demonstration project

Collective renovation projects in Ghent

The city of Ghent has a strongly expanded offering of free renovation advice and renovation support. The Energiecentrale is the one-stop-shop where all inhabitants of Ghent can turn to with questions about energy-efficient renovation. In addition to this individual approach, the City of Ghent wants to use this action to develop an approach to collective renovation. This means that a recruitment campaign is set up at neighbourhood level and that a group purchase (insulation, windows, PV, solar boilers) is organized that guarantees both good prices and quality to the participating residents. With the support of BE REEL! Ghent can expand this approach to 8 neighborhoods (1 every 6 months). In total, between 480 and 640 houses in Ghent will have had an energy efficient renovation via this project leading to a 50% reduction in energy for heating per house.


Project phases for citizens

The project has the following phases for citizens: door to door visits to convince citizens to join, free renovation advice, offer that participating citizens can sign, and group purchase of one or more measures (insulation of roof, attic floor, walls, or glass).


Communication plan



Ghent will develop a communication plan to target the citizens of the 8 neighborhoods, including the involvement of social actors that are active in the neighborhood.

Selection of contractors

Ghent will also select the contractor to install the energy efficient measures based on clear criteria (sustainability, quality, pricing).


Roadmap & report

A roadmap will be developed to inform cooperatives how to execute similar  collective renovation projects. All the results and conclusions of this project will also be centralized in a final report.

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