EU Initiatives
EPBD
Following building standards currently in force, almost 75% of the EU’s building stock is energy inefficient. The Renovation Wave communication, published in October 2020, aimed to tackle this issue and set a target of ‘at least doubling’ the building renovation rate, which currently stands low at around 1%. In order to reach these targets, the Commission has proposed a review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
Following the legislative process, the final text was adopted by the Council on 12 April 2024. The text was published in the Official Journal on 8 May 2024 and entered into force 20 days thereafter. The implementation of renovation projects incentivised by this revision will synergise with funds such as the Recovery and Resilience Fund or the Social Climate Fund, as well as traditional funding under the Multiannual Financial Framework.
Fire safety is mentioned several times in the new EPBD. The main information that emerges is that energy renovation work is inseparable from the notion of fire safety. More particularly, it can be noted that the installation of major electrical loads and electricity production such as heat pumps, solar installations, batteries and electrical vehicle charging points, require specific attention (Recital 36).
For years FEEDS has worked on electrical safety, not only by establishing a complete picture of the situation in the EU but also by promoting a certain number of key recommendations and advice. This work can constitute valuable assistance in the development of guidelines related to fire safety within the framework of the EPBD. Many placeholders are likely to host positive input in favour of inspections and increased attention on electrical installations, for instance:
Article 3 – National Building Renovation Plan and Annex II – Template
Member States have domestic electrical inspection regimes in place, but they are often inadequate such as those on a voluntary basis or with a limited scope.
➔ The National Building Renovation Plans (NBRP) shall provide recommendations to implement or reinforce existing schemes. National electrical inspection regimes should follow existing national wiring rules, ensure regular inspections of existing installations and when any major electrical equipment is installed (electric vehicle charging point, photovoltaic panel, heat pump, battery storage system).
➔ Policies to improve electrical safety, and particularly the development of domestic electrical safety inspection regimes, shall be included into NBRP into optional indicator – Annex II.c. Overview of implemented and planned policies and measures with regard to: c. increase of fire safety.
Article 12 – Renovation Passport and Annex VIII – Requirements
A renovation passport is a tailored roadmap for the deep renovation of a specific building in a maximum number of steps that will significantly improve its energy performance (Art 2.19 definition).
➔ The renovation passport shall integrate the inspection and necessary upgrade of the electrical installation into the renovation steps to anticipate future needs and address electrical safety.
➔ Renovation passports shall be linked to electrical inspection reports. One possibility is to do it via the digital building logbook (DBL). Indeed, Art 12 §8 requires Member States to ensure that the renovation passport is stored in, or can be accessed via, where available, the digital building logbook, and electrical inspection reports have been identified as a relevant feature of the DBL.
➔ This electrical inspection report will also form the basis to inform about electrical safety requirements into the Annex VIII.2.c. Independent modules on: v. Technical and safety requirements for materials and works.
Article 18 – One-stop shops for energy performance of buildings
§2. (b) One-stop shops shall provide holistic support to all households, with a particular focus on households affected by energy poverty and on worst performing buildings, as well as to accredited companies and installers providing retrofit services, adapted to different housing typologies and geographical scope, and provide support covering the different stages of the retrofit project. As promoters, advisers and technical assistance for renovation, one-stop-shops can play a key role into the development of inspection regimes.
➔ One-stop-shops shall systematically recommend the inspection of electrical installations before any work involving the installation of heat pumps, photovoltaic panels, batteries and electrical vehicle charging points.
Article 19 – Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and Annex V – Template
Every dwelling owner or tenant should have an easy access to information about the possibility to add an electrical vehicle charging point or other major electrical equipment. The proposed template for EPCs allows the inclusion of information which are not limited (Annex V 1.: the energy performance certificate shall display at least the following elements) to the list established by the annex.
➔ EPCs should provide information about the latest inspection of the electrical installations and its readiness to install new major equipment.
👉 In order to inform legislators and stakeholders FEEDS has published a complete guide on the implementation of the EPBD, all the proposals are brought together as well as the description of the context:
FIEP
In September 2017, following the tragedy at Grenfell Tower in London, the European Commission announced a new initiative to enhance fire safety cooperation across EU Member States: the Fire Information Exchange Platform (FIEP) was created by the European Commission DG Grow with support from Estonian Council Presidency in 2017. The Fire Exchange Platform (FIEP)’s objectives are to stimulate the cooperation among the Member States as well as to allow the exchange of best practices and lessons learned between the Member States and relevant stakeholders in the field of fire safety. To be successful FIEP needs participation both from regulatory and non-regulatory perspectives, and open discussion about the success stories as well as challenges encountered.
FEEDS and its members fully support the work and philosophy of the FIEP that can provide the necessary lever to replicate successful fire prevention initiatives across Members states.
Statistics
EUFireStat is a pilot project financed by the European Parliament and commissioned by DG GROW at the European Commission. The aim was to map the terminology used and the data collected by the EU Member States regarding fire events, and to propose a harmonised terminology and method to collect the data in the EU. This would allow for knowledge-based policy making regarding fire safety at the Member State and the EU level regarding building fires.
EUFireStat project (Closing data gaps and paving the way for pan-European fire safety efforts) has finalized and the final report is available behind this link. The report provides a very good overview of the situation of managing fire safety statistics in Europe and internationally. It also identifies potential ways forward for further harmonization and cross-learning between different countries.
The pilot project will be followed up by actual data collection at Member States level with objective to be integrated within Eurostat. To do so, a preparatory action has been initiated by the European Parliament in 2023 and accepted by the 2024 budget process. The project will begin quickly after selecting a contractor.