SYKIES MUNICIPALITY, GREECE

Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece, after Athens, the capital. It is in the north of the country and has a population of about 1.000.000 inhabitants. Thessaloniki is situated by the sea, to the east lies the mountain of Hortiatis and to the north-east lays the hill and forest of ‘Kedrinos Lofos’.

Sykies Municipality belongs to the Thessaloniki Province and is located in the northern part of the city, with the forest on one side and the Byzantine Wall, which circles the city, on the other side. Sykies is built on steep, hilly terrain, with views of the sea and forest.

Some Key Figures

• Residential area in hectares: 192
• Number of inhabitants: 50,000

Local Green City Building Strategy

The developed local strategy focus on energy savings for the public buildings including use of solar and bioclimatic design measures. Developed strategy and energy saving measures have been tested on a mixed use 3-storey municipal building located near to the historical Byzantine city wall.

Urban Case Study Area

The selected urban area is a residential district located in the South of the Municipality (see map 1-6), along the Byzantine Wall and the Green Zone (3) and presents a multiple character. Its diversity is the main reason that is selected as a sample region. It contains parts of three different Urban Sections of the Municipality. These are the ‘Kallithea’, the ‘Kastra’ and the ‘Dentrofitia’ Section. From the ‘Kallithea’ Section is selected the ‘Elpidos’ Park with the underground parking (5). As far as ‘Kastra’ Section is concerned the Traditional Neighborhood next to the Byzantine Wall is the chosen area (6). Finally from the ‘Dentrofitia’ Section the ‘School’ area is the proper one (1). The altitude of the case study urban area varies a lot, with some areas giving a beautiful view of Thessaloniki City and the sea. Therefore it represents one of the most interesting areas of the Municipality. The map also shows location of municipal library (2) and the mixed-use 3-storey municipal “test building” (4).

Energy and Environmental Screening

In this case study district, the 80% of the existing buildings were built before 1980 and the energy consumption is increased due to obsolescent building shell components as well as inefficient electrical-mechanical installations (heating / cooling / lighting installation systems). It is observed that there aren’t any applications of alternative energy saving techniques, apart from a few solar water heaters as an individual solution for domestic hot water. In addition the use of natural gas is going to be applied in most of the buildings of the Municipality (incl. the domestic sector) in the next years so there will be an important reduction of the energy consumption.

Green City Building Project Results

As far as the environment is concerned, energy saving and pollution reduction is of high priority of the Municipality policy. All the accumulated technology and know-how from the Green City Building project chosen building will be applied to all the municipal and social service buildings.
Moreover the main concern of the municipal authorities is to provide more social and cultural amenities and to offer solution to the main problems of the municipality. The aim is the construction of new parking spaces, green areas, children playgrounds, elderly health treatment centers and road network upgrade all of which contribute to the rise of life quality.

Alternative Strategy Drafts

Alternative strategy drafts were discussed in several local workshops and training sessions mainly based on analyzing observed barriers from the screening process, like:

• Short-term economic interests
• Lack of funds for energy saving measures
• Many illegal building constructions
• Lack of best practice examples and technology expertise
• Lack of citizens’ interests/awareness
• Lack of open urban spaces for better environmental design of building surroundings
• Lack of parking space
• The excessive exploitation of urban areas with dense patterns of construction (high buildings, narrow streets)

DEVELOPED STRATEGY TO OVERCOME MAIN BARRIERS WAS FINALLY DECIDED TO CONSIST OF FOLLOWING PROCEDURES:

• Establishing of Energy Management Committee in February 2006
• Comprehensive awareness campaigns on TV, radio, newspapers
• Training sessions/local workshops to promote energy initiatives
• Data collection of energy consumption in municipal buildings
• Assessment of the municipal building constructions
• Renovation of municipal buildings based on the Ergani building pilot project results to be demo projects for sustainable building

DESIGN AND TESTING

Design work and testing for renovation of the pilot project building took a starting point in thermal simulation analysis based on 4 different scenarios regarding energy saving measures’ combination including use of PV for external lighting. Next after comprehensive climatic analysis were done followed by detailed analysis of reduced environmental impacts of sustainable building renovation by use of Green Build tool “Ascot” to finally develop the most efficient local renovation strategy for similar municipal buildings in the urban case study area.

LOCAL GREEN CITY ACTION PLAN

Local Green City Action Plan is focusing on two main efforts: 1) Renovation of all municipal buildings and 2) Awareness rising for citizens, municipal staff, technology suppliers, building sector key persons etc. For awareness rising following steps have been carried out:

1. Several press releases from the Mayor – to local and national TV, radio channels and newspapers – concerning actions to be taken by Sykies Municipality and also emphasizing the necessity for the other municipalities to take similar actions.
2. Permanent column in the local paper with articles on selected energy and environmental issues.
3. Same articles on the municipal website to reach primary young people.
4. Municipal press office and Green City Building secretariat produce and distribute periodical leaflets.
5. Leaflets from technical consultant CRES have been distributed to public schools in order to inform teachers, students and parents on the issues.
6. Training of key persons from municipal and building sector etc.

GREEN BUILD RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SYKIES LOCAL AUTHORITY:

• General use of the developed Green Build Questionnaire for planning of renovation or new-built urban projects.
• Periodical targeted awareness campaigns on sustainability and energy saving measures.
• Seminars for people involved in building planning.
• Training of contractors, designers and building construction workers on renovation projects and new technology implementation.
• GCB secretariat workshops on building maintenance planning.

For More Information You May Contact

Ms. Fedora Kanelli or Mr. Antonis Fanoules, Sykies Municipality, Phone: +30
2310 9635 26/24, E-mail: ty.sykies@gmail.com
Ms. Elpida Polychroni, CRES – Center for Renewable Energy Sources, Phone:
+30 210 6603 258, E-mail: epoli@cres.gr