certus_cost_eff

EXAMPLES OF RENOVATION DESIGNS
PRODUCED IN THE PROJECT CERtuS

PALACE OF CULTURE “ANTONELLO DA MESSINA” – MESSINA ITALY

BUILDING CURRENT CONDITION – TECHNICAL AND OTHER PROBLEMS DETECTED

italy-pallace-of-cultura
Palacultura is a detached building. The shape of the building, very articulated both in plan and in elevation, is a parallelepiped on a rectangular base on which is erected the inverted pyramid structure. The main axe of the building is elongated along the north-south axis. Building’s envelope is made of wide range of materials, mainly steel and concrete. The glazed surface area of the inverted pyramid structure covers a considerable part of the building, around 40%. All windows have single glazing with aluminium frames and simply shutters. Facades are not subject to any shading. The building as a whole has a low energy performance. The opaque envelope has a low thermal inertia and many thermal bridges due to the type of wall construction. In addition, windows have low air-tightness. The doors present significant heat losses. The indoor conditions are not optimal in winter and in summer. The HVAC is ensured with several ceiling mounted split, for the forced ventilation and air conditioning. The ventilation is ensured both naturally as well as through the mechanical system. There is forced ventilation in every room. Lighting is mainly supplied by fluorescent lamps. There is no mechanism to control lighting and installations are dated. The main energy needs of the building are covered by electricity, but there are also present small plants using natural gas for heating.

ECONOMIC, FINANCIAL AND LEGISLATIVE CONSTRAINS

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

Economic/Financial Risks
The main economic barrier to the implementation of the renovation plan is the limited budget of the municipality to cover part of the high overall investment. The Municipality is trying to raise funds from national and regional funding programs. Additional limit is the undeveloped ESCo market in Sicily and the lack of adequate, long-term financial instruments, for the high overall investment requested.

Legislative Obstacles

There were not specific regulatory obstacles identified in the renovation design. However must be pointed out that the Regional Landscape Plan of the Province of Messina imposes constraints on the entire city centre. However, for the specific building was possible foreseen the change of existing glazing or, in alternative, the affixing of photovoltaic films.
Palacultura is an imposive building of Messina, lying nearly the marina of the city. It consists of three areas for cultural activities and has several equipment, as: a public library, a museum, a theater of 850 seats, an outdoor amphitheatre, among the largest and most modern in Italy and even an exhibition area located on the terrace.The inverted pyramid structure has been obtained by exploiting the considerable flexibility offered by materials such as cement and steel and taking into account that Messina is an earthquake risk zone.The building designed in 1975 and after various events, was completed only at the end of 2000. It comprises six floors above ground. The dimensions in height and shape are very different for each floor. Cultural activities are hosted in the first three levels, while the other three (those with the opaque envelope) are occupied by offices. The building is, usually, in municipal office use and, on the occasion, on the museum exhibitions or theater performances. The municipal services are available and employees present between 7h30 and 19h30, five days weekly. The building hosts about 200 employees and visitor numbers change according to the activities taking place at the palace.
ENOVATION SCHEME
Building Envelope
Opaque Envelope: the approach of the building renovation includes extra internal insulation on the three upper floors. The internal coat it will be possible with a new layer with high insulation value. The insertion of an internal insulation decreases the floor area of the building but it is the only possible solution in the case of a prospectus with the external geometry as difficult as that of the Palace of Culture. Will be using the panels of cork and plasterboard thickness up to 4 cm.
Glazing: also, the existing glazing and frames will be replaced by selective glazing and thermal break frame in PVC. Regarding the frames, they were chosen to include window frames with thermal break.
HVAC
The use of more environmental friendly HVAC systems was investigated but VRV appeared to be the most suitable choice. The Variable Refrigerant Volume (VRV) systems offer high levels of energy efficiency, as well as flexibility. They operate quietly and provide the user full control of the environmental temperatures.
Lighting
It is expected to replace the existing lighting with the introduction of LED lamps and, where it is possible, to insert intelligent on/off system, which adapt depending sunlight.
RES
On the roof of the building will be installed a photovoltaic system of 28 kWp: this size ensures about 18% of post renovation consumption of electricity.
Other
Passive solar gains/insulating : a green roof is suggested that will give two great advantages: at first it will decrease heat losses during winter season working as thermal insulation, and then it will hinder heat input during summer season working as a reflecting system for sunlight.

Equipments:   The envisaged interventions are divided into three types: (i). staff’s training to a rational use of office equipment; (ii). purchases regulated by Green Public Procurement (GPP model), by providing clear environmental criteria for products and services and giving a favourable evaluation to the products with better energy class; (iii) control systems which manage, command and regulate the behaviour of other devices or systems.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Year of construction:
1975
Area/Volume:
10,300 m2
Building Use :
Multifunctional center
supp_zanca LEARN MORE:
Link to D2.1 pdf
Link to D2.3 pdf

Link to Guide or Brochure
certus_cost_eff

EXAMPLES OF RENOVATION DESIGNS
PRODUCED IN THE PROJECT CERtuS

PALACE OF CULTURE “ANTONELLO DA MESSINA” – MESSINA ITALY

RENOVATION SCHEME EVALUATION

Energy Savings
The energy consumption before renovation is equal to 408,733 kWh/year and the energy consumption on square meter is equal to 40 kWh/m2.The energy consumption savings are equal to 228,860 kWh/year, that means an energy expenditure saving of 41,195 Euro/year.

CO2 Savings
The CO2 savings are 76,213 tons/year.

RES Integration
On the roof of the building will be installed a photovoltaic system of 28 kWp: this size ensures about 18% of post renovation consumption of electricity.

PARAMETERS OF THE RENOVATION SCHEME- TOTAL

Energy Savings 228,860 kWh
Costs 1,114,175 €
Savings 42,034 €/year
Simple Payback 27 years
CO2 Savings 76,213 tons/year

 

ECONOMIC EVALUATION

Renovations cost
The total investment cost is equal to 1,114,175 Euro, that means an investment cost per square meter of 108 Euro/m2.

Economic Savings
The maintenance expenditure post renovation is lower than before by 839 Euro/year. This situation affects positively, at the economic level, on the total savings achievable by the intervention. In fact the economic saving both for energy and maintenance is about 42,034 Euro/year.

Project Payback Period
The Project Payback period is very long, 26.5 years considering maintenance, and the project cash flows are very low. This situation has a very negative impact on the sustainability of the project and consequentially on the attractiveness for an ESCo.

INVESTMENT FOR RENOVATION – TOTAL

INVESTMENTS
Lighting system (internal) 252,150
Renewable energy 50,400
Building envelope 500,000
Windows – Low e Thermo Break 261,625
BACS 50,000
Investment for Renovation 1,114,175

FINANCING SCHEME

Energy Performance Contract
The strategy of Messina’s Municipality is to promote the nZEB concept, despite its inability to financing the needed renovation options under the current tight economic conditions.  Dealing with the expensive renovation of Palace of Culture, the most suitable operational financial scheme corresponds to a solution which combines the use of three types of public/private partnerships EPC contracts, with provision of specific conditions, in order to make the project attractive for the ESCo market.To make it palatable to the market projects and allow a contract term not exceeding nine years is necessary:

  1. a) reduce the investment value postponing interventions that bring lower energy benefits (see. Table);
  2. b) a contribution from the Municipality on investment of 30%;
  3. c) recourse to financing with concessional funds or use of incentives of the Energy Bill;

In this way, the investment is reduced by about € 600,000, the pay-back of the project for the ESCO is greatly reduced.

The project is still not sustainable for an ESCO.

Duration of EPC
In order to allow the sustainability of the contract in the market is necessary to extend the contract duration at least 15 years.

Financial Sources
The Municipality can directly finance part of the renovation measures through the National Operational Programme on Italian Metropolitan Cities for an amount of 153 k€ that corresponds to approximately 30% of the total investment of the building renovations.  The remaining cost will be funded by an ESCO through the Conto Termico 2 and own resources as well by subsidized and dedicated funds (national and European).

Other considerations
To allow for a greater financial commitment to ESCOs could be included in the contract also management of other outside maintenance services. As the municipality may entrust to third parties, including services for the public and the management of certain cultural activities increasing revenues and margins for further investment.

 

SEPARATED INVESTMENTS COST € SAVING €
Internal insulation of walls and cover block 603.625 4.258
supp_zanca LEARN MORE:
Link to D2.5 pdf
Link to D3.6 pdf
Link to D3.7 pdf