EU’s Building stock
Around 75% of the EU's building stock has poor energy performance, yet the annual renovation rate remains stuck at just 1%. That gap between what is needed and what is happening is the problem RenoVisor will help solve. Twelve partners across Germany, Ireland, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium are developing three digital tools to make renovation planning easier, fairer, and more accessible. And right now, the regulatory and market conditions for bringing those tools to scale are better than they have ever been.
A legal window that is already open
Bringing research results to real-world use is not optional under Horizon Europe. It is an obligation. Horizon Europe Regulation requires beneficiaries to exploit their results; for RenoVisor, this obligation aligns with an unusually strong regulatory tailwind.
The recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD, EU 2024/1275), which entered into force in May 2024 and must be transposed into national law by May 2026, sets binding national renovation targets and creates a legally mandated advisory funnel: owners of buildings rated below EPC level C must be directed to a one-stop shop (OSS) for renovation advice upon EPC expiry or within five years of issuance.
Commission Recommendation (EU) 2026/536, adopted in March 2026, translates these obligations into practical guidance: it defines a nine-stage customer journey from awareness to quality assurance, confirms that OSS services may be delivered by public, private, or citizen-led entities, and explicitly recognises citizen-led renovation collectives as an EU-endorsed model.
The market is moving, and public funding is following
Between now and 2028, Member States across Europe are building out their OSS infrastructure, renovation passport schemes, and EPC-triggered advisory flows. The window for digital tools to embed themselves in this rollout is open now.
The funding landscape reinforces the signal. The Social Climate Fund, running from 2026 to 2032, will mobilise at least €86.7 billion to support vulnerable households and microenterprises in the energy transition. Building renovation and OSS advisory services are explicitly eligible, which creates a concrete public-funding pathway that supports the B2G revenue route for all three RenoVisor tools.
© Annie Spratt via Unsplash
Three tools, one strategic window
RenoVisor's three tools address different points in the renovation journey and different gaps in the current market:
The SFH Tool guides individual homeowners through renovation planning, measure comparison, financial analysis, and connection to financing options, using pre-filled building data and physics-based simulation to dramatically lower the entry barrier. It will be tested with over 10,000 households across Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands.
The MFH Tool addresses the collective action problem in multi-family buildings, where co-owners must reach consensus before any renovation can proceed. No comparable citizen-facing tool currently exists in the European market.
The ENC Tool supports energy advisors and energy community coordinators in managing large-scale collective renovation planning. It aims to make the co-dependency between district heating and home renovation understandable for homeowners. The tool will support communities planning a district heating network to simultaneously advice households on renovation scenario's and how these two topics interrelate. The tool will be developed in close collaboration with energy communities in Rotterdam and across the Netherlands.
Beyond regulation: the human case for renovation
Regulatory deadlines matter. But they are not the only reason for the RenoVisor consortium’s motivation.
With 9.3% of EU citizens unable to keep their homes adequately warm in 2022, energy poverty is already a lived reality for millions of people across the continent, including in the communities where RenoVisor is piloting its tools. Partners such as EcoVision in Tipperary, Ireland, bring deep field experience of what it actually takes to reach the most vulnerable households, and this knowledge is feeding directly into how the tools are designed.
The urgency goes beyond cold winters. Europe's dependence on imported energy has been exposed repeatedly, most acutely since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, as both a financial and a security risk. Every energy crisis, every price shock, every supply disruption hits energy-poor households hardest. A well-insulated home with efficient heating is not only a greener home. It is a home that is less exposed to forces beyond any household's control.
© Maxence Werp via Unsplash
Renovation at scale is one of the most powerful structural responses available to both challenges at once. That is the case the RenoVisor tools make, not just in policy documents, but directly to the people who use them.
Are you part of the renovation movement?
Are you working on renovation advisory services, one-stop shops, energy communities, or housing policy and want to connect with what RenoVisor is building? We are actively seeking partnerships with OSS providers, municipalities, energy cooperatives, and housing organisations across our pilot countries and beyond.