Industrialisation and prefabrication on stage

The INFINITE Offsite Academy, held in Milan on 11-12 July 2024, brought together 50 experts and professionals from the construction industry to discuss experiences, challenges, opportunities and sustainable business models for industrialised building renovation.

Thomas Miorin, CEO of EDERA, opened the event explaining how the construction sector is currently far from meeting climate targets, emphasising the need for a fast, efficient building renovation to achieve the goals of decarbonisation and sustainability by 2030-2050. Several challenges must be overtaken, including the need to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Focusing on Italy, with a staggering number of old buildings, it is vital to keep high retrofit rates even in the absence of incentives such as the Superbonus. The opening presentation was surely an invitation for participants to work together to overcome these obstacles.

Martino Gubert, researcher at Eurac Research, outlined INFINITE’s approach to offsite redevelopment, highlighting the benefits of prefabrication and modularity. For sure the takeaway is that the adoption of an industrialised approach for building renovation can improve quality and reduce construction time. Also important for the success of the renovation project is an integrated approach involving all stakeholders, from designers and builders to owners and tenants.

The day continued with Marco Cucuzza of EDERA, who presented the benefits of deep and industrialised retrofitting, and Marco dal Mas of EDERA with the Energiesprong best practices. Christian de Nacquard, of Bouygues Construction, explained the R&D programme, BYSprong, which is developing innovative solutions to mass-market energy retrofitting, by increasing the quality and quantity of building renovations.

The afternoon saw a focus on technical solutions for offsite retrofit, with presentations on BIM platforms, integrated prefabricated façades and components such as green façades, photovoltaic cladding and mechanical ventilation systems. The presentation featured interventions from Rubner Holzbau, Fanti, Vortice, One Team, Sunage, Grünstattgrau, Next Sense, NOBATEK/INEF4.

On the second day, the workshop allowed participants to directly discuss the most important issues. The participants were divided into three groups to work on specific modules of the Business Model Canvas, analysing the costs and revenues that could be assumed for the various aspects of retrofit.

The INFINITE Offsite Academy pointed out that there is a great interest in the industrialised approach to building renovation among Italian construction professionals and experts. We are keen to see how the sector will move forward.