the specific case of quarries in Wallonia. Indeed, to best valorise all granulometric fractions and supply a local alternative to natural sands (a crucial resource for many sectors, but the depletion of which has been noticed on an international level), those who are exploiting quarries are developing alternatives based on the reclamation of grinding and recycling sands.
This area of innovation has a direct link to the waste concerns of the "Circularity in construction" section above and is therefore directly linked to the aspects of eco-conception, recycling and re-use developed in the RDP.
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