The nZEB Roadshow

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - The nZEB Roadshow (The nZEB Roadshow)

Berichtszeitraum: 2020-06-01 bis 2021-11-30

While there are many initiatives for development of educational and training programmes regarding energy efficiency and RES in buildings and integrating them in the national curricula, the interest of the young generation towards the construction sector is continuously decreasing, due to unfavourable reputation of the profession and lack of awareness of the opportunities for career development and professional growth. At the same time, despite strong political push towards nZEB and deep energy renovation, the traditionally conservative real estate market is still slow in the uptake of the new building standards and practices, especially in the residential sector.
Within this context, the overall goal of the nZEB Roadshow project is to counteract the negative trends by stimulating the market demand for energy-related skills of construction workers and specialists in the 5 involved countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Italy and Romania. This is achieved through a dedicated marketing campaign involving the full range of stakeholders in series of on-ground nZEB days, consisting of a multitude of events: exhibitions of building products and technologies, practical demonstrations and gamification, training courses for designers and construction workers, information sessions and free consultations for citizens active on the real estate market, on-site training at public building renovation sites, career orientation events and construction job fairs with focus on the local SMEs. Through the design and construction of mobile demonstration units – either whole buildings or practical models, the project activities attract the public and media attention and raise the awareness of the benefits and specificities of nZEB to create the necessary prerequisites for effective communication between stakeholders.

Currently, the progress of the work has already enabled the start of the actual nZEB roadshows, as 13 dedicated nZEB days/weeks are conducted, displaying significant potential for sustainable continuation of the activities and attracting the interest of the key audiences. This achievement required a number of preparation activities in terms of: 1) marketing research and planning, 2) physical setting up of the demonstration facilities, and 3) gamification strategies and tools and media relations.

The first major achievement of the project was the dedicated market analysis, enabling detailed stakeholder mapping including more than 800 individual stakeholders. This analysis enabled precise market segmentation, elaboration of business plans and unique value propositions for each of the national project teams, and resulted in design of nationally specific marketing strategy, accompanied by coherent monitoring schemes.

In relation to priority area 2, mobile demonstration units and training facilities were set up and readily available for the conduction of nZEB roadshows in all 5 participating countries. The approach for each country differs given the individual needs and capacities, as the focus in Croatia and Bulgaria is in mobile demo buildings, in Greece - on small-scale mock-ups and gamification equipment, in Romania – on demonstration and practical training mock-ups, and in Italy, due to the availability of BiosPHera units, on online marketing and on-site demonstrations. In the vast majority of the cases, the development of the demo models was done in partnership with leading local product manufactures, which further increases the added value for the project. The facilities would be further developed until the end of the project based on the feedback and evaluation of the pilot training and demonstration activities.

In relation to priority area 3, the necessary prerequisites as gamification tools and strategies for media engagement were developed with the active participation of all project partners, also providing the first demonstrations in Greece. All available internal and external resources were exploited, transferring knowledge and experience from project partner, using materials from a significant number of EU-financed projects (within the BUILD UP Skills Initiative, Construction Skills projects and beyond) and developing new original instruments and content.

The nZEB Roadshow has invested significant efforts to develop unique value propositions for the involved partners in a collaborative process enabled by intensive peer review activities, thus improving the understanding of the needs and demands of the targeted stakeholders’ groups. On that basis, the most attractive marketing offer for the potential users of the available training and certification schemes is defined in each country, and the best communication channels and actors are engaged. Thus, coherent market strategies and action plans stimulating the end-user demand for quality nZEBs and enhanced recognition of sustainable energy skills and services are developed, supported by a common framework of monitoring and evaluation.

In parallel, innovative mobile demonstration units and transportable demonstration and training facilities are designed and constructed. The full specification of the necessary equipment for quality organization of local nZEB weeks is freely accessible for all potential interested replicators and future partners. Additionally, a concept for gamification of promotional events is developed, including specifications for conduction of demonstrations as Ice Challenge and open-air workshops with hands-on demonstration and experience of the nZEB principles. A set of educational games for children related to the sustainable use of energy is developed, as well as a guidance for the use of web and social media tools to stimulate on-site interaction. Taking into account the COVID-related restrictions, different scenarios for conduction of off- and online nZEB days are developed, targeting continuous conduction of the nZEB weeks’ events and sustainable engagement of local key actors.

As a result, a total of 13 nZEB roadshow events are organized in the 5 countries, involving - on a conservative estimation - 6162 participants. Project-related training courses are visited by a total of 336 construction specialists at nZEB days and 1702 at other events. It is estimated that information about the project has reached 21 541 stakeholders via local dissemination events and 8002 stakeholders via international dissemination events. This doesn’t account for the general media outreach, as hundreds of thousands of media users have been reached via interviews and reports in the biggest national media. The use of social media has been a special highlight of the project, as only via the project’s own social media channels information is reaching more than 2000 users, with more than 10,000 evidenced reactions to post items. Due to the highly successful communication campaign, exploiting both traditional and social media, and the participation in a significant number of national and international dissemination events, the nZEB roadshows have already become a recognisable trademark in the national event calendars and a point of attraction for all actors in the construction sector value chain. This is proven by the fact that they already attract the interest of potential hosts and supporters, both inside the partner countries and in the region, which proves the viability in the concept outside the project’s support and duration.

Demonstration of the MUZA project in Croatia (3)

Demonstration of the MUZA project in Croatia (1)

Promotional materials

The nZEBo Comic Book

Training course at nZEB days in Romania

nZEB products exhibition in Bulgaria

Lecture for school children in Greece

Site visit training in Italy

VR demonstration in Croatia

Demonstration of the MUZA project in Croatia (2)

Demonstration at nZEB days in Romania

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - The nZEB Roadshow (The nZEB Roadshow)

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