The EU set a 20% energy savings target by 2020. Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU. While new buildings generally need less than three to five litres of heating oil per square meter per year, older buildings consume about 25 litres on average. It is also estimated that 90% of building today existing in the EU is destined to remain and the renovation is, sooner or later, inevitable. And this process could create 2 million jobs. This represents an opportunity for European architects, as it can stimulate innovation and the economy. Thus professionals able to offer an innovative contribution are strongly needed. The labor market will present a growing demand for qualified professionals capable of performing energy audits and design competitive and innovative strategies for energy retrofitting on existing buildings. Matching this perspective with the shared need for greater job opportunities for architects, project NET_Learning aims at drafting a new professional profile by enriching the already recognized Energy Auditor with skills, competences and knowledge enabling Architects to become European Energy Auditors and Renovators. The project aims at creating a workforce of qualified professionals, whose skills are recognized and able to operate at European level and contribute to achieve the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy in terms of climate change and energy efficiency, as well as increase competitiveness. Four partners coming from Italy, the United Kingdom and the Czech Republic, all dealing with training and the promotion of a culture for sustainable architecture, will therefore cooperate to provide these opportunities to a wide number of individuals and organizations. First of all to the community of European architects who are currently suffering the financial crisis and unemployment in a saturated market where big and renowned firms play a major role, leaving small firms and freelance architects struggling , regardless their age and experience. Enterprises involved in the renovation of existing building will benefit from the presence of a recognized professional role with specific competences on energy efficiency improvement related to existing buildings. Because of its economic importance, these economic sectors can significantly influence the development of the overall economy and have a direct impact on the quality of life of Europeans. Finally public national and local authorities and private/public owners of buildings which need to be renovated and reduce their energy consumption will benefit on the long term from the competences of qualified professionals who can also be involved in the programming of tenders and competitions. To reach project objectives and these target groups, NET_Learning will implement an e-learning Platform, fostering an on line basic course open to all architects coming from the participating partners regions and, based on result achieved upon its completion, 43 young architects will be selected to participate to a training activity abroad. This activity will take place in all the involved cities (Rome, Turin, London and Prague) and will focus on the analysis of selected case studies, chosen according to a detailed analysis of regulatory frameworks, technologies, methodologies and approaches today available to deal with energy efficiency and deep retrofitting of existing buildings. This analysis results will be collected in the so-called NET_Learning Handbook, a publication which will be made available and disseminated to all interested public. The project has the ambitious objective to define a policy recommendation to tackle the issue of today fragmentation at European level of the topic related to the energy certification and auditing and provide a comprehensive overview of the current situation. This means that the project will not end upon its closure, but is designed to become sustainable and continue on a long term. The NET_Learning platform will remain on line and will progressively supply more courses focused on specialist topics, having the Handbook as a textbook for all attendants. The platform will also become a virtual job placement space with a network of firms/enterprises offering jobs or internship opportunities, as well as an exchange space for experts and architects to compare and confront . The problems addressed by the project are common to all project partners and this makes it really important to work at European level: many architects wish to work in a foreign European country, but mobility is seen as difficult due to practical problems and to the scarce knowledge on other national and local contexts. These are the main reasons the project NET_Learning needs to be developed at transnational level, as it will offer an opportunity to better understand foreign contexts, take part in a training activity abroad and be supported by a stable European network.
The EU set a 20% energy savings target by 2020. Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO2 emissions in the EU: renovation is inevitable if we think that older buildings consume about 25 lt. of heating oil per square meter per year, around 6 times more than new ones, and that 90% of building today existing in the EU is destined to remain. This process could create 2 million jobs and professionals able to offer an innovative contribution will be strongly needed, particularly for what concerns the performance of energy audits and the design of competitive and innovative strategies for energy retrofitting on existing buildings. Matching this perspective with the shared need for greater job opportunities for architects, NET_Learning aimed at drafting a new professional profile (European Energy Auditors and Renovators) enriching the already recognized Energy Auditor with skills, competences and knowledge addressing Architects. Four partners involved in training and promotion of sustainable architecture culture and coming from Italy, United Kingdom and Czech Republic, worked together to improve opportunities for a wide number of individuals and organizations, in particular the community of EU architects, currently suffering the financial crisis and unemployment in a saturated market where big and renowned firms play a major role, leaving small firms and freelance architects struggling. Their cooperation aimed at creating a workforce of qualified professionals, able to operate at EU level and contribute to the achievement of objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy in terms of climate change and energy efficiency, as well as increasing competitiveness. The project transversally addressed enterprises involved in existing building retrofitting, public national and local authorities and private/public owners of buildings as it focused on the delivery of specific competences on energy efficiency improvement related to existing buildings. Due to their economic and social relevance, these sectors can significantly influence the development of the overall economy and have a direct impact on the quality of life of Europeans. To reach all what stated above, the first step was the development of specific training contents to be delivered to interested architects, coming from all participating countries. Partners, supported by experts, defined and created 4 main modules focused on introduction to sustainable retrofit, passive design, active systems and approaches to sustainable retrofit, made accessible upon subscription to the NET_Learning e-learning Platform (IO1), which represent also the official dissemination channel, where visitors can access information on the project, newsletter, documents, etc. Among young architects taking part to the course, and based on result achieved upon its completion, 43 have been selected to participate to a specialized study visit, which took place in all the involved cities (Rome, Turin, London and Prague) and focused on the analysis – in person and through dedicated material - of real case studies, identified by each partner according to a detailed analysis of regulatory frameworks, technologies, methodologies and approaches today available to deal with energy efficiency and deep retrofitting of existing buildings. Analysis results and training contents, together with an overview of the current situation, have been collected in the NET_Learning Handbook, a publication freely available on the Platform and dissemination tools, useful for training and informative purposes. Through it, partners have defined a strategy to define how to tackle the issue of today fragmentation at EU level of the topic related to the energy certification and auditing. This supports project sustainability in terms of continuation of what started, by further integrating its results and make them usable through time. In addition to that, partners commit to maintain the platform online and progressively supply more courses focused on specialist topics, while the Handbook will be used as an additional textbook for all attendants, being integrated and updated when needed (e.g. new regulations, etc.). The platform will also become a virtual job placement space with a network of firms/enterprises offering jobs or internship opportunities, as well as an exchange space for experts and architects to compare and confront. The problems addressed by the project is common to almost all EU countries and support project transferability: many architects wish to work at least for a period abroad, but mobility is perceived as difficult due to practical problems and to the scarce knowledge on other national and local contexts. NET_Learning thus tried to respond to this will, offering an opportunity to better understand foreign contexts, take part in a training activity abroad and be supported by a stable European network, which might be easily expanded due to the shared conditions of young EU architects.