Transformation plan for flats wins third place at Solar Decathlon Europe 2022
- Sustainability
The student team of Delft University of Technology has won third prize at the Solar Decathlon Europe with its Symbiotic Urban Movement (SUM) plan. Never before has a university been among the top three in such an international contest three times in a row. ABN AMRO sponsors the SUM plan, which aims to make well over 800,000 flats in the Netherlands more sustainable.
Many of these old flats are energy guzzlers that end up being demolished. The sustainable prototype created by the student team from Delft was among the favourites at the contest, in which 18 international technical universities took part.
Over the past two months, the Wuppertal region in Germany was the backdrop for the Solar Decathlon Europe, a bi-annual contest where technical university students compete to develop the most sustainable building in an urban environment. All projects are assessed against ten criteria, including energy performance, urban mobility, comfort and innovation. The winning team is the one that achieves the highest total score.
“We are extremely proud of the praise and assessments the received on this international stage. As a sponsor and knowledge partner, we are eager to help SUM scale up in order to help solve the housing shortage in the Netherlands and contribute to our sustainability targets,” said Vincent Groet, director of ABN AMRO’s Construction Team South-West Netherlands.
“SUM is based on an ‘energy positive top-up’. Not only will two layers of flats be added to the buildings, they will also be made energy neutral,” says Leontien de Waal, sector banker for ABN AMRO’s Construction team. The plan contributes to the challenge of creating one million homes in the Netherlands over the next ten years. The SUM approach ties in well with ABN AMRO’s sustainability strategy, which is based on three pillars: energy efficiency, circular construction and creating social impact.