Energy-Conscious Utilization of the Meter House Building at the Óbuda Gasworks, Hungary

In August Minusplus finished the report on the case study Óbuda Gasworks in Hungary. The Meter House in Óbuda Gasworks is one of the three European listed heritage buildings analysed on energy performance and potential energy savings in light of the Climate-KIC Pathfinder project ReFoMo.
Listed monuments require preservation of among others the facades and roof-forms. Within these restrictions, Minusplus defined solutions for the Meter House Building of Óbuda Gasworks to halve the energy use and to lower CO2 volumes to one third. The report concludes that the highest energy-savings can be realized by applying roof insulation. Energy usage peaks can be reduced by realizing a multi-function space, thus expanding the time of potential use of the building. By adjusting the right air flow direction between the different inner functions, extreme demands of HVAC can be balanced to save energy.

Read the summary or the full report.

Reports on the other two case studies in the Netherlands and Italy are expected later this year. Reports will be made available on the project website: www.refomo.eu.

In the Europe section of the magazine of the Province of Utrecht special attention is being given to the ReFoMo project as one of the five European projects that currently run within and with support of the Province of Utrecht:

For more information, see: http://editie03.provincieutrechtmagazine.nl/#!7-Europa.

C-Fordt in Maarsseveen was the stage for the Kick-off meeting of the new project ReFoMo. Erik van Tooren, initiator of the project on behalf of the Province of Utrecht: “In the summer of last year I was at a Climate-KIC meeting and at some point I thought: why not see if we can reduce the footprints of heritage buildings like the fortresses of the New Dutch Waterline? I made some phone calls to some Climate-KIC partners if they would be interested and some were. And here we are!”. These partners have now come to C-Fordt for the kick-off of the project that will run until the end of 2015.

The fortress C-Fordt is part of the New Dutch Waterline and as such a potential location for the feasibility study that will be carried out within the New Dutch Waterline. The project partners were taken around and through the fortress to see the structure and the functions it has now. Inside, Pascal van Droogenbroeck of Monumentaal, a centre for sustainable develoment and innovation, presented the plans for the fortress: to adjust and extend the building to accommodate new functions but also to experiment with various high tech and low tech solutions for the energy management of the fortress.

The other two feasibility-studies were presented as well. The University of Bologna presented the building of the School of Engineering, a architectural building with a difficult energy management due to different functions and rooms in a broad range of sizes. On the other hand the historical value restricts the possibilities for adjustment and retrofitting. Two partners from Hungary, NEGOS and Minusplus Architects, presented their feasibility-study: a former gasworks building beside the Danube, in Budapest. This building is completely empty and has no current use. Development of the site is difficult due to soil contamination. Their challenge is to retrofit the building without disturbing the soil. Together with Arcadis (NL), University of Utrecht (NL) and Aidico (ES) these partners will analyse these case-studies in order to deliver innovative technical and knowledge-based solutions.

The kick-off meeting was the first chance for the 7 projectpartners to meet each other and take the first steps in the Climate-KIC pathfinder projects. Within a relatively short period of one year the 4 workpackages (market analysis, feasibility studies, synthesis and overall co-ordination and exchange) will have to be carried out. As a start the three feasibility-studies were discussed during the meeting. In the coming weeks the working group will elaborate further actionson the other workpackages.

The historic environment of Europe is one of its greatest assets and an effective means of reconciling the needs of citizens, economy, community, environment, and society at large. But we cannot take it for granted! Our built heritage is valuable and vulnerable and securing its benefits now and in the future demands focussed action and investment from society, the heritage sector, and above all, the public authorities.
Aware of these possibilities and challenges, New Dutch Waterline proposed the AT FORT project outline to significant European fortified heritage sites who share the firm belief that preservation of these sites, coupled with their economic exploitation can only be achieved by creative, mutual thinking, building on an exchange of experiences.
Partners in the AT FORT project have set the overall objective ‘to facilitate the adaptive re-use of fortified heritage sites by exploring solutions for successful approaches and methods to deal with enabling conditions and to create better frameworks for their exploitation’.

The project At Fort ”Atelier European Fortresses – Powering Local Sustainable Development” is a Regional Initiative Project in the INTERREG IVC PROGRAMME.
Read more about the AT FORT project or about the project results.