Breakthrough solutions for adaptable envelopes for building refurbishment

Project Information

BRESAER

Grant agreement ID: 637186

DOI

10.3030/637186

Project closed

EC signature date 11 November 2014

Start date 1 February 2015

End date 31 July 2019

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Leadership in enabling and industrial technologies - Advanced manufacturing and processing

Total cost

€ 5 849 107,00

EU contribution

€ 5 849 107,00

Coordinated by

ACCIONA CONSTRUCCION SA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BRESAER (Breakthrough solutions for adaptable envelopes for building refurbishment)

Reporting period: 2018-02-01 to 2019-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The current building stock of the EU has an enormous potential for improvement of the energy efficiency and the application of renewable energy sources (RES) so that the transformation of that building stock into energy efficient buildings is a must in order to contribute to the objective established in the European 2020 Strategy* (*European 2020 Strategy). The European construction industry sector must increase its technological competence and competitiveness, particularly aiming at producing solutions that require less energy. The construction industry, however, has the particularity that it cannot experiment widely with new technologies unless they have been proven and there are guarantees they will perform better than traditional ones in the long term.
BRESAER has the potential to solve this gap for innovation by using a combination of known and novel technologies, having potential for success when applied in residential and non-residential building refurbishment projects. The buildings’ envelope is the key element to address in order to significantly increase the energy efficiency and the use of RES.
The overall objective is to design, develop and demonstrate an innovative, cost-effective, adaptable and industrialized envelope system for buildings refurbishment including combined active and passive prefabricated solutions integrated in a versatile lightweight structural mesh. The whole building will be governed by an innovative Building Energy Management System covering a specific control system for governing the envelope, the energy use of the building and the strategies for the electrical energy storage. The solutions that integrate the envelope are:
• Dynamic window with automatic and controlled air-tightness and insulated solar blinds.
• Multifunctional lightweight ventilated façade module
• Multifunctional and multilayer insulation panels made of Ultra High Performance Fibre Reinforced Concrete.
• Combined solar thermal air and PV envelope component
• Cutting-edge Building Energy Management System.
IMAGE 1_BRESAER system overview
The BRESAER solution was demonstrate in a real case study in a building located in Burgos, Spain. The building hosts lecture rooms in a single floor with a total of 545m2 area and is part of Burgos’ University campus. Four additional virtual demonstrations were assessed in real building (Turkey, Norway, Estonia and Romania) covering European climatic zones and guaranteeing its replication potential.
IMAGE 2_Demonstration building in Burgos, Spain
To achieve BRESAER objectives, the work plan is structured in 7 Work Packages closely related to the project’s specific objectives.
IMAGE 3_BRESAER Work Packages structure

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main objective during the first and second period of the project was to complete and validate the design of BRESAER system for its demonstration in a real case building during the 3rd Period. The main aim was to achieve: an optimize and validated design of the system’s active and passive components; the related tools and guides for adding the design, installation and commissioning process; a fine-tune exploitation, dissemination and standardization strategies towards its future inclusion in the market. On the other hand, the main objectives during the 3rd Period, were to complete the development of BRESAER envelope system, the manufacture of components and their implementation in the real demo Building, as well as assessing, disseminating and exploiting the project’s results to proof its reliability towards its market acceptance.
The main impacts of the implementation of the BRESAER system, which were evaluated throughout the project and which will continue to be assessed after the end of the project, are as follows: Energy demand reduction for space heating and cooling 30,7%, Contribution of renewable energy, conditioning of 37,3% after the retrofitting, Contribution of renewable energy (solar PV) for electricity of 12,8% after the retrofitting, The combination gives a total primary energy consumption reduction of 76,4%, Improved indoor environment quality by improving thermal, acoustics, illumination comfort and IAQ, Provide solutions with an appealing pay-back time for investors, Validation and market uptake of active building elements
Some of the main results of the 3rd period were
• Both the economic and environmental sustainability of the system were assessed through LCA and LCC studies
• The software tools to support future users when designing and implementing BRESAER system were optimized and are available at BRESAER’s website
• It was completed the CEN Workshop Agreement (CWA) entitled “Guideline to design, implement and economically assess an innovative and adaptable envelope system in building refurbishment”
• An interactive video was produced displaying all BRESAER technologies, (BRESAER website)
To sum up, all the targets have been achieved, which has allowed the successful achievement of the objectives of the BRESAER Project
IMAGE 4_BRESAER solutions strategically integrated
IMAGE 5_BRESAER Real Demo

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Traditional building refurbishment practices use tailored designs for each case, which has limited prefabricated systems application, leading to the impossibility to replicate successful cases and to update components. RES are poorly integrated and polluting on-site energy sources are used. Non-industrialized constructions systems generate higher waste, dust and noise on-site and longer time-scale of works on- site causes disruptions to dwellers. Payback periods are not considered. BRESAER’s ambition is overcome the today’s prefabrication main drawbacks. Important progresses have been carried out in the System’s design towards achieving this goal: to bring customization to industrialized and modular systems providing greater flexibility which respond to particular weather conditions and architectural requirements; to fully integrate RES and BEMS to the new resilient building envelope; to easier assembly and disassembly to lower maintenance costs and possible technological update, and to minimize skilled labour needs and on-site phase time; to prioritize system energy efficiency and cost effectiveness; to develop a competitive business model and dissemination plan to attract potential end users
The BRESAER solution is therefore a business opportunity as it is an energy efficient integrated and adaptable system that can be easily and quickly fitted to the façade of any residential building in Europe.
Socio-economic impacts created by the increase of building performance:
• Reduction of energy demand and associated costs. This reduction is maximized by the use of built-in renewables
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and to the reduction of local pollution
• Improvement of the thermal comfort of occupants and indoor environment quality
Socio-economic impact on the construction value chain:
• Green job creation: acceleration of the creation of new jobs in industries and construction companies
• Reduction of the construction time and occupational hazard, increase of the installation security
• Facilitation and acceleration of the renovation process in Europe thanks to the optimized industrialization of components
Finally, the demo sites (physical and virtual) of the project provided some recommendations in its political and geographical context and could be a reference for replication

BRESAER system overview

BRESAER Work Packages structure

BRESAER Demostration building in Burgos, Spain

BRESAER solutions strategically integrated

BRESAER Real Demo