This German startup revives old buildings

A German startup revives old buildings with a second skin, converting them into an energy-efficient asset and restoring the lost energy balance. CW speaks to Emanuel Heisenberg, Founder & CEO, ecoworks, to understand the process and the company’s plans for India.

How is ecoworks helping old buildings become energy-efficient?
Energy consumption is one of the major issues in the contemporary built environment. Moreover, as buildings get older they tend to consume more and more energy. At ecoworks, the idea is to arrest the problem and reverse the process. As of now, we have successfully implemented the patented technique in multi-storied buildings consisting of up to four floors. Using a proprietary algorithm based on over 100 parameters, we search through public building registries and satellite photos to identify and rank the finest candidate buildings for renovation.

Once the building is identified, we conduct a 3D scan of the structure, from which a digital twin is made. Blueprints for panels that will fit over the existing walls using this twin are then created. The panels are put together by robots and come with windows, ventilation, pipe conduits and solar panels on the roof. All these elements together wrap around the existing structure and act as its second skin. We have a set of specially trained professionals to carry out the installation of these panels onsite and complete it in a few weeks.

Tell us about one of your initial projectswhere the installation of the second skin led to a turnaround.
A 1930s apartment complex in a tiny German town was one of our earliest initiatives. For this project, we also did a lot of interior renovation, which we normally don't do.Hence unlike a standard time span of 12 weeks, we took 25 weeks to complete it.We tracked the variations in the building’s energy consumption and designed a prefabricated envelope. Prior to refurbishment, the 12-unit structure had one of the lowest energy-efficiency ratings in the nation, using 450 kWh of energy per sqm.