The call is relevant for cities and regions that have a CSS covering building and construction sectors, and that are looking into streamlining renovation processes to ensure resource efficiency and energy performance. The call requires the investigation of innovative approaches for industrialised deep circular renovation, covering the whole workflow from design through to off-site prefabrication, installation, construction on-site and strategies for maintenance, operation and end of life, to demonstrate renovation.

Open to any legal entity based in EU Member States and Associated Countries, with required cooperation between at least three parties from three different countries (at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries). Participation of SMEs and industry is encouraged.

Proposals should investigate and develop innovative, seamless workflows from design to off-site prefabrication, installation, on-site construction and maintenance, and future dismantling, reuse and recycling of prefabricated elements. They should duly consider life cycle performance, sustainability and the potential to use the buildings as carbon sinks. The scope of the call includes the following activities:

• using innovative processes and technologies, such as designs based on circularity principles, prefabricated components and digital tools that allow for optimised workflows;
• seamless integration of the proposed approaches with state-of-the-art digital technologies for construction and renovation (like Building Information Modelling and Digital Twins);
• investigation of innovative business models (e.g. as-a-service models).

The proposed workflows to at least three demonstrations to assess the proposed approaches for different buildings typologies are representative of the European building stock. This ensures the most adequate coverage of the respective climatic conditions. The demonstrations can be either single buildings or clusters of buildings, and at least one of the demonstrations must address residential buildings.

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 16.00 million. The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of around EUR 8.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.

1. EC publishes calls for proposals on the funding and tenders portal https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/ 
2. The call is open for the usual period of ca. five months where applicants can submit their proposal.
3. Proposals can be single or two-stage application processes. A single stage application process requires the filling in of a structured proposal of max. 45 pages including: objectives and innovation approach (excellence); tangible impacts that can be achieved through the project (impact); and the project planning and tasks (quality). If the application is two stage, the aforementioned structure would be the second stage of the application while the first stage is a simplified proposal of a maximum 10 pages including only excellence and impact sections. These documents are to be uploaded to the portal in PDF format alongside the filling in of the respective parts of the portal with administrative information on the beneficiaries, affiliated entities or others. All participants in a project need to possess a Participant Identification Code (i.e. PIC number, a nine-digit number registered on ECAS). For more information, please see the work programme and the call documents.
4. Proposals submitted within the deadline will be evaluated by experts against evaluation criteria. 
5. Winning proposals will be invited for signing a grant agreement with the EC.

Planned opening date: 17 September 2024

Deadline date: 21 January 2025