Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

The EU Building Stock Observatory (BSO) was established in 2016 as part of the Clean Energy for all Europeans package. Its main objective is to provide a better understanding of the energy performance of the building sector through reliable and consistent data. The BSO supplies information about Europe’s building stock, encompassing areas such as thermal efficiency, energy consumption for heating, hot water, cooling and lighting.

BuiltHub aims to define indicators that go beyond those established by the BSO, in order to foster in-depth analyses of the dynamics, activities and challenges in the building sector and its energy consumption. BuiltHub will define and explore a new set of indicators based on:

• Timeline of past renovation activities and the measures implemented
•  Economic situation of the building owner
• Renovation costs
• Smart Readiness Indicator levels (in connection with H2020 B4E-9 projects - Support to the coordination of European smart buildings innovation community)
• Renewable energy generation and energy matching
• Safety and environmental quality in building

The BuiltHub project aims to build upon the Building Stock Observatory (BSO) database and related analytics, to simplify, strengthen and safeguard the data flow. The BSO can therefore be considered as the starting point for BuiltHub.

BuiltHub will also make use of several online and offline building stock and energy-related datasets available in Europe produced by market players associations, private and public organizations, national and international statistical offices, public funded R&I projects, and even from individuals using a crowd-science/information approach. The outcomes of past and running projects that involve BuiltHub partners will also be considered (e.g. H2020 Hotmaps, ExcEED and Enermap).

While utilizing this trans-disciplinary approach, and by developing a new set of indicators, BuiltHub will source its own datasets. Examples of these created datasets could be climatological-related (e.g. heating degree days, solar irradiation, etc.) or socio-economic-related (e.g. number of persons living per dwelling, m² per employee in office, construction waste amount and potential value, etc.).

Yes, the concept behind the BuiltHub project is connected to European Data Strategy principles, in particular to the following aspects:

•    Aim to make the EU a role model for a society empowered by data
•    Establish that Common European data spaces will ensure that more data becomes available for use in the economy and society
•    Encourage the creation of common European data spaces in crucial sectors such as health, the environment and energy

BuiltHub's IT infrastructure utilises tools with the ability to store all types of structured and unstructured data and preserve it in its original form; thereby making datasets available to be consumed by workflows and enabling the use of Data Catalogues.

Yes, the project envisions the development of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Stakeholders will have the opportunity to consume the data stored in BuiltHub in a machine-to-machine approach.

Once the second prototype of the platform is operational, a group of Pioneer-users will be selected as the primary beta testers. This group will work in direct contact with the developers, providing feedback and sharing their experiences while using the platform's services.

Consortium partners will be responsible for the selection of Pioneer-users. These individuals will be survey respondents and the direct contacts of BuiltHub partners. Signatories of letters of intent will be contacted first.