As part project SOLE, which aims to promote energy efficiency in public buildings and the capitalisation / dissemination of good practices and experiences of municipalities in this field, the National Federation of Tunisian Municipalities (FNCT) and the National School of Architecture and Urban Planning (ENAU) have organised a “Design and reflection workshop on energy efficiency in public buildings” in May 2023.

The workshop was an opportunity to highlight the essential role of design as a lever of innovation, proposing solutions and operational responses to strengthen and improve the energy performance of public buildings: it was also a precious chance to estabilish a framework for consultation in the field of energy efficiency with key stakeholders, future architects and designers.

The workshop took the form of a 48-hour challenge. A group of selected students, enrolled in their 5th year or beyond for the 22/23 academic year at ENAU, attended a series of discussions with various stakeholders and panelists to better understand the issues and challenges related to energy efficiency in public buildings. As a result, they were asked to apply the key lessons learned to the design of an energy requalification project for an exhisting building, the City Hall of Bizerte.

The two students who produced the best project were invited to present their work at the final event of the SOLE project which will take place in September 2023 in Florence.

The workshop brought together the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, the National Agency for Energy Management (ANME), the Caisse des Prêts et de Soutien aux Collectivités Locales (CPSCL), a research center, the Société de Gestion de la Technopole de Borj-Cedria (Green Building Project) and the International Center for Environmental Technologies of Tunis (CITET).