This article, written by Francesco Miliani (R2M Solutions), presents the European project LIFE-GiDOMUS, which aims to accelerate the energy renovation of homes in the province of Girona, a key area for meeting climate targets. Based on the DOMUS one-stop-shop model, it offers a comprehensive service that supports citizens throughout the entire process — from advice and financing to works and monitoring. With seven local offices and innovative financing tools, the project expects to drive over 300 full-scale renovations, cutting emissions and fostering a more sustainable local market.
In Spain, the housing stock shows a serious energy efficiency deficit. It is estimated that 75% of homes are energy inefficient, and most of them (85–95%) will still be standing in 2050. Nearly six in ten buildings were built before the first energy efficiency regulations, which explains their high consumption (the building sector represents roughly 30% of national energy use and 25% of emissions).
To make matters worse, the renovation rate is extremely low: only 0.08% of homes undergo deep renovation each year (around 30,000 buildings) — far below neighbouring countries such as France (2%), Germany (1.5%) or Italy (0.77%). These figures are far from the 3% annual rate proposed by the EU’s Renovation Wave to meet its climate goals. At the current pace, it would take centuries to modernise the entire housing stock.
Behind this slow progress lie multiple barriers:
For homeowners, tackling full renovations is complex due to a lack of information, bureaucratic hurdles, and difficulty accessing finance or covering upfront costs.
The renovation sector is highly fragmented, with many small, uncoordinated companies, making it hard to offer integrated, turnkey solutions.
There are also cultural (lack of awareness of the benefits) and social barriers (reaching vulnerable groups or achieving consensus in homeowners’ associations).
LIFE-GiDOMUS was created to overcome these obstacles and accelerate energy renovation in homes, offering an innovative and effective model.
The DOMUS model: an innovative one-stop-shop
The proposed solution is based on the DOMUS model, a comprehensive energy renovation service structured as a One-Stop-Shop (OSS).
This means citizens have a single point of contact guiding them through every step of the renovation process.
The DOMUS programme offers personalised, end-to-end assistance in all stages:
Information and initial advice: raising awareness among homeowners about the benefits of renovation (bill savings, comfort, etc.) and assessing the home’s energy performance.
Technical project and paperwork: a technical team helps define the necessary improvements (insulation, windows, boilers, renewables, etc.), handling licences, grants and all the administrative processes.
Tailored financing: support in finding suitable funding, combining available subsidies with new mechanisms (see next section).
Execution and monitoring: DOMUS pre-selects qualified local professionals, coordinates renovation works, and monitors results to ensure quality and measure energy savings.
Thanks to this turnkey approach, the OSS model simplifies and streamlines renovation for citizens, removing barriers that previously discouraged them.
Beyond benefiting homeowners (through savings and comfort), this model will also boost the local renovation ecosystem: it will generate projects for local companies and professionals, foster specialised training to enhance skills, and coordinate municipal initiatives and grant programmes to amplify impact.
In short, DOMUS acts as a bridge between citizen demand and local supply, fostering a more efficient and collaborative market.
This model is not entirely new — it was developed by the Fundació Europace and successfully tested in La Garrotxa through the HolaDomus pilot (Olot, 2018) and later GarrotxaDomus. These programmes proved that an integrated one-stop-shop works, although they relied on municipal public funding.
LIFE-GiDOMUS represents the expansion and scaling-up of the DOMUS model: bringing this formula to the entire province of Girona, enhanced with new tools to ensure long-term sustainability.
A self-sustaining model: new financing tools
An innovative feature of LIFE-GiDOMUS is its self-sustaining business model for the DOMUS OSS.
While earlier programmes like GarrotxaDomus relied on local grants, LIFE-GiDOMUS aims for the renovation office to cover its operational costs autonomously, mobilising private capital.
How? By combining traditional mechanisms with new financial tools:
Crowdlending: participatory financing through loans. Via specialised platforms, many small investors can lend money to a renovation project, earning a return while enabling homeowners to access affordable credit without depending solely on traditional banks. LIFE-GiDOMUS will pilot this formula, encouraging local investment in community housing improvements.
Energy Saving Certificates (CAE): a mechanism recently regulated in Spain to monetise energy savings achieved through renovations. For each kWh saved, certificates are generated that can be sold to large energy companies required to offset consumption — effectively serving as an additional grant. GiDOMUS will develop an improved methodology to validate these CAEs and channel their value back into renovation works.
The financial model will also include results-based financing (investors recover funds based on verified energy savings) and sponsorships from organisations seeking social or environmental impact.
The goal is for the one-stop-shop to generate enough income or savings to sustain itself in the long term — beyond public aid — while continuing to serve citizens who want to renovate their homes.
Expected impact in Girona and replication potential
LIFE-GiDOMUS will serve as a demonstration project in the province of Girona.
It plans to open seven local offices across the region’s main towns, coordinated by a central back office.
These offices will open progressively (four in the second year, three in the third). Over its three-year duration, LIFE-GiDOMUS aims to support over 300 full renovations (around 850 upgraded homes) — a qualitative leap compared to current figures.
These improvements will yield energy savings and CO₂ emission reductions, contributing to EU climate goals and improving residents’ well-being. The project will also strengthen the local ecosystem: training professionals, advising homeowners’ associations, and running outreach campaigns for vulnerable groups (e.g. energy-poor households, the elderly), ensuring that the energy transition leaves no one behind.
Women’s participation will also be promoted — both in OSS teams and among beneficiaries — to foster a more inclusive sector.
A key aspect is replicability. GiDOMUS was designed with scalability in mind: once validated in Girona, the DOMUS model can be exported to other regions. The project will produce an operational guide – “How to Implement an OSS”, to help any province or municipality in Catalonia (or even across Spain) launch its own integrated renovation office.
In five years, the aim is for this model to expand across Catalonia and serve as a national blueprint, supporting plans to multiply annual renovation rates tenfold (up to 300,000 homes per year by 2030).
In short, Girona will become a testing ground for an initiative with potential benefits across the entire country.
European momentum: the LIFE-BECKON example
LIFE-GiDOMUS is part of a broader European effort to bring the energy transition closer to local communities. A sister project, LIFE-BECKON, also promotes the OSS model — but focused on local energy communities.
This European project, coordinated from Spain, has developed an integrated one-stop platform to help municipalities, local groups and citizens create and manage renewable energy communities.
Through its “integrated technical assistance” approach (methodological guide and “training the trainers” scheme), LIFE-BECKON demonstrates the growing relevance of OSS structures in Europe as a tool to accelerate the energy transition from the ground up.
Together, initiatives like GiDOMUS and BECKON show that one-stop-shops are gaining traction across the EU as an effective means to mobilise citizens and local authorities towards more sustainable homes and stronger energy communities.