Active thermal refurbishment works have been launched in the town of Hnivan in 2 pre-school educational institutions. These are the first of the 4 kindergartens that are to undergo thermal refurbishment following European standards within the framework of the project ‘Energy-efficient Hnivan – energy policy aimed at sustainable development of the town of Hnivan’.
The project is funded by the European Union within the EU4Energy initiative and the program ‘Covenant of Mayors – Demonstration Projects’ and is implemented by Hnivan Town Council in partnership with the Non-Governmental Organization ‘Euroregion ‘Dniester’.
This project is the largest project in Vinnytsia region, funded by the European Union in the amount of 757,312 Euros (78%). And its overall budget is 970,913 Euros.
‘Thermal refurbishment of the kindergartens of the town of Hnivan was preceded by the tremendous work of our team and our partner. We were the fourth in Vinnytsia region to join the initiative ‘Covenant of Mayors’ back in the distant 2015. Then for some two years we worked at the development of the Sustainable Energy Action Plan. And only performance of all those steps enabled to participate with this project in the European Commission’s competition in 2017 and to win. Back then we were the only ones who had met all the conditions for participation from Vinnytsia region and we became one of the 6 winners in Ukraine, side by side with large regional centres’, – comments upon the victory in the grant competition the town mayor Volodymyr Kuleshov.
The key activities of the project include thermal refurbishment of 4 pre-school educational institutions of the town of Hnivan No. 1, No. 3, No. 4 and No. 5. So far, construction works have been launched in pre-school educational institutions No. 1 and No. 3. The builders already perform works related to heating system replacement, warm floor installation in the game rooms, dismantling and assembly of new roofs as well as leveling external walls before heat insulation.
‘We could start construction works only in the 3rd year of the project implementation. Before that, technical inspections of buildings, energy audits were conducted, design and estimate documentation was developed, examinations were conducted and tenders were run. In each stage we worked not just within the framework of Ukrainian legislation, but also followed European standards in close cooperation with the Support Team and Austrian experts. Therefore, the process demanded additional time, more than usually’, – tells project coordinator Yevhen Tkach.
All in all, the following types of works are planned partially or in full for the facilities:
- replacement of heating and ventilation systems;
- installation of new energy-saving windows;
- insulation of walls and partial replacement of structures;
- internal lighting refurbishment;
- installation of external luminaries with an alternative energy source.
Thanks to such project activities, about 350 educatees and 100 employees of 4 pre-school educational institutions will be provided with comfortable conditions.
Such comprehensive energy–efficient activities are expected to annually enable to:
- reduce heat energy losses by some 70% in each pre-school educational institution as compared to the baseline value;
- reduce СО2 emission in general by more than 200 tons;
- reduce overall local budget costs spent on energy carriers by some 30 thousand Euros.
‘The goal of this project in the town of Hnivan is not just comfortable conditions and energy carrier savings, but reduction of the negative impact on the environment and climate change. And this depends not just on public facilities, but on all town’s residents and other entities. It’s good that people realize this here! Therefore, together with thermal refurbishment of kindergartens an active awareness-raising campaign among the community residents is being conducted, the system of energy management as well as the Municipal Energy Efficiency Fund are going to be established. Already in 2021 this Fund will finance energy efficiency activities in multi-apartment buildings on a competitive basis due to savings of budget costs on energy carriers in kindergartens’, – adds communication expert of the project Anastasiya Lanova.