Service packages for the ecological renovation of buildings

Status

finished

Summary

Background

The project is targeted towards small and medium sized enterprises as important partners in renovation projects. Comprehensive and integrated service packages for building trade and industries are formulated based upon an analysis of the needs of their clients (e.g. house owners and social housing companies).

A developed service market for ecological renovation of buildings means, that there are companies offering sufficient competence to analyse the building (structure) and to carry out a qualified renovation, furthermore that there exists an adequate diversified offer of qualified services at all. On the part of the clients in a developed service market there is confidence in the reliability of the services, there are accepted rules to evaluate the performance and there is also a competence to announce an ecology-oriented call for tender and to evaluate it.

The very close cooperation with companies, the transfer of knowledge from already successfully managed research projects and the testing of the compiled services in pilot projects should ensure the success of this project. The project should result in marketable and custom-made service packages for the construction trade. These service packages are of course specific to the partner companies, but are also standardized on behalf of the program "building of tomorrow".

Goals:

• To develop comprehensive and standardized service packages for the construction trade.
• · To develop suitable marketing strategies together with companies and implement them in order to improve the dissemination of services.
• To open up the concept of performance-contracting for a broader range of companies in the whole building and construction sector. Simplified models should be proposed for small and medium sized enterprises.

Project plan and methods:

Module 1: Motivations, needs

• Qualitative interviews with stakeholders and opinion leaders, such as people from energy advice centres or building contractors, to define the interface and identify barriers and motivations.
• Definition of renovation types and reasons, compilation of a catalogue of arguments for the various reasons of renovation, bring out the needs that are not covered by the market until now because this will lead to especially attractive offers.

Module 2: Product development -concepts of service packages

• Formulate which work is suitable for service packages. Services that are so far offered separately by different companies will be integrated in a comprehensive package.
• The developed concept is presented and checked by representatives of companies and experts in a workshop. The resulting service packages are the basis for the further cooperation with companies.

Module 3: Implementation and integration

• Based on the work in module 1 + 2 the service packages were adapted, complemented and if necessary re-designed.
• Especially for small enterprises the gap in the field of contracting should be closed. Joint service packages should enable small enterprises to gain access more easily to contracting-calls.
• Development of sustainable marketing concepts for companies.

Module 4: Services in the field test

• Strengthen the identity of the services developed by means of testing them in practice. The service packages were tested in co-operation with the involved companies in pilot projects.

Module 5: Dissemination strategies

• Services for ecologically sound renovation of buildings were standardised and offered, linked to a regional cluster of companies.

Results:

• Identification of client-groups (owners, housing companies, and so on) and compilation of a catalogue of arguments for comprehensive ecological renovation.
• Compilation of (standardised) service packages.
• Guideline for sustainable renovation of buildings by means of service packages and marketing strategies for the construction trade.
• Detailed service packages for the partner companies.
• Blueprint of an information folder for further dissemination. Companies and clients are given a survey on offers of innovative service packages.
• Presentation of the service packages in the internet-platform "Eco&Co".

Contact

Dipl.Ing. Wibke Tritthart
Interuniversitäres Forschungszentrum für Technik, Arbeit und Kultur (IFF/IFZ)
Schlögelgasse 2
A 8010 Graz
Tel.: +43 316 813909-23
Fax: +316 810274
E-Mail: tritthart@ifz.tu-graz.ac.at