Smart Square

REHVA is one of the 10 project partners (8 countries) and during 2023 is involved in most of the activities as co-contributor while also leading one of the 7 work packages dealing with "Collecting the information for bridging the gap between SRI and EU citizens" which covers the following aspects: documentation of SRI status, the SRI FAQ initiative, development and establishment of SRI observatory and financing building smartness upgrades through investment programs.

Funded by the European Union, under the LIFE programme with the Grant Agreement Nº 101077241. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Within Smart Square, the Rate of Return of smart readiness improvements of buildings will be identified, on the grounds of existing CEN standards, enabling the definition of smartness cost optimal building upgrades. As part of the project, an SRI audit process will also be developed, with the aim to act as the forerunner of a standardized procedure. Smart Square will also enable the smartness assessment of buildings with the use of real time data, based on the in-use assessment method, focusing on interoperability gaps and cybersecurity aspects.

Aspects of integrating SRI in digital building logbooks will also be investigated, with the aim to allow the future integration of the SRI ratings and its background information. An SRI observatory for the monitoring and documentation of the main evolutions in the SRI development will also be delivered. Capacity building activities, aiming to the issuance of over 10000 SRI ratings during the implementation of the project are also foreseen, including the operation of an SRI call centre, where stakeholders, building designers, facility managers as well as building users, will have the opportunity to issue online the SRI rating of their building unit, through a simplified Q+A procedure. Other initiatives including a virtual training centre as well as the SRI days and the first smart ready community are also foreseen in Smart Square project.

Objective 1 The development of a set of tools and services that will boost the uptake of the SRI scheme among the member states of the European Union 

Smart Square aims to create the conditions for the issuance of a large number of SRI ratings during the implementation of the project, as well as to lay the grounds for the awareness raising of EU citizens that will allow the untapping of the EU market uptake of the SRI. Towards achieving this goal, a key objective of the project is to establish the mechanisms and means that will support the issuance of the largest possible number of ratings during the project, as well as after the completion of the project’s lifetime.

Objective 2 The roll out of ICT smart ready technologies including AI and IoT for smarter SRIs

Smart Square aspires to initiate applications and practices that will support the successful rollout of ICT and Smart Ready technologies, towards supporting SRIs to become smarter. Specifically, one of Smart Square key objectives is the development of the appropriate modules for the integration of AI practices in the SRI assessment procedure, the transfer and evaluation of data under cybersecurity conditions, as well as the identification SRI with other relevant European initiatives.

Objective 3 The commissioning of a cloud based open platform for assessing the intelligence of buildings, tailored for building designers, facility managers and building users

One of Smart Square main objectives is the design, development, commissioning and operation of an SRI open cloud-based platform, which will allow the user friendly, quick and easy issuance of SRIs by engineers, facility managers and end users, coping with the requirements of Method A and Method B of the SRI scheme for on-line self-smartness assessment of buildings. The platform will aspire to become a reference tool for the penetration and establishment of the SRI scheme in Europe and beyond.

Objective 4 The development of an SRI audit process, with the aim to act as the forerunner of a standardized procedure

Smart Square project aims to develop, validate and deliver a comprehensive SRI audit methodology, which will be based on well – established building audit concepts, and specifically on the energy audit procedures described under the EN 16247:20012 standards series. The development of the SRI audit procedure will be based on a comparative assessment between the needs of an energy and an SRI audit, and the definition of the required components for the SRI audit procedure.

Objective 5 The establishment of the required grounds for the integration of the SRI rating in building digital logbooks

In the near future, SRIs will constitute a new layer of information related to the BACS of new and existing buildings. A common European approach that will aggregate this information and will ensure, through increased data transparency and availability to a broad range of market players, that the SRI data would be maintained in a common repository for building data is expected to be the Digital Building Logbook. To this end the project aspires to develop the required background and knowledge, towards enabling the integration and storage of all information related to the SRI into the building digital logbooks.