Case Study: nZEC - Energy refurbishment of 125 dwellings in the residence Les Pins, Vitrolles, France

Short Description

The refurbishment project of the three apartment towers Amstrong, Gagarin and Crisson of the Residence “Les Pins” in Vitrolles was initiated in 2007 and successfully concluded at the beginning of 2013.

The project, located in the residential area named “Les Pines” is part of the hosing company’s strategy to renovate, improve the energy efficiency and control the evolution of running and maintenance costs of buildings in order to revalue the housing stock in the region, mainly composed by public housing estates built in the sixties/seventies.

Key Elements

Thermal Insulation

In terms of thermal insulation of the buildings, it was decided to set up an external insulation (thickness between 12 and 15 cm). Moreover, the original buildings included loggias. The refurbishment programme planned to close these loggias with double glazing windows.

Solar Thermal

A surface of 84m² of thermal solar panels was installed on the building's roof where the boiler room is located, to ensure a preheating of the domestic hot water.

Solar Photovoltaic

A total surface of 105m² of photovoltaic solar panels was installed on the roofs of the three buildings composing the project.

Work with Residents

Famille & Provence planned to communicate with the tenants via different ways: 

• An enlarged communication in line with the  approach initiated by the city;
• The signature of  a protocol with the associations representative of the tenants;
• A dialogue with the tenants in order to present the project in details and to explain them the consequences of the refurbishment. The publication of gazettes during the refurbishment dedicated to the tenants enabled to set up this dialogue;
• An interactive exhibition on energy savings was organized. This exhibition was the opportunity to distribute some kits of energy savings equipment;
• A user booklet was also distributed to the inhabitants to clarify the technical specificities of the building and give some advice in terms of energy savings;
• A personalised monitoring of the consumptions of a small panel of tenants volunteers was proposed.
  
  
  

Ventilation

The original ventilation revealed to be inadequate considering the insulation of the building. Due to this undersizing, condensation problems occurred. A new water-adjustable ventilation was installed to solve these problems.

Main Results

The level of energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the building before refurbishment was:

• Energy: 157 kWh/m²/year (level D)
• CO2 emissions: 35 kgCO2/m²/year (level D)

The level of energy consumption and the CO2 emissions of the building after refurbishment is:

• 6 kWh/m²/year (level B)
• CO2 emissions: 16 kgCO2/m²/year (level C)

In terms of performances, this project aimed at decreasing the energy consumptions and CO2 emissions, and thus decreasing the impact of the increase of the energy tariffs for the tenant. In exchange of this decrease of the energy expenses, a financial contribution is asked to the tenants. The couple “rent + expenses” was carefully followed so as to improve the situation for the tenant.

Lessons learned

Additional Information

Ms Carine Puyol
USH - The French Federation of Social Housing Providers
E-mail: carine.puyol@union-habitat.org
Web: www.union-habitat.org