Renovation and Education Roadmaps for healthy and resilient School buildings towards carbon neutrality

Andrea Mainini (Principal Investigator)

The RERoadS research project takes a systematic approach to the redevelopment of Italy's school buildings, which are characterised by their age, construction heterogeneity and critical issues in terms of safety, energy performance and environmental quality. The project assumes that the efficient and sustainable renovation of school buildings is a strategic priority not only for technical and regulatory compliance, but also for improving the quality and functionality of educational spaces, recognised as key infrastructure for learning processes and the transition to sustainable development models.

RERoadS adopts an integrated and multidisciplinary approach, based on the active involvement of stakeholders and the development of skills through Research Units organised both vertically, from the individual building to the territorial scale, and horizontally, integrating technical-engineering, environmental, economic and pedagogical areas. The main objective of the project is to define and validate the first Building Renovation Passport (BRP) specifically dedicated to Italian school buildings, in line with European Union strategies and recommendations.

The school BRP developed by RERoadS integrates two fundamental tools: the Digital Building Logbook (DBL), aimed at the structured and dynamic collection of technical, performance and management data for the building, and the Renovation Roadmap (RR), which defines progressive and consistent intervention scenarios over time, evaluated through a dedicated system of environmental, energy, economic and social sustainability indicators.

In parallel, the project involves the development of training and educational modules aimed at the school community, designed to accompany the processes of diagnosis, planning and implementation of redevelopment interventions. These modules promote environmental awareness, responsible use of resources and energy literacy through differentiated pathways for different levels of education, transforming the school building and its renovation into active learning tools.