Smart strategies and policies for sustainable shopping centres: energy efficient and cost-competitive retrofitting solutions

June 13, 2016 in Brussels

Sometimes seen as highly energy-consuming buildings, shopping centres have though the potential to be energy efficient and reach the environmental and energy goals of the EU. The retail industry’s size, reach and impact have a great deal of potential which can be exploited in order to make a difference and transform shopping centres into best-practice cases for sustainability. Because of their visibility and status within communities, shopping centres have the potential to act as represent beacons for energy efficiency investments. Their best practices set an example for other actors to take action and improve the energy performance of buildings. Whilst the energy consumed by commercial developments pales in comparison with residential buildings, the public visibility of shopping centres makes them perfect drivers in the field of energy efficiency.

CommONEnergy seized the challenge to help re-conceptualising these peculiar, complex buildings and turn them into beacons of energy efficiency. The aim being to provide smart, innovative and cost-effective solutions for deep and systemic retrofitting while ensuring that of all the involved stakeholders’ needs are met. 

Key shopping mall features, main inefficiencies and energy retrofitting drivers have been identified taking into account the architectural, social, cultural and economic contexts. Since the majority of shopping centres are already built, there are plenty of energy potentials to be gained through their redesign and reorganisation. CommONEnergy partners will develop tools and solutions, not only specific technologies (such as lighting, ventilation, refrigeration, etc.) but, even more important, also methodologies: the objective is indeed to implement a systemic retrofitting able to integrate different technologies, while taking into consideration the environmental and social contexts. 

The purpose of this event was to demonstrate to policy-makers and other participants the importance of having commercial buildings as a focus in the building-related directives. Especially as commercial centres currently represent 28% of the total non-residential building stock. 

Spotlight was put on how to frame policies, integrating the CommONEnergy project results into policy-making with recommendations for new and existing commercial buildings. Shopping centres features in EU28 + Norway will be presented as well as the three demonstration cases lessons-learned and replication potential. The importance of innovation will be highlighted, with a session on technologies improving comfort and reducing energy consumption in shopping centres. 

Presentations from the day

• Introduction: retrofitting commercial buildings, a new focus with important results for policy-makers (R. Lollini, EURAC)
• Introduction from the Architects Council of Europe (Veronika Schropfer, ACE CAE)
• Framing policies: Integrating the project results into policy-making improvements – links with the current building-related directives revision (Maarten De Groote, BPIE)
• Focus on the demonstration cases: lessons-learned and replication potential (R. Lollini, EURAC)
• Implementation of sustainability tools related to Shopping Centers within Devimo (Frédéric Pairoux, Sustainability Manager DEVIMO)
• The importance of innovation – technologies improving comfort and reducing energy consumption in shopping centres (R. Lollini, EURAC)

To download the agenda