This September the city of Riva del Garda (TN) will host REbuild the national convention that will provide best practices, case studies, and experience that promise to transform Italy’s retrofit construction market.

To be held September 17-19, 2012, in the Riva del Garda Congress Hall - REbuild is the first conference of its kind in Italy to bring together professionals and companies to share experience, methods, and innovative approaches. Seminars and collateral events will give participants a chance to meet with international experts who will discuss the latest concepts and provide case studies. The program will have different tracks for architects, designers, professionals in real estate and property investment, energy service companies, commercial banks and credit unions, as well as government bodies and trade associations.

The themes of eco-sustainable retrofit, building management, and building operations are taking on a dominant role in the construction market. Italy, with the second oldest buildings in Europe, has more than 2 billion square meters of buildings to upgrade. Overall, the market for green retrofits represents an increasing share of the construction market, and promises important opportunities for players in every segment. REbuild aims to be the place where all the players in the Italian retrofit community meet to talk about methods, tools, best practices, and integrated solutions. Promoting the conference are Habitech (the green building and energy cluster) and Progetto Manifattura (the green innovation hub in Rovereto). Assisting with organization and logistics is Riva Fiere e Congressi.

There is a lot of discussion surrounding the topics of green building and retrofit. The REbuild conference gives some structure to the debate and will offer technical and financial analyses to give a strong push to the entire Italian construction market. Much of the debate and the case studies will come from the positive experience of Trentino-Alto Adige region which has achieved renown as Italy’s laboratory for sustainable prototypes.

“Taken together, buildings produce 40% of greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s indispensable to make radical changes existing buildings,” explains Gianluca Salvatori, president of Progetto Manifattura. “With this view, RE+build constitutes an important first step in a process of enhancing the value of existing buildings. It is also a step in creating a long-term strategy: the getting national and international players to meet alongside local players. The overall aim of RE+build fits into the larger context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the goal of reducing by CO2 emissions by 20% by the year 2020, and by 80% by the year 2050.”

RE-build is an event that is working to promote innovative, eco-compatible development by bringing together the all the basic segments of the construction sector. The event will promote projects, best practices, and providers of financial products and solutions that favor energy saving-retrofits for existing buildings.

“A radical change of approach is needed. The financial crisis, the real estate market and climate change are forcing us to make decisive changes, “ continues Gianni Lazzari, CEO of Habitech. “That’s why REbuild is tackling the theme of deep retrofit. Our main goal is significant reduction in energy consumption in order to free up financial resources to re-invest in sustainable building management.”

RE-build is a new way of doing business and expanding networks of contacts. It’s shaping up to be the place where actors from every segment of the construction industry can talk about issues, reflect on solutions, and stimulate action in green retrofit, management and operations of existing buildings.