Long-term renovation strategies (LTRS) can fulfil an essential role for local authorities aiming to decarbonise the building stock, get access to funding and benefit from opportunities presented by the Renovation Wave – but how well are municipal authorities’ needs reflected in the latest strategies submitted to the European Commission? This report presents good practices from several EU Member States including innovative projects and initiatives in the categories of financing instruments, data collection and storage, tailored renovation approaches, public buildings, and integrated municipal planning.

The EPBD ((EU) 2018/844) requires Member States (MS) to set up long-term renovation strategies outlining how MS plan to transform their national building stock. The LTRS are meant to act as roadmaps to a highly energy-efficient and healthy building stock, providing guidance for municipalities on specific policies to stimulate deep renovation, target energy-poor communities, and prioritise public buildings as role models. High-quality LTRS are an essential instrument to guide recovery investments under the frame of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility towards building renovation. MS should develop ambitious renovation schemes and reforms in their Recovery and Resilience Plans, building on robust and comprehensive LTRS to allocate the budget effectively.

The report shows that LTRS should better reflect local circumstances to ensure the implementation of comprehensive, integrative renovation activities at local level, in line with the needs of building owners and residents. The establishment of interactive and trustworthy public consultation processes is important to ensure a detailed and collaborative LTRS process in which municipal concerns and priorities are heard and taken up by national authorities. At the same time, municipal renovation strategies can be useful strategic planning instruments to support data availability and acquire future funding.

This report marks the end of the EUKI-funded Our Buildings project which aimed to strengthen local public officers and other municipal stakeholders in planning effective, well-targeted renovation activities in Romania and Bulgaria. The guidance documents for national and municipal long-term renovation strategies developed in the project can be found here.

The report is available in English, Bulgarian and Romanian.