Milan launches 'Energiesprong' for energy efficiency in public buildings

A stock of about 28 thousand units, owned by the municipality and managed by MM Spa, distributed in 273 housing complexes. Part of that 10% of the Erp stock in Milan's capital city (out of the total availability of residential units), which, although higher than the average for Italian cities, nevertheless fails to meet the demand for public housing needs and must therefore be preserved and implemented, also thanks to innovative recovery actions that combine speed of action and quality of result.

It was precisely by thinking about the future of these assets that Energiesprong Milano was born, the first programme signed by an Italian public administration to develop in our country the international open innovation initiative Energiesprong, developed first and foremost in the Netherlands and based on a new model for the redevelopment of existing buildings, through the use of driven prefabrication and industrialisation processes. The technology of the construction industry, contrary to popular belief, now makes it possible to upgrade an existing building even without moving the inhabitants out of their homes, but using off-site systems, manufactured in factories and mounted on the façades of existing buildings, to insulate, seismically reinforce and/or complete buildings with new installations.

It is not the future, but it is a concrete present. There are already over 12,000 projects throughout Europe that have been developed using this approach, with interesting results: a reduction in intervention times of up to 50% compared to traditional interventions, a reduction in costs of up to 40%, net zero energy performance, and guarantees on works and building performance for up to 30 years. It is no coincidence that Energiesprong has also spread overseas, in New York State, and was awarded the Gold World Habitat Award 2024 by UN Habitat as the best response to the housing emergency. The growth numbers speak of its success: more than 14,000 new developments in the Netherlands, 6,500 in France, 500 in Germany, 225 in the UK and 46 in New York State are already in the planning stage, in addition to the recent launch of an investment plan in California State and Canada.

In Italy, the project exists and is promoted by Edera, a non-profit organisation created in late 2020 by REDO Sgr Società Benefit, Fondazione Housing Sociale and Associazione Nazionale Costruttori Edili with the support of Fondazione Cariplo to study and disseminate innovative solutions for regeneration.

The realised cases are few, but solid, from North to South: it started in Brescia with a single house that saw a renovation work from the outside carried out in the space of a "building site-event" broadcast live, and then scaled up to more complex projects, such as the Aler towers in Via Russoli in Milan, completed with the attachment of prefabricated systems in a wooden façade and curtain walling in materials derived from rice processing waste. An intervention signed by A2A, Wood-Beton and Ricehouse and which is leading the way. And again, in Pieve Emanuele, on the outskirts of Lombardy's capital city, a retrofit project is nearing completion on 5 private buildings with 5 floors and 238 dwellings, using 50% off-site Isopan techniques; in Catania, a 5-storey building owned by Iacp is undergoing thermal and seismic renovation; in Greve in Chianti, in the province of Florence, CasaSpa is upgrading a building with an advanced solution by Fanti Ingegneria, which integrates insulation and plant engineering. The result is that 454 residential units in Italy have been rehabilitated while another 800 are in the planning stage.