Acoustic and Thermal Retrofit of Office Building Stock in EU

The objective of ActaReBuild is to provide high-level training of Doctoral Candidates in retrofit of office building stock in Europe by means a new generation of sustainable materials and building components. In particular, they will learn how to improve and guarantee acoustic and thermal performance of buildings that undergo renovation processes, while minimizing the embodied carbon production.

The training offered to 10 Doctoral Candidates (DCs) interconnected through the network will enforce their research and transferable skills necessary for thriving careers in this burgeoning area. This goal will be achieved by a unique, interdisciplinary combination of specialized “hands-on” research training supported by high quality joint PhD degree supervision; by performing of secondments at industrial partners; participation at courses and workshops on scientific and complementary “soft” skills facilitated by the academic and non-academic partners of the consortium.

Thanks to network-wide interactions, DCs will get acquainted with a variety of novel building materials and solutions (bio-, nano-, meta-, recycled, 3D printed materials and multilayer structural skins), measurement techniques and assessment methods (such as life cycle analysis and sustainability assessment, psychoacoustic methods, specialized thermal behaviour experiments and a variety of simulation techniques in acoustics, energy, hygrothermal behaviour). Their interaction with industrial partners within the consortium and, via outreach activities, to stakeholders in industry and society in general will promote the uptake of the resulting innovations beyond the network and accelerate their implementation for sustainable retrofits, thus maximizing the impact of the project.