The Homes4Life project organised a webinar on November 5. It aimed at presenting the last developments and status of the Certification Scheme, but above all, the objective was to interact as much as possible with the audience in order to collect their opinions and advice to improve the Certification.
After an introduction by the moderator of the webinar, Nhu Tram (AGE Platform Europe), Silvia Urra Uriarte (Tecnalia), coordinator of the project, reminded the scope and objectives of Homes4Life.
Hervé Duret and Christophe Gérard (Certivéa) presented then the current Certification Scheme, which has been tested in 10 pilot sites across Europe. They described into details its principles, i.e. the kind of clients or building that it targets, the building types encompassed, the buildings’ occupancy state or life-cycle phase that it can assess, etc. They explained then the certification process and structure, with in particular the 192 requirements and the ~50 questions which enable to assess respectively the characteristics of the building/household and the perceptions of residents. Finally, the scoring system for all these requirements and questions has been defined, with the associated “medals” attributed: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Menno Hinkema (TNO) reviewed the feedbacks received from the pilot sites, which provided their opinion on the Certification’s procedures, content and practical use. In particular, issues were raised on the applicability of some questions, the terminology used, the level of details expected, etc. All those comments will be taken into account, in the next version of the Certification.
The main goal of this webinar, attended by 41 persons in total, was to receive the feedback from the audience in order to potentially improve the Certification. Thus, during Certivéa’s presentation, 21 precise questions have been asked through polls on different aspects of the Certification. The answers enabled to validate most of the choices made in the development of the Certification. Others tend to indicate that revisions should be considered, e.g. concerning an extension of the validity period of the certificate, an increase of the weight given to the perceptions of residents and an adjustment of the weight given to the different categories of requirements (economic, personal, physical, outdoor access, social).
In addition, the final Q&A session enabled to clarify several points raised by the audience concerning the benefits of the Certification, the variety of buildings it encompasses, some of its technical aspects, its awarding scheme and its cost.
Following these very fruitful exchanges with the audience, the Homes4Life partners will keep on developing the Certification Scheme, together with the pilot sites. This work will be presented during the project’s final event on January 28, 2021.
Watch again the recording of this video below !