heating and cooling and DHW

Houthaven used to be a harbour and timber handling area, situated close to Amsterdam city centre, where many wood factories and related companies were located. After a long history of industrial activities, Houthaven is being transformed into a residential area. In total, seven islands are under development, providing space for 2 200 dwellings, 70 houseboats and 50 000 m2 facilities. In the NEXT-BUILDINGS project, 30 000 m2 of net zero-energy buildings were realised within Houthaven in the area named Blok 0.

The goal of the demonstration project was to build a 12 300 m2 zero-energy building in the Lyon-Confluence area in Lyon, France. The public company in charge of the urban project had had previous experience with its involvement in a demonstration project for the construction of the first buildings of this major urban regeneration project (CONCERTO Renaissance project). Given that the first demo project has had a significant impact on the other buildings constructed in that area, the public company wanted to build a new demonstration building with improved energy-efficient targets.

The Turkish demonstration site of NEED4B is on the Özyeğin  University campus, located in Nisantepe, Istanbul, north-west Turkey. The Nisantepe region is a newly developed residential site situated very close to the residential and financial region of Ümraniye. The building in focus is in part of the campus buildings that host the School of Languages (ScOLa). The total building area is 17 756 m2 spread across seven levels.

The NEED4B pilot site in Lecce (Italy) is located in a central and strategic part of the city, a few metres away from the historic centre and in front of a recreational space for students. It is a mixed-use building composed of four floors above ground and three floors underground. The first floor underground and the ground floor consist of shops and commercial spaces, while the first, second and third floors above ground are for offices. The building is surrounded by green spaces, a private parking area for the offices, and a bus stop.

The city of Valladolid, located in central Spain with a Mediterranean continental climate, participated in the DIRECTION project that aimed at demonstrating how the use of very innovative and cost-effective energy-efficient technologies can lead to the achievement of very-low-energy new buildings. This objective, along with the effective adoption of low-energy buildings, was achieved by switching to a model whereby energy efficiency provided value to the market and represented an attractive asset across the whole of the value chain.