During the online meeting on the 15th of October 2021, the partners spoke about the progress of the various demonstration exemplars of Green Square Accord, Paris Habitat, Zonnige Kempen and Woonbedrijf. Due to several reasons, the new built project of Woonbedrijf and some renovation projects of Paris Habitat are considerably delayed. Together with our Interreg NWE project officer, we spoke about scenario’s to keep CHARM in line with the requirements of Interreg NWE and the outcomes of our project in general.
Progress on the demonstration exemplars
The demonstration exemplar of Woonbedrijf is facing Dutch legislation. The project needed to be relocated. This relocation was not foreseen at the start of CHARM. The new location for the social houses has to meet with the procedures of the development plan of the municipality. Unfortunately, these procedures take a considerate amount of time. Also, there is no direct control on this procedure by Woonbedrijf, for it is a local government procedure.
In Paris, one of the demonstration exemplars is seriously delayed by neighbours in the district, who have started a legal procedure against the construction plans. Also, the Covid-19 measures, taken by the municipality of Paris, has led to a delay of other demonstration exemplars. There is more bad luck. Paris Habitat also suffered from a software hack, which caused a lot of internal inconvenience and energy to solve the caused problems.
Interreg NWE emphasized that CHARM has got time until December 2023. That is the ultimate deadline. Another solution is to bring in other projects that can replace the heavily delayed demonstration exemplars, without doing harm to the deliverables of CHARM.
In the United Kingdom, the merger organisation Green Square Accord has started the construction of the virtually plastic free houses. Although there were some challenges to beat during the building of the houses, the building process is now again on schedule. The expectation is that the first tenants will move in at the end of March 2022. This demonstration exemplar of Green Square Accord is pushing the boundaries on less plastic use in construction.
Zonnige Kempen has three demonstration exemplars in CHARM. The first one has been finished; this is the circular renovated head offices in Westerlo (Belgium). Now, the focus of Zonnige Kempen is on Vinkenhof, which is also delayed by the taken measures of the government due to Covid-19. In this demonstration exemplar, 50 dwellings are being refurbished. The third project is a Material Exchange Platform. First the platform will be used by the handymen of Zonnige Kempen, in a next stage by the extern contractors for maintenance, and finally the platform will be accessible for the tenants of Zonnige Kempen. More information on these two demonstration exemplars of Zonnige Kempen will follow in 2022.
Material Exchange Platform
Paris Habitat already had such a platform, called éco système, but this MEP didn’t function well anymore. The tender for a new MEP has been set out and the software developer is expected to be chosen in December 2021. After the Summer of 2022, the MEP is expected to be in operation. All CHARM partner will get access to the MEP to see how the new platform is designed and operates.
Evaluation of circular building strategies and transnational trainings
On the 15th of December 2021, the partners will meet online to evaluate their circular building strategies. On the 12th of January 2022, the outline of transnational training sessions will be discussed. These preparations will also be done in an online meeting.
Next in person partner meeting in April 2022
Green Square Accord and the University of Birmingham are going to make a programme for our meeting, which is provisional planned in Birmingham (UK) on the 21st and 22nd of April 2022.