Zaragoza (Spain)
The SUPERSHINE Spanish fellow district is located in Zaragoza, covering two sub-districts: Pedro Saputo–Margarita Xirgú and Emmeline Pankhurst. The buildings, constructed in 1992, had not been refurbished prior to the project. The district is part of ACTUR, originally built in the 1970s to address housing needs, and includes different heating systems (individual and common systems)
SUPERSHINE provided tools and guidance for district-level renovations, supporting energy efficiency, improved comfort, and sustainable urban management. The interventions complement local investments in public infrastructure and emblematic buildings, ensuring that building upgrades are integrated with wider neighbourhood improvements. In one subdistrict (Pedro Saputo_Margarita Xirgú) a new PED is designed including differnet types of builldings (school,residential, nursery). In the other subdistict (Emmeline Pankhurst) the refurbishment of the buildings has finished and the selling of the Energy Savings Certificated is valued as a way of financing the operation. Currently an agreement with the Energy Cluster for future savings is been promoted as an important tool fo finance future actions.
Financial Graphs
This figure shows a very strong financial case for renovation in Spain under the shared savings model. When all interventions are combined, the return on investment reaches 14.09% for social housing and 14.80% for the ESCO, both well above the 6.11% benchmark. Among the individual measures, wall renovation provides the highest return, at 11.08% for social housing and 14.56% for the ESCO, followed by floor and roof measures. Windows remain the least attractive standalone option, with returns of 3.21% for social housing and 6.50% for the ESCO. Overall, the chart shows that the Spanish case offers one of the strongest investment profiles, especially when the renovation is delivered as a full package.
Energy Poverty Graphs
This chart shows that renovation improves affordability in Spain, although the reduction is more moderate than in some other cases. Before renovation, households spend 17.44% of income on energy, and this decreases to 13.43% after renovation. While the initial burden is lower than in higher-poverty cases, the improvement still represents a meaningful reduction in financial pressure on households. The figure confirms that renovation can help make housing costs more manageable even where baseline energy poverty is less severe.
This figure shows a substantial improvement in energy performance after renovation in the Spanish case. Energy consumption drops from 771.13 kWh/sqm before renovation to 440.72 kWh/sqm after renovation. This large reduction indicates a significant improvement in the efficiency of the building stock and supports both environmental and affordability objectives. Lower energy use means less wasted energy, lower emissions, and reduced costs for residents over time.
This chart highlights the improvement in thermal comfort achieved through renovation. Before the measures are implemented, 27.40% of residents are unable to keep their homes adequately cool in summer and warm in winter. After renovation, this falls to 15.88%. The result shows that renovation can directly improve day-to-day living conditions and reduce the share of households affected by poor indoor comfort across the seasons.
Lighthouses
Lighthouse districts are in three cities: Trieste (Italy), Herning (Denmark) and Riga (Latvia).
