I-HEROS (Integrated Home Energy RenOvation Service) is a project funded in the same Horizon 2020-programme as ProRetro. It develops an entirely integrated home renovation service for homeowners in Toulouse Métropole in the south of France. By increasing the coordination between existing programs and targeting specific households, this One-Stop-Shop aims at renovating additional 2,000 buildings per year by the end of the project in 2023. The target groups of the One-Stop-Shop in Toulouse are owners of individual houses as well as owners of apartment units belonging to condominiums.
Toulouse Métropole
Toulouse Métropole includes 37 municipalities with a population of 796,203 inhabitants. Around two-thirds of the 435,936 dwellings in Toulouse Metropole are in multi-family houses and almost 42% of the housing units belong to condominiums. Especially around the historical centre of Toulouse and in the municipalities around the city of Toulouse, many houses were built before 1993 and have a low energy standard with house energy ratings of G and F.
Services and customer journey
The first contact can be made by phone or at the consultation centre “Maison de L’Énergie”, which is located in the centre of Toulouse. During the first contact, the customer can present his home renovation project to the energy adviser of the One-Stop-Shop “Toulouse Métropole Rénov”.
Afterwards, the energy adviser will guide the customer towards a diagnosis adapted to his project. The diagnosis can range from simple advice to a full analysis by an architect. This stage is important to measure the performance of the project. Depending on the situation and the project, the energy adviser will refer the client to specialist staff for the renovation project and point out suitable subsidies.
The energy adviser also assists in the selection of companies for the renovation work. For the cost estimates, the adviser informs the costumer about the lists of certified professionals and the local commitment charter. Once the cost estimates are available, the homeowner can get help from the One-Stop-Shop to review the offers.
When it is time to submit the funding request, the adviser informs the homeowner about the further procedure. For the financing of the renovation project, the One-Stop-Shop extends further support such as assistance in applying for subsidies.
During the renovation work, the One-Stop-Shop offers supporting consultations. This can be useful if the homeowner is carrying out a deep renovation.
To take control of the renovated home and ensure lower bills, the consultant will propose to monitor the consumption.
Special characteristics
One component in the development of the One-Stop-Shop was the analysis of the renovation potential in Toulouse Metropole. Based on local data, open data and data from a platform for supporting homeowners’ associations with renovation, typologically similar neighbourhoods and buildings with increased renovation potential were identified. The One-Stop-Shop aims to offer collective advice in order to reduce renovation costs for homeowners.
Based on the analysis of the renovation potential, 30,000 letters will be sent to the condominiums with identified renovation potential until the end of 2022. This targeted communication is intended to increase the awareness of homeowners for the services of the One-Stop-Shop.
With the help of a “charter of commitments”, qualified local construction companies are to be engaged to support the One-Stop-Shop. This charter contains obligations for the cooperation between the One-Stop-Shop and the local construction companies on the one hand. On the other hand, it helps to build up a list of trustworthy professionals, that is accessible via the website of the One-Stop-Shop and is handed out during advice.
The I-HEROS project pays particular attention on qualifying and consolidating a tool for monitoring the progress of energy renovation in the region. In order to track the renovation dynamics through the One-Stop-Shop, a tool to monitor the progress of building renovation is developed in the project. Parts of this monitoring system will be performance indicators and key indicators such as the number of works that have been carried out. The customer satisfaction will also be monitored.
Cooperation and networks
Led by Toulouse Métropole, the I-HEROS project is developed in a consortium with six other French partners and ZEBAU GmbH as the only German partner. The consortium partners have practical experience in technical, digital, social, legal and administrative aspects of renovation. In addition, local actors are integrated into the One-Stop-Shop, for example with and through the charter of commitment.
The dissemination of the project will inform cities, energy agencies, other EU funded projects and energy cluster associations on a European level about I-HEROS. In connection with the research of the replication potential of the One-Stop-Shop model to other European and German cities, contacts to peers will be created in the further process of the project
The project
Therefore, the impacts of the One-Stop-Shop will become visible after the first consultations and fully completed renovations. However, first numbers already show the success of the One-Stop-Shop in Toulouse: Between January and April 2022, there were more than 1,400 orientation consultations and more than 800 comprehensive consultations.
You can learn more about the project on ZEBAU’s website and the website of Toulouse Métropole.