Feeling the benefits of deep renovation in Valladolid

In the Torrelago district, cumulative improvements of the deep renovation works conducted as part of the CITyFiED project are beginning to be seen and felt by partners and residents alike.

Bringing large-scale district heating, biomass technology and transformative renovation work to the facades of these giant housing blocks has been a journey for all involved. While it's not over yet, openness, transparency and good communication combined with technical performance is beginning to have major results for all.

Following the installation and initial operations, Veolia and the CITyFiED team conducted a number of guided visits for students and citizens as well as technical workshops in European Sustainable Energy Week. They also worked with residents and local students to further raise awareness and interest into the energy efficiency capabilities and benefits.

Particularly well received has been the district heating system. In this second winter using the new boilers, residents are impressed with the increased comfort experienced. Keeping the warmth in, and insulating the buildings for all weather conditions is the façade renovations – and all blocks in stages 1 and 2 of the project recently completed the retrofitting works. Partner 31A has been keeping all stakeholders informed using the CITyFiED mini-site for Laguna del Duero and organizes meetings with the residents to talk about maintenance and answer ongoing questions.

Efforts are also on going in the development of smart ICT infrastructure, both concerning the CITyFiED monitoring platform for the whole project and the Spanish demo site. Several milestones have been achieved concerning these two platforms, putting a powerful monitoring system and real-time resident energy information within sight.

Ten buildings have now installed smart thermal energy meters and individual thermostats have been distributed among the residents. An information session will show how to use and interpret the data visualisations to have the greatest impact on consumption, cost and benefit for the environment.

In Valladolid, starting a sustainable culture and inciting behavior change is just as important as technical excellence.

More information:
alessandra.barbieri@youris.com
DIRECTION is a four-year EU-funded project that aims at demonstrating how the use of very innovative and cost-effective energy efficiency technologies can lead to the achievement of very low energy new buildings

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