Reducing C0₂ emissions and boosting productivity by over 60%. Going digital can be crucial for global construction, but SMEs struggle to keep pace. Hence, the robot challenge in the AI era: filling the gap with the big industry and letting the whole sector grow bigger and greener.

From the retrofitting of social housing blocks to the set-up of a “biodistrict”, co-designed by school pupils. When urban regeneration faces climate change from a new perspective: “Inclusive and beautiful is better. People must be proud of where they live”.

Social housing associations and EU projects are countering energy poverty with innovative financial schemes and “solidarity mechanisms”: “Buildings refurbishment benefits both the people and the Planet. Social and environmental fights go hand in hand” 

Giving materials a passport, designing buildings as temporary aggregates, and making companies responsible for their products. What we can learn from a European project, Apollo 13 and The Truman Show, to limit the environmental footprint of the construction industry?

Solar panels disguised as ancient Roman tiles or terracotta bricks to match the city skyline. The innovative solutions adopted by the archaeological park of Pompeii and the Portuguese city of Evora pave the way for an inspiring model: turning architectural constraints into assets, boosting heritage and sustainability.

Work is in progress, in Dresden, to become climate neutral in the next few years. The German city, after being selected as one of the 100 European Cities to address this challenge by 2030, chose the Johannstadt neighborhood as its pilot area.

Internationally renowned for the stunning architecture of its City of Arts and Sciences, by local architect Santiago Calatrava, the Spanish city of Valencia has been this year selected among the 100 European cities that will take up the challenge to become climate neutral by 2030.

Beauty in architecture is often expensive, while sustainability should be affordable and widespread. Does this mean that aesthetics and sustainability are in conflict? Or can one integrate the other? Solutions exist. What we need is a cultural revolution.

House units which can be reassembled into other buildings. Citizens’ groups volunteering to renovate the existing stock with natural materials. And an EU project testing innovative solution, to involve users and institutions in a new sustainable model. When the housing sector goes circular, waste and emissions go down.

Earth is not only our precious planet, but a building material that can guide one of the planet’s most emissions-heavy sectors towards a carbon-neutral, sustainable future

One hundred years on, the influential building, art and design movement is born again amid Europe’s push to reduce emissions in the carbon-heavy housing sector. Like its forerunner of the 1920s, the New European Bauhaus is designed for form, function, good looks and community uplift – with some 21st century additions too

Glass in architecture has been recently used more intensively thanks to developments in its manufacturing

When energy-saving measures are planned in social housing buildings, the environmental aim is combined with the scope of reducing inequality. In Zaragoza, Spain, a team of social workers is helping the tenants of a multi-family building to accept a challenging refurbishment

In many EU countries multi-family dwellings represent the dominant residential solution. But structural renovations to cut emissions and save energy may be a real challenge in such contexts, if the communities are not properly involved in the process

In the EU, the main use of energy by households is for heating their homes, and is therefore highly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions

Energy-saving devices and ‘smart speakers’ are selling in record-breaking numbers, and driving hi-tech market development. However, obstacles remain due to a lack of digital skills among consumers and inconsistent service level

While the United Nations Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) takes place from the 2^nd to the 14^th of December 2018 in Katowice, Poland, we have been investigating how district heating can contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases.

December 5 is UN World Soil Day. The building industry has thus been called to account for its role in the massive use of mineral raw materials and environmental pollution. One solution comes from the bio-construction sector which draws on unlimited sources of natural materials such as hemp, which is a recyclable carbon sequestrator. But how comfortable is it to live in a hemp house?

Involving citizens is the biggest challenge to finalise large-scale energy efficiency works in neighbourhoods. An emblematic story comes from Valladolid, Spain, where “no, we can’t” has become “yes, we can”