Flanders has approximately 1.4 million apartments, of which more than half need to be renovated in the short or medium term. Many building owners postpone an investment in facade insulation and renovation until they have sufficient budget to carry out major renovations. As a result, there are many outdated uninsulated facades which result in a high energy consumption and low comfort for residents. In order to speed up the renovation of the outdated Flemish patrimony, a comprehensive solution is needed for the renovation of apartment buildings.

The aim of the EURECA project is to develop a circular facade system that is scalable and allows existing apartment buildings to be renovated quickly in a circular manner. The modular facade renovation system must be reusable so it can be applied in the renovation of multiple buildings. A solution is sought that allows the existing joinery to be reused, for example when the joinery has already been renewed. It is analyzed how techniques can be integrated into the façade. This would allow the interior space to be designed more flexibly and to take into account the possibility of future adaptions. The system will be tested on three case studies: a typical apartment building from '60s, an apartment building of a social housing company and a student home of UGent.

In addition, this project will also investigate the possibility of providing facade elements "as a service". The high residual value of the elements and the possibility to install them for a shorter period of time offers interesting perspectives.

Bureau Bouwtechniek, Algemene Bouw Maes nv, De Witte Aluminiumconstructies nv and UGent are partners in the two-year research project.