Case Study: ARTE Genova pilot Via Sertoli, 9 - SHELTER Project

Short Description

This 1930s building is composed of 84 public housing units.
The aim of the project is to provide the building with 52 dwellings of various sizes, cellars for all single units and 2 commercial premises, along with the roof renovation with eco-friendly materials and window enlargements with the installation of double paned, gas filled, PVC framed windows.
In this operation, ARTE has worked with residents, listening their needs and making them stay (temporarily) in other blocks in the neighbourhood.

ARTE’s aim is to optimize the building’s thermal performances and in particular:

- reduce energy consumption for heating and hot water production;
- reduce the operating costs;
- maintain the thermal comfort conditions inside the units;
- reduce heat loss;
- integrate the central heating, using solar thermal and/or photovoltaic systems;
- assess, the energy efficiency of each dwelling.

The partnerships involved are Regional Council, ARTE, an expert engineer in Renewable Energy.

The building should be ready by December 2013.

The residents will be the lower income groups; to do this operation, we will use Regional Council founds.

Key Elements

Certification

We know the actual building structure and then his certification level; after renovation we’ll calculate it again  to assess the improvement.

Project Management

The refurbishment work  is managed by an expert engineer in Renewable Energy and specialist sub contractors will be appointed.

Partnership Working

Several technicians are working on the project: an Architects associated office; a Plant office, a structural engineered an expert engineer in Renewable Energy.

Work with Residents

At the end of the refurbishment, manuals will be delivered to the residents.

Thermal Insulation

The external insulation will be realised with natural end innovative material, furthermore, the first and last floors' insulation is expected using wood-fibre panels. 

Windows and Shading

Double paned, gas filled windows will be installed. Their class will be clearly superior to the old ones.

Heating and Hot Water

There will be a central heating and hot water system, constituted by a chain of three  energy efficient boilers and guaranteed by control systems. The hot water production will be guaranteed by the boilers and Solar Thermal production. A series of Solar Thermal panels will be installed on the southern part of the roof. The panels characteristic and extension will be transmitted after the executive Project approval.

Solar Photovoltaic

Our technicians are working to study a panels disposition that permits the contemporary solar thermal and photovoltaic panels installation. In any case we want to install an integrated panels system on the roof.

Water Saving

The bathrooms of all dwellings are being replaced and incorporate dual flush toilets. Is provided using the rain water to sprinkle the flower-bed outside the building.

Main Results

1. Impact

Impacts of implementation of the alternatives to the current coordination model, in terms of Cost, Energy savings (and emissions), process time, compared to usual operations.

Impacts of implementation of the alternatives are:

a) better result in terms of energy and money saving, without more charges to ARTE; this thanks to the bidders’ proposals which should be quantified by an expert consultant ;
b) more delay in comparison with the current procedure (6 months)

This delay is compensated by a faster construction period, offered by the bidder obtained the tender: in fact this company offered 11,5 months to carry out the works. In this way ARTE could recover the 9 months lost in evaluating bids.

c) less heat loss through the external wall.

Another expected gain thanks to the longer maintenance period: saving money and a faster maintenance interventions.

2. Future possible improvements and replication

- Possible further improvements of the model at SHO level.

ARTE is willing to repeat this experience with tender, improving the way of defining criteria and sub criteria on the basis of the kind of project carried out. However, this tendering procedure is easier to apply in new constructions, rather than in restoration and renewal In fact regarding the replication of the experience on the first kind of works mentioned above, A.R.T.E.’s technicians are thinking about the possibility of calling for tender using a definitive draft of a project, characterised by a low level of energy performance. In that way, they are sure to achieve a better energy level thanks to the participating enterprises’ proposals. No extra charges are to be supported by the Principal.

Concerning the replication on restoration and renewal works, the Company will have two different attitudes. The type of tender described above is adapted to manage individual blocks, so it will be used for restructuring whole buildings which are located in the outskirts of the town and not the ones standing in the historical centre. In the suburbs it’s easy to find buildings which can be considered as a single entity and so the perfect subject of a global and complete design also from an energetic point of view, without the risk to damage its historical and architectural characteristics. Conversely, buildings standing in the old area of the town have more complex issues.

This ancient part of Genoa, in which the Company has lot of properties, is characterised by buildings that date back to many centuries ago. A great part of the area was bombed during the centuries, and large and empty spaces were created between the constructions. Along the years new buildings filled the spaces and often the new constructions were build on, over and around the existing ones, causing an overlapping effect. This shows how the structure of the buildings and their architectural characteristics can be varied within a single unit. So the building cannot be studied as an individual one, because of its structure and stability. Therefore all projecting decision are subject to these limitations, particularly from a technical point of view. In addition to that, many old buildings have been declared UNESCO heritage and so are protected and tutored and any interference is closely monitored by local and national bodies authorities. For example there are buildings which –being supervised because of their great historical value - will not allow the installation of double glazing, floor central heating, insulation or solar panels.

Due to these reasons, it is difficult to fit the kind of tender to be awarded by applying of the most favourable bid on the basis of various criteria, to all the cases of restructuring that A.R.T.E. has to
manage.

- Recommendations at national and/or European level (legislation, financing schemes, training of professionals, professional certifications, public procurement rules, etc)

It could be interesting to study how to improve the way of calculation of the certification of energy saving through a new official software, but the gap between theoretic and real efficiency will came out only when works will be finished and the consumption monitoring will be done.

Lessons learned

As the refurbishment is not realised yet, we can tell that we’ll avoid some wrong choice done for the previous similar refurbishment.

The hot water production has been designed in a different way in comparison with the neighbour Civ.17 refurbishment.

In Civ.9 project we’ll realise centralized  hot water store and not in the dwellings kitchens, to avoid problems of reparation and maintenance for the tenants. Besides as the hot water will be in part produced by the Solar Thermal production the tenants will save money.

Additional Information

Contact:

Tulliola Guglielmi
ARTE Genova
E-mail: t.guglielmi@arte.ge.it
Phone: +39 (0) 10 53 901

Giordano Bertelà
ARTE Genova
E-mail: g.bertela@arte.ge.it
Phone: +39 (0) 10 53 901