PED Topic 2: PED solutions in private housing across different urban contexts

85% of buildings in the EU were built before 2000, and 75% have poor energy performance. A large share of these buildings is privately owned residential buildings. Considering these numbers, improving the energy performance of existing buildings is key to saving energy, reducing bills for citizens and enterprises, and achieving a zero-emission and fully decarbonised building stock by 2050.

Across Europe, housing providers face declining new construction due to rising costs and limited financing, while renovation activities progress slowly. Residential construction is projected to reach a ten-year low by 2025, underscoring the urgent need for innovative and scalable refurbishment solutions.

At the same time, cities with 45.000 or more inhabitants are obliged to develop local heating and cooling plans with the aim to decarbonise heating and cooling. The heating and cooling sector represents 80% of all energy consumed by buildings, with 72% of that energy coming from fossil fuels. Decarbonising the heating and cooling sector is therefore essential to achieving the wider objective of a climate-neutral building stock, while also supporting the EU’s objectives of competitiveness, strategic autonomy, power grid limitations and reducing (energy) poverty.

The PED concept offers a transformative framework to upgrade existing urban areas by improving energy performance, reducing carbon emissions, and promoting integrated, sustainable approaches. However, deep renovation remains constrained by outdated building stock, structural challenges, cultural, heritage and architectural limitations, and the high costs of both renovation, renewable energy integration and administrative constraints. 

Proposals under this topic should accelerate the integration of PED principles into private housing and mixed-ownership urban areas, with a strong emphasis on deep renovation, sustainable heating and cooling (storage) solutions, electrification, power/electricity grid capacities and potential infrastructural limitations. Approaches should enable scalable, cost-effective, and socially just refurbishment strategies and ensure affordability, social inclusion, and protect residents from rising housing and energy costs.

In this context, proposals should explore how PED-driven refurbishment preserves and enhances asset value, reduces regulatory risks, and supports long-term viability for private owners, housing providers, and investors. Solutions must be adapted to the realities of existing residential areas (e.g. post-war housing estates, privately owned apartment blocks, historical settings, and mixed-use neighbourhoods).

To address challenges related to fragmented ownership structures, multi-owner buildings, and mixed public-private property regimes, proposals should consider integrated governance, regulatory and financing approaches. These should enable decision-making, investment, and operation of shared energy systems, clarify stakeholder roles, and overcome administrative barriers. Proposals should also identify effective models of public-private cooperation, support mechanisms, and investment practices involving key stakeholders (e.g. real estate developers, and property, asset, and facility managers), supported by evidence-based approaches and city-level science-policy collaboration. This may include testing financing mechanisms that combine public and private funding, reduce upfront investment barriers, lower energy bills, mitigate energy poverty and ensure long-term benefits for residents.

Furthermore, proposals should consider spatial constraints and requirements within existing (dense) residential contexts, as well as the visual and architectural impacts of renewable energy technologies, ensuring compatibility with building design, heritage considerations, and residents’ acceptance. Architectural choices should account for property value and market attractiveness. Proposals are encouraged to align and integrate New European Bauhaus (NEB) principles.

Main questions/ objective

• How can PED solutions be integrated and streamlined in private housing in a diverse and complex stakeholder environment, while ensuring affordability and social inclusion alongside decarbonisation?
• How can processes be applied to different urban contexts (refurbishment/new developments, historical/heritage settings, privatised post-war environments, etc.)?

Rather than focusing on isolated technical solutions, projects are expected to address this topic through systems thinking, place-based approaches, and integrated neighbourhood strategies. Project outcomes should be impact-oriented and process-driven, with a strong focus on real-world applicability, affordability, and social inclusion. Projects should clearly define their expected qualitative and/or quantitative outputs (including facts and figures) in relation to the selected challenge questions.

Expected outputs include, but are not limited to:

• Development of scalable and transferable models for embedding PED principles into private and mixed-ownership housing, including refurbishment of existing residential stock.
• Identify solutions and technical requirements for integrating renewable energy technologies in existing urban areas, including assessment of spatial, architectural and market-related constraints that influence feasibility and acceptance.
• Policy and regulatory recommendations addressing fragmented ownership, multi-owner decision-making (including exploring organisational models such as the potential for implementing Energy Communities), and administrative barriers, alongside innovative and affordable financing mechanisms supporting PED adoption in private housing.
• Practical frameworks and guidance for private owners, housing associations, and mixed public-private housing providers to plan, finance, implement, operate, and monitor PED solutions, including strategies for resident communication and engagement.
• Demonstration of PED solutions delivering measurable improvements in energy efficiency, local renewable energy generation, energy flexibility, and resilience, with documented evidence of reduced energy costs for residents and mitigation of energy poverty risks.
• Development of integrated solutions for collective heating and cooling solutions, electrification strategies, and the integration of digital tools, and smart energy technologies at neighbourhood scale.