Within the Upcycling Trust project, the role of community land trusts (CLTs) in collective renovations is explored. The potential of this model lies in:
- Reaching vulnerable homeowners that would risk otherwise to be excluded from collective renovations;
- Safeguarding affordability, maintaining the public benefits of renovation investment, in particular in the case of the repurpose of vacant or underused buildings, or by preventing the privatization and loss of aging social housing.
- Having a trusted third party and vehicle for collective engagement, helping to mobilize the local community;
The peer to peer workshop gave the opportunity to reflect on how the Upcycling Trust model can fill existing gaps and on the enabling conditions of collective renovation. Three experts already active on the field shared their own experiences.
João Gonçalves (Housing Europe), has presented the collective regeneration work carried on both on a neighborhood scale (Aalborg, Denmark) and in multi-apartment buildings (Estonia, Tallinn); in addition, through the DROP project the association is drafting blueprints to be replicated based on co-governance.
As explained by Pierre-Antoine Duffrene (Ressorts), the Street HP Reno pilot project launched in Tabanac is working on a group-purchasing scheme and the development of a visualization tool to identify areas ready for heat pump installation.
Lastly, Corentin Girard (València Sostenible), has shown the expected results of neighborhood rehabilitation programs in Valencia (in the area of Les Tendetes and Virgen de los Desamparados), that combine energy efficiency, accessibility measures and public space regeneration. Alongside, the association has a CLR project as a pilot in supporting citizen-led collective renovation.
Some core lessons emerged from their interventions. Co-governance is a valuable way to embrace the local community, for instance by creating a partner association as an independent legal body. Knowing the context of the intervention is key as well: local facilitators with a good grasp on the community can be valuable sources of trust. Finally, starting small and scaling up can be an effective strategy, as stakeholders are convinced by the success of the previous wave of work.
To conclude, the workshop was a valuable opportunity to reflect on opportunities in the pilot cities and draw insights from good practices across Europe. Existing CLTs in the pilot cities can act as facilitators for the process ahead.
The experience from the Upcycling Trust project on collective renovation also feeds into a guide on the use of CLT/OFS mechanism in the framework of collective renovations published at the end of 2026 under the LIFE Arec project.