Guest Commentary by Antonija Wieser (CIPRA International)

Municipalities’ exchange for sustainable public building

About 70 participants – members of the Alpine towns of the Year network, other professionals, experts, local, national and international politicians – came together to discuss chances and challenges of sustainable and energy    efficient building and renovation for municipalities. The event took place on October 17^th in Idrija/SI.

The workshop “Building and renovating in a sustainable way: from strategy to realization” was a possibility to interact with experienced municipalities, decision makers and experts. What does it needs for sustainable building in and outside the Alps? What stakeholders and measures are necessary? Which mistakes can be avoided? The market place of ideas, an interactive format which enables discussion, was an ideal opportunity to ask peers and professionals with on-the-ground experience.

MountEE involvement

In the framework of the workshop, also financed by the MountEE project, experts like Angela Sanchini from ARES or Bruno Summer, mayor of the example building in St. Gerold, explained which strategies, measures and cooperation’s are necessary for the implementation of sustainable public building.
Severine Letheule, responsible for sustainable development of the City of Chambéry reported how her city developed its manual “build, plan and retrofit sustainably” and how to integrate environmental and social criteria into public construction. The slovenian scientist and entrepreneur, Bruno Dujić, talked about wood as public construction material for municipalities.

Strategic level and municipalities

Miro Kristan of the Soča development agency represented the “Low carbon strategy of the Upper Soča Valley” and explained how municipalities can reduce energy and at the same time CO2 emissions. The Green integrated economy model of Šentrupert was developed especially for the municipality. Among other things the concept includes the first low-energy and low-carbon wooden kindergarden of Slovenia and a heating system on wooden chips. That shows that municipalities can do a lot for energy transformation in the building sector (Further information: http://www.100-res-communities.eu/news/communities-take-the-lead-in-the-energy-transformation).

A more strategic approach – the sustainable energy action plans (SEAP) – also including measures within the building sector was presented by Silvia Rivas of the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. (Further information – Blogpost Jakob Dietrichmair)

Alpine Award winner

The multifunctional community center Rinka won the 3^rd place within the alpinewide competition Constructive Alps, where sustainable buildings and renovation in the Alps are warded. Architect Uroš Lobnik presented his work, its implementation as well as hurdles and opportunities connected with it (Further information: http://www.constructivealps.net/preistraeger-2013/).

 

Presentations and further information about the speakers:

http://www.alpenstaedte.org/en/infoservice/downloads/workshop-building-and-renovating-in-a-sustainable-way-from-strategy-to-realization?set_language=en