D3.2: Validation report of lowered
embodied energy at pre-fab
renovation projects
Summary
P2Endure is a European research project funded under the EU programme H2020-EE-2016-PPP
(supporting accelerated and cost-effective deep renovation of buildings through Public-Private
Partnerships (EEB PPP). The project aims to improve the availability and performance of energy saving
solutions for deep renovation and transformation of vacant, obsolete or sub-optimal public buildings into
dwellings promoting evidence-based innovative solutions for deep renovation based on prefabricated
Plug and- Play systems in combination with on-site robotic 3D-printing and BIM demonstrated and
monitored at 11 real projects, 2 virtual demonstrators in 4 geo-clusters with EU-wide replication
potentials.
This report summarizes how P2Endure contributes to the lowering of the Embodied Energy (EE) of the
demonstrated renovation methods and how solutions affect the Embodied Energy of the renovation
process. In order to convincingly present benefits of the project, Embodied Energy assessment is
performed on selected demonstration sites: Warsaw (PL), Gdynia (PL), Ancona (IT), Menden (DE),
Lekkerkerk (NL) and Utrecht (NL).
Validation and optimisation is to provide tools and methodologies to control, guarantee and verify the
expected performance in terms of energy, environmental impact, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ),
time and cost efficiency. According to the recommendations of the IEA-ABC-Annex57 the methodology of
the ICE-database from the University of Bath is used to calculate the improvement of the Embodied
Energy (EE) by the P2Endure solutions. Analysis of the Lowered Embodied Energy is made through the
comparison of two renovation scenarios: 1) P2Endure technologies and approach and 2) traditional
renovation that would be applied if the P2Endure renovation would not take place. The improvement of
the EE about of 5-43% compared to traditional renovations is mainly caused by avoiding using bricks and
using gypsum plate material. On the other hand, traditional renovation methods are often with wood and
bricks or plaster cladding that has low EE. Nevertheless, these methods require a lot of labour. As a result,
in some cases the improvement is less or marginal (< 5%) because stiff materials (e.g. steel and
polystyrene) are used to make the transportable.
The results show also that there is a need for new construction materials that avoid intensive labour with
respect to concrete, bricks and wood. A good example is the demo case of single family houses in
Lekkerkerk (NL) which uses the Cocoonz façade with polyesters as construction material.
In the future work, besides the EE, also the scarcity end reusability related to a circular building
construction economy should be taken into account. This report is dedicated to architects, pre-fabrication
specialized companies and construction companies interested in designing PnP-solutions with low EE.
Moreover, also chemical companies that produce construction materials should be interested to see and
to be inspired how new construction materials effect the EE in building renovation solutions.