The issue of renovating apartment buildings is becoming more and more urgent – the goal of renovating 1,000 apartment buildings every year, set in the Government’s program, has not yet been achieved. The Minister of the Environment, Simon Gentvilas, believes that the renovation of buildings with panels would allow us to see a 3 times faster renovation process and save money.
“Renovation of buildings with panels is a sustainable innovation that will help mitigate the impact of buildings on the environment, increasing the resistance of buildings to climate change. It will save funds and stimulate the markets in the long term, and will expand the opportunities for the formation of healthy and responsible communities living in affordable and quality housing in the society”, said S. Gentvilas at the RESTA 2024 exhibition on Thursday.
According to representatives of science and business, there are currently over 35 thousand in Lithuania. of Soviet apartment buildings in need of renovation. For most of them, a much faster, more sustainable and financially sound, analogous, panel renovation model could be applied.
According to the minister, Lithuania is ready for panel renovation in order to keep up with other European countries and implement the planned plans.
According to him, 10 million has already been allocated for pilot renovation projects of 8 buildings. euros, and the invitation is currently valid until September 14 of this year. and for renovation of multi-apartment houses with panels for projects worth 200 million. euros.
The industry claims to be ready
Saulius Pupius, a member of the board of the PrefabLT cluster of Lithuanian wooden prefabricated houses, said at the exhibition that companies in Lithuania have accumulated a lot of experience and are ready to produce panel elements.
“There are over 40 companies in Lithuania that produce wooden panels, and many of them have over 20 years of experience. Collectively, we have produced thousands of buildings of various purpose and complexity using wooden panels. Any medium-sized factory will be able to produce 1000 m2 of panels with one shift per month and faster,” said S. Pupius.
According to him, even with the appearance of a large number of new orders, the factories are ready to increase their capacities, both by using the existing reserve resources of premises and warehouses, and by building new factories, taking advantage of EU support.
Rolandas Kasperavičius, the head of the “RNDV statyba” company, seconded that experienced contractors who have adapted to work in a dynamic market should have no problems – panel renovation technology is designed to simplify processes on the construction site.
“It will not be difficult for installation specialists who have worked on traditional renovation projects to retrain. Installation of panel renovation is much faster and simpler. Save up to 80%. time, no scaffolding is used – residents need to live at the construction site for a much shorter time”, said R. Kasperavičius.
We are behind the Estonians
Justinas Bortkevičius, head of the panel element design company VMG Lignum Systems, said at the event that the arrival of panel renovation technology to Lithuania is inevitable in order to meet the goals of the European Green Course and accelerate the renovation wave.
“On this issue, we lag behind foreign countries, for example, Estonia has been successfully applying this innovation for some time. The Lithuanian market for panel renovation is already mature, the main remaining task is to encourage residents of apartment buildings to choose this method of renovation,” said J. Bortkevičius.
According to him, there are currently 35 thousand in Lithuania. of houses to be renovated, the majority of which could be used for panel renovation. It would allow residents to improve their quality of life faster by reducing heating costs and increasing home values.
The involvement of apartment dwellers is important
Eglė Randytė, head of the public institution “Renew the city”, said that successful renovation processes are determined by many components, but the most important of them is the cooperation of experts and residents, the desire to work together for a more climate-neutral city.
“During the year 2023, there was an average portfolio of 100 multi-apartment renovation projects with a total value of about 120 million in the stage of renovation design and contract work. euros. Vilnius is leading the way, because it has been actively submitting applications for the modernization of old-built apartment buildings for many years. “, said E. Randytė.
Andrius Kalesnikas, the project manager of “Renew the city”, confirmed that three public procurement procedures for panel renovation pilot design works are currently being carried out in Vilnius, construction works are planned to start next year, and the completion of the projects is scheduled for 2026.
“Panel renovation is a new technology in Lithuania, but it is widely used in Estonia, Germany and France. This is one of the alternatives for reducing the impact of the construction sector on climate change”, said A. Kalesnikas.
Scientist: we have a chance to increase exports
Jurgita Černeckienė, associate professor of the Faculty of Construction and Architecture of the Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), said at the exhibition that the development of panel production could create prerequisites for the development of a new export branch, and would also reduce the amount of energy imported for heating.
“It is hoped that the panel renovation can speed up the renovation of the existing housing stock, which would create jobs inside the country, reduce costs for thermal energy, and increase satisfaction with the living environment,” said J. Černeckienė.
The representative of KTU emphasized that the energy-saving effect of panel renovation is analogous to traditional renovation systems – applying the current requirements for renovated buildings, the energy consumption for heating the building must decrease by at least 2 times.
“So far, there is no mass renovation with panels in other EU countries, there are completed pilot projects in the stages, but this situation should change and we need to prepare for it, as the EU moves in the direction of decarbonization of buildings and directs investments to it,” said J. Černeckienė.
Tags: Gentvilas million panel renovation buildings euros process speed times MadeinVilnius .lt
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