Two renovated public buildings with renewable energy technologies

Within the project Bringing Retrofit Innovation to Application in Public Buildings (BRITA in PuBs) eight demonstration public buildings were retrofitted. The project was part of the EU Eco-buildings programme. The aim of the project was to further increase the market penetration of innovative and effective retrofit solutions to improve energy efficiency and to implement renewable energy technologies. BRITA in PuBs was finalised in 2008. Two of the demonstration buildings are reported in this paper: Borgen Community Centre in Norway (conversion from school to community centre) Proevehallen in Denmark (conversion from industrial building to cultural centre) Borgen Community Centre is located in a suburban area in Asker close to Oslo, the capital of Norway. The Borgen School was built in 1970 and has now been retrofitted and converted into the Borgen Community Centre, a centre for the whole neighbourhood. The main building contains a secondary school and facilities for health-care services and leisure-time arrangements. The design strategies, the energy-saving measures, energy savings and costs are described. Proevehallen (the test hall) is located on the outskirts of Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Constructed in the 1930s, Proevehallen was an open factory building consisting of one large hall that has now been retrofitted and converted into a cultural centre. The energy consumption and the economy are reported. The design, installations, solar PV and solar thermal system and the building management system are described. The two buildings showed demonstrated that by introducing appropriate energy conservation concepts and renewable energy technologies into retrofitting projects, the resulting energy standard can be considerably higher than required by the current building regulations at reasonable costs and payback time.