Learning from Rivne: advancing energy-efficient housing modernisation

On 22–23 Sep­tem­ber 2026, rep­re­sen­ta­tives of Kryvyi Rih and Myko­laiv took part in a two-day study vis­it to Rivne as part of the FELICITY II pilot on the ener­gy-effi­cient refur­bish­ment of mul­ti-apart­ment build­ings. The vis­it pro­vid­ed an oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore Rivne’s prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence in ener­gy man­age­ment, res­i­den­tial build­ing mod­erni­sa­tion, local sup­port pro­grammes and coop­er­a­tion with home­own­ers’ asso­ci­a­tions and apart­ment co-own­ers. 

Par­tic­i­pants vis­it­ed mod­ernised mul­ti-apart­ment build­ings, munic­i­pal facil­i­ties, dis­trict heat­ing infra­struc­ture and renew­able ener­gy instal­la­tions, gain­ing first-hand insight into inte­grat­ed approach­es already imple­ment­ed in the city. The exam­ples demon­strat­ed how ener­gy-effi­cient solu­tions can reduce ener­gy con­sump­tion and oper­at­ing costs, improve liv­ing con­di­tions and strength­en urban ener­gy resilience. 

A key focus of the vis­it was the devel­op­ment of One-Stop Shops (OSSs) in Kryvyi Rih and Myko­laiv. Designed as a sin­gle point of sup­port for res­i­dents, an OSS can guide apart­ment co-own­ers through the dif­fer­ent stages of ener­gy-effi­cient refur­bish­ment – from ini­tial con­sul­ta­tions and plan­ning to financ­ing, com­mu­ni­ca­tion and project imple­men­ta­tion. 

Dur­ing prac­ti­cal work­ing ses­sions, the teams devel­oped roadmaps for estab­lish­ing OSSs in their cities, iden­ti­fied their core func­tions, required resources and key part­ners, and explored approach­es to effec­tive engage­ment with apart­ment co-own­ers. 

Res­i­dent engage­ment was also addressed through a ded­i­cat­ed train­ing on con­struc­tive dia­logue for the ener­gy-effi­cient refur­bish­ment of mul­ti-apart­ment build­ings. The future OSS teams explored approach­es to facil­i­tat­ing con­struc­tive, inclu­sive and safe dis­cus­sions, tak­ing dif­fer­ent per­spec­tives into account and sup­port­ing joint deci­sion-mak­ing. Par­tic­i­pants worked with prac­ti­cal tools, facil­i­ta­tion tech­niques and step-by-step approach­es for struc­tur­ing res­i­dents’ meet­ings, reduc­ing the risk of con­flict and cre­at­ing bet­ter con­di­tions for reach­ing joint deci­sions on build­ing refur­bish­ment. 

The expe­ri­ence gained in Rivne will inform the next steps of the Kryvyi Rih and Myko­laiv teams as they work with res­i­dents of the pilot build­ings and move towards prac­ti­cal project imple­men­ta­tion. 

The study vis­it forms part of FELICITY II’s broad­er sup­port to Kryvyi Rih and Myko­laiv in strength­en­ing insti­tu­tion­al capac­i­ties for the ener­gy-effi­cient refur­bish­ment of their res­i­den­tial build­ing stock. The pro­gramme is also sup­port­ing the devel­op­ment of 20 invest­ment-ready projects for the ener­gy-effi­cient and cli­mate-resilient refur­bish­ment of mul­ti-apart­ment build­ings in the two cities. Through this work, FELICITY II con­tributes to sus­tain­able hous­ing recov­ery and Ukraine’s inte­gra­tion with the EU. 

FELICITY II is imple­ment­ed by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Inter­na­tionale Zusam­me­nar­beit (GIZ) GmbH in coop­er­a­tion with the Euro­pean Invest­ment Bank and with the sup­port of the Ger­man Fed­er­al Min­istry for the Envi­ron­ment, Cli­mate Action, Nature Con­ser­va­tion and Nuclear Safe­ty, under the frame­work of the Inter­na­tion­al Cli­mate Ini­tia­tive (IKI).