Client: Directorate General for Research and Innovation (European Commission)
Project duration: September 2012 – August 2016
This Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) funded research project had a very broad focus: on the one hand it concentrated on identifying the possibilities of establishing new collective-self organized residential complexes all over Europe, on the other hand it intended to define the circumstances under which residents of owner-occupied multi-unit buildings can implement the energy efficient renovation of their estates. The project has developed a website that assists the communities to go through either the construction or the renovation process. MRI was responsible for developing business models that would enable SMEs to be drivers of the construction or renovation process. The therefore project aimed at developing business models that focus on a special segment of the market, producing business and service products (e.g. e-market place) providing new business opportunities for SMEs in this segment, comprising
- Collective self-organised housing (CSO), where the inhabitants have a major role in the decisions concerning construction or retrofitting thus even they have limited technical knowledge they are capable to express their ideas;
- The business model is based on ESCO structure, building on performance guarantee;
- The interventions focus on not only single buildings but on district level (neighbourhood) residential areas.
During the research process MRI was able to get acquainted with the establishment and operation of collective-self organized housing forms that are practically unknown in Hungary if we speak about new construction (part of this segment is co-housing that is quite common in some European countries, like Denmark), while it is the dominant form of housing if we speak about renovation as most of the multi-unit buildings are owner occupied in Hungary (while this is not the case in Western-Europe).
All the deliverables of the project can be found at: http://proficient-project.eu
