A Strong Research Environment for Sustainable Renovation Established in Sweden

Paper in proceeding, 2015

Sweden, as many other nations, faces large-scale, urgent need for renovation of post-war building stocks which have past their technical service life. To ensure the quality and effectiveness from different perspectives, environment, economy and the social, and enhance professionalism of the renovation process, a concretization of models for integrated sustainable renovation and development are needed. Such models will be developed within a research environment for Sustainable Integrated Renovation (SIRen) in Sweden. The approach is inter- and trans-disciplinary involving researchers at universities and institutes, actors in the construction and real estate industry, and relevant authorities, but still with a solid basis in disciplinary research. The research focuses on complex issues of renovation and redevelopment of existing buildings and urban areas conforming to objectives for reduced climate change, altered demographics and increased focus on democracy in planning, which are among the most important challenges for modern society. The research integrate technical, environmental, economic, architectural, and cultural issues in renovation with a starting point in the social dimension and focus multi-value approaches and multi-stakeholder involvement. SIRen has the overall aim to gather knowledge, to change national practice and to strengthen Swedish competitiveness for renovation practice and research internationally. Specific aims are to: Establish a knowledge base; document and analyse earlier and on-going cases of renovation; test and speed-up diffusion of innovation through demonstration and Living Labs and to develop model/s, methods and tools for integrated sustainable renovation.