In the pursuit of energy efficiency and sustainable renovations, One-Stop Shops (OSS) for renovation – also referred to as Integrated Home Renovation Services – emerge as crucial catalysts, streamlining access to information, breaking down barriers, and providing crucial support for undertaking energy and sustainable renovation. At UIPI, we have been promoting for years the development and massification of OSS, as financing alone will not deliver on the support needed to facilitate for individual renovation journey.
Resources for One Stop Shops
UIPI and OSS
At UIPI, we believe that renovation will not happen on its own.
We also believe that we cannot set very ambitious obligations before addressing the existing challenges and put in place the necessary tools and support mechanisms to overcome those bottlenecks.
In our view, OSS can contribute to address specific needs of property owners and help overcome renovation barriers. This is why we actively take part in projects all around the European Union that pilot and promote different approaches to One Stop Shops.
A One Stop Shop (OSS) serves as a centralised hub where homeowners, landlords, businesses, and stakeholders can access comprehensive information on technical and financial aspects of energy-efficient renovations. This centralised access to information and support is instrumental in simplifying complex information landscapes.
There are various models of OSS, some are more advanced than others, but at the very least OSS offers valuable technical assistance and advisory services, providing expertise on energy-efficient technologies, sustainable materials, and best practices in renovation or by informing about or identifying potential existing financial supports or advantages. This support guides decision-making, ensuring informed choices aligned with energy efficiency goals.
The more advanced and integrated forms of OSS are designed to offer holistic support throughout various stages of a retrofit project. By addressing planning, execution, and even sometimes evaluation and quality control, OSS can provide “turnkey solutions” for those who can be overwhelmed by renovation challenges.
The EPBD places particular emphasis on OSS with a focus on vulnerable households and those affected by energy poverty. OSS services can indeed be tailored to answer different needs. The diversity of the real estate sector and the particularities of the different segments and different actors can generate specific challenges or needs. Tailoring OSS services e.g. to vulnerable households, or multi-unit properties or single-family house owners or small landlords can help provide adequate and specific information and support in an always evolving political landscape.
EU projects piloting One Stop Shops
Save the Homes
Save the Homes is a 3 year Horizon 2020 project aiming at making the renovation process easier, faster and more affordable by introducing a one stop shop, the Citizen Hub, in Valencia and San Cugat (Spain),Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
CondoReno
CondoReno will lead to the development of Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS) for condominium associations interested in the implementation of energy renovations. The objective of the project is to create six IHRS for buildings co-owned by multiple private homeowners, targeting the Netherlands and Flanders, while paving the way for upscaling such IHRS across Europe.
