INDUSTRIALISED DURABLE BUILDING ENVELOPE RETROFITTING BY ALL-IN-ONE INTERCONNECTED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

Project Information

INFINITE

Grant agreement ID: 958397

DOI

10.3030/958397

Project closed

EC signature date 7 August 2020

Start date 1 November 2020

End date 30 April 2026

Funded under

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

Total cost

€ 10 128 182,79

EU contribution

€ 7 999 286,89

Coordinated by

ACCADEMIA EUROPEA DI BOLZANO
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - INFINITE (INDUSTRIALISED DURABLE BUILDING ENVELOPE RETROFITTING BY ALL-IN-ONE INTERCONNECTED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2025-04-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Most of European buildings are highly not energy efficient and consume a considerable amount of energy for heating and cooling, while showing poorly comfortable indoor spaces. According to a recent study by the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy, we should renovate at least 3% of the building stock each year to mitigate the effects of climate change on our cities and reach the decarbonisation targets for 2050.

INFINITE introduces a groundbreaking approach built on robust, reliable technologies and methodologies, aiming to unlock the full potential of prefabrication in the construction sector and accelerate its path toward decarbonisation. To achieve this, INFINITE operates across five interconnected pillars:
- Stakeholders' engagement and building stock analysis
- Digital tools
- All-in-one prefabricated envelope technologies development
- Business matching between demand and offer
- Demonstration of best practices.

The Renovation4.0 concept behind the INFINITE renovation consists in coupling industrialisation and digitalisation to offer tailor-made, eco-compatible, affordable, and cost-effective retrofit solutions based on the concept of prefabricated all-in-one building envelope kits. Moreover, an Adaptable Building Management System (aBMS) can help users (both inhabitants and facility managers) to control and optimise the performance of each component, as well as the whole building, during its operation phase. INFINITE products and actions integrate a life-cycle perspective to improve all phases of the renovation process from design to end of life.

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 INFINITE project began by focusing on the “demand-side”, identifying key stakeholder categories and their needs and requirements, and aligning them with the features of industrialised all-in-one envelope kits and supporting digital tools development.
The development of INFINITE technologies has been completed, following phases of ideation, technical design, mock-up creation, manufacturing, and testing. Five multifunctional timber-based façade and roof kits—covering greenery, energy and fresh air (E&FA) distribution, smart windows, BIPV, and BIST—are now ready for use in three real-life demo renovations. This progress was supported by collaboration with INFINITE consultants on materials, smart connectors, LCA/LCC, and design for assembly/disassembly, leading to a unified set of multidisciplinary Key Performance Indicators to assess the kits.
Moreover, the main functionalities of the aBMS have been internally released after the development of the user stories answering the main needs of users (mainly inhabitants, facility managers, designers and owners). Finally, the INFINITE nZEB vision has been defined, while mapping the different national regulations to facilitate the design of high-performance norm-compliant buildings
Demonstration is central to INFINITE. The three demo buildings in Italy, Slovenia, and France followed a shared process to ensure renovations are affordable, effective, and efficient. The executive design phase was completed in mid-2024, and most technologies for the Italian and Slovenian demos were produced and shipped by year-end. Installation of the prefabricated façade and roof elements took place between late 2024 and May 2025, with monitoring systems now collecting building performance data.
The French demo faced delays due to the ATEX approval process for the BIPV kit and strict regulatory requirements.The methodology to assess the Virtual Demo Cases(VDC)using the INFINITE concept has been defined. Preliminary geometric modeling has been completed, and the BIM-P, Energy & Comfort, and LCC plug-ins have been tested across the six VDCs. Results confirm the feasibility of the approach, though slightly higher costs compared to traditional deep retrofits were observed. The analysis will be updated with real data from the IT and SLO demo cases.The communication and dissemination of INFINITE approach and results have been running constantly. An audience around the project has been created thanks to the project website, the use of social media, the periodic and regular newsletter, and the participation in conferences and events. Several training and dissemination activities have been organised to highlight the value of industrialised retrofitting, including workshops, webinars, a two-day Offsite Academy in Milan in 2024, and a site visit to the Italian demo building in 2025. INFINITE has also been presented at conferences, fairs, and industry events.

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)

INFINITE is focused on European residential buildings, being the largest components of the European building stock, responsible for two-thirds of the building energy consumption and presenting the most complex ownership variety. The state-of-the-art shows the implementation of very light renovation projects, mainly boosted by incentives. When talking about overall retrofit performances, such actions reveal themselves to be based on traditional long construction sites, with high rate of waste and inefficiencies, impacts on the inhabitants, and risk of technically low-quality solutions and implementation.
The Renovation4.0 approach, defined and fostered by INFINITE, proposes a deeply industrialised renovation action, quick in the implementation, less risky, with high quality components and processes. It sets the bases for long-lasting solutions while achieving nZEB targets through (i) digitalisation, (ii) new envelope prefabrication integrating all needed functional units, (iii) the creation of a new value-chain and design process, (iv) the LCA-LCC optimisation of the technical solutions and the overall renovation project, (v) an early and deep engagement of all needed stakeholders.
The completion of two demo buildings in May 2025 confirmed the technical feasibility of the industrialised deep renovation (IDR) approach. These projects enabled the consortium to assess the full process—from design to installation—from multiple perspectives: technology providers (BIPV, BIST, E&FA, Smart Windows), demo owners (site preparation, execution, timelines), and research centres (feasibility, timing, and costs). The next phase will focus on validating performance and cost-effectiveness through ongoing data collection.
Thanks to INFINITE, the European residential building sector will be able to design and implement long-lasting high quality deep renovation actions and achieve the nZEB energy goal.

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