EPIQR: a new refurbishment concept.

Building refurbishment mainly concerns physical and functional building components but should also take into account various topics such as energy consumption, pollutant emission and operational waste reduction as well as air quality and spatial comfort. Against this background, the European project EPIQR offers a new concept which should allow architects to approach the refurbishment of residential buildings with a global view of the whole process. In any refurbishment process, the preparation phase is of utmost importance. The object exists and has to be studied to lay open all potentialities. The EPIQR method starts by establishing an overall diagnosis of the building acquired through a systematic and standardised visit. The file drawn up ln this manner constitutes the basis for the planning of the refurbishment process and for discussion with the other parties involved in the project. All relevant parameters are taken into account: the physical state of the building components, the functional state of the services, the energy balance of the building, the type and occupation of the apartments etc. Furthermore, EPIQR constitutes an excellent financial planning tool offering the possibility of knowing the prospective evolution of the deterioration of all components in the future.