Our final event has taken place.How grand it was. We went out with a blast. And even better, seeds have already been sown for new projects, for new collaborations, for cross-national cooperation.
We have seen the final results of our MustBe0 projects in Lille, gained an insight into the battle that was fought at times, but also seen how proud everyone is of the final results and the process involved. It wasn't always easy, but together we achieved fantastic results.
Our thanks go to all our partners who have worked so hard and, of course, to our funding body the Interreg NWE programme. Thanks to your support, we are now one step closer to realising attractive, affordable, CO2-neutral homes for everyone.
Site visit day
We started our final event with a schedule full of site visits. TheNotre Logisproject was our kick-off visit for the morning and the entire team made sure we were warmly welcomed. We got to visit the project both inside and outside in groups. We concluded this first visit with a great lunch from a salad & pizza foodtruck.
The bus then took us to aVilogiaproject in Wattrelos. This one wasn’t a MustBe0 project, but an Energiesprong project that won a silver award (single family homes). Vilogia took the expertise gained from this project and used it in their MustBe0 project in Roubaix. This was then, of course, our next stop.
We ended our site visit tour at the Anne Godeau school in thecity of Raismes. This is the first school in France to be retrofitted in this way. How great it was to see the colourful details that brought us back to our own childhoods for just a second.
However, the day wasn’t over yet. We ended the day atEuraTechologieswhere we had 3 tech start-ups pitch their sustainable ideas to us. Full of inspiration, we said our goodnights.
Friday 30th June
As we walked into the Day 2 venue in the morning, our immediate view was of the exhibition of projects to enjoy. An exhibition that showed not only the final results of the projects, but also focused on the people that we do all the work for: the residents. The reactions of the tenants spoke for themselves. It was so great to see that after so much work, and - let's be honest - often many setbacks, people now really enjoy their retrofitted homes. Sometimes happiness is also found in the little things.
Before we started with the presentations from all of our partners, Interreg NWE Programme Director David Grzegorzewski and Interreg project officer Luka Messmer, took to the stage with some very warm words about all our hard work. It was very much appreciated and, yes, let’s stay in touch and let’s meet again soon!
Next, the housing organisations presented their projects for the very last time. One by one they shared with us the tears they have shed, about what it is that they’re most proud of and their top 3 lessons learned.
After lunch we continued our day with an impact session. An intensive workshop to look beyond the project results alone. Because in addition to the pilot projects, the MustBe0 project has enabled transnational cooperation. Collaboration on broader market development activities, taking into account technical, policy and financial developments. In this impact session, we heard about how these efforts have led to new ideas and projects on 3 main topics:
Material/circularity
Policy and regulations
Digitisation
We split up into 3 groups to discuss the remaining needs of the market together.
