Denmark: Herning Social Housing

  • Pilot Site: Herning Social Housing
  • Location: Herning, Denmark
  • Year of construction: 1967
  • Type of buildings: Social housing, Residential apartments
  • Area: 21.000 m²
  • Number of dwellings: 56
  • Number of residents:
  • Demographics/Residents: low-income groups, singles or small families
  • Facility Manager: Fællesbo (FB)
  • Iot Developer: Neogrid Technologies

Description:
The Herning Municipality is located in the heart of Denmark, around 90 km west of Aarhus. Herning is part of the Midtjylland region, covering 1,323 km² and home to over 50,000 people. The local social housing company Fællesbo participates in the project demonstration with 56 candidate dwellings in total, from two large building blocks constructed in the 1960s.

Most tenants belong to a low-income group, and apartments are suitable for singles or small families. Each building block has developed strong social dynamics of its own and is governed by an elected board of tenants.

Renovation Plans:

Following the municipality’s aspiration to become CO2-neutral by 2030 and 100% based on RES, the buildings are planned to undergo deep renovations including insulation upgrades, improvements on the DHW, HVAC and electric installation systems, smart systems installation and establishment of local RES generation in the period 2023-2025. A total budget of 75.5 million euro is earmarked for the construction works, financed byLandsbyggefonden, an association owned by all Danish social housing tenants. All planned renovation measures have been decided through a democratic process led by the board of tenants. Fællesbo staff has worked side by side with the tenants in the renovation planning process, making sure that all tenants will be re-housed in other buildings through the building renovation period. 
The benefits of these renovations include substantial reductions in energy consumption, space heating and electricity, as well as water consumption, along with significant upgrades of indoor comfort and quality of living.

The Project:
Through CHRONICLE, the involved partners have assessed all stages of the planned renovations, gaining insights into the building performance and environmental impact under different renovation scenarios to minimise the post-renovation mismatch between the predicted asset and operational rating, thanks to its human-centred digital twin. The CHRONICLE tools have also been used to evaluate potential financial risks and benefits for the renovation investment, so that the Facility Manager can efficiently operate the buildings. 

IoT implementation:
The solution provided by Neogrid Technologies consists of units capable of collecting data from modbus sources, LoRa IoT units and wireless mbus meters.

The Neogrid “Predator” Gateway is an ESP32-based microcontroller designed primarily for interfacing with a District Heating controller (typically a Danfoss ECL) and collection wireless mbus data from consumption meters. It also comes equipped with a RS485 interface with which we can communicate and collect data from modbus sources.

For collecting data wirelessly over sources within the respective apartments, we utilize the superior range and stability of the LoRaWAN technology. This includes Indoor Climate meters and smart radiator thermostats. These sources are controlled via a Tectelic KONA Micro Lite LoRaWAN gateway.