Renovating Europe’s buildings is essential to reducing energy consumption and accelerating the transition towards climate neutrality. Yet one of the biggest challenges often comes before renovation work even begins: understanding the building itself. Outdated plans, incomplete documentation and expensive technical surveys can make it difficult for building owners to assess renovation options and plan investments with confidence.
The European research project scan2twin aims to address this challenge by exploring how automated building scanning, artificial intelligence (AI) and Digital Twin technologies can make building assessments faster, more accurate and more affordable.
By transforming physical buildings into reliable digital models, scan2twin seeks to help European cities and building owners make better-informed renovation decisions, reduce planning uncertainties and accelerate energy efficiency improvements.
From Building Scans to Digital Twins
Before deciding how to renovate a building, engineers and planners need reliable information about its construction, dimensions and technical characteristics. Gathering this information through conventional surveys can be time-consuming, particularly for older buildings where existing documentation is limited.
scan2twin will investigate how advanced scanning technologies can capture building information and combine it with existing records using AI-driven data processing. This information can then be transformed into Building Information Models (BIM) and Digital Twins that provide a structured digital representation of the building.
Unlike traditional plans, these models bring together information from multiple sources, helping technical experts develop a more comprehensive understanding of existing conditions.
The goal is not simply to produce three-dimensional visualisations, but to create digital resources that can support practical renovation planning, from assessing building characteristics to exploring potential improvements.
Making Energy Renovation Easier to Plan
Reliable building data is an important starting point for effective energy renovation. Decisions about insulation, heating systems and other efficiency improvements depend on understanding how a building is constructed and how different interventions may affect its performance.
When this information is missing or inaccurate, renovation projects can face unexpected complications, additional costs and delays. These uncertainties can also make investments harder to evaluate.
By improving the availability and quality of building information, scan2twin aims to support more informed technical and financial decisions.
Digital building models can help planners compare renovation options, coordinate different interventions and communicate proposed improvements more clearly. They may also provide useful information for future building management and maintenance.
For municipalities responsible for numerous public buildings, more efficient assessment methods could make it easier to prepare and prioritise renovation projects across an entire building portfolio.
Bringing Digital Innovation into Practical Use
Developing innovative technology is only part of the challenge. For digital scanning services to contribute meaningfully to Europe’s renovation ambitions, they must also be accessible, reliable and practical for the organisations expected to use them.
scan2twin brings together public authorities, researchers and technology experts to explore solutions that respond to real building renovation needs.
Through a collaborative development and testing approach, the project aims to encourage technological innovation while considering affordability, usability and opportunities for wider adoption.
An important aspect is the exchange of knowledge between technology providers and potential users. Understanding the requirements of municipalities and building owners can help ensure that emerging solutions address practical challenges rather than technological possibilities alone.
The experience and knowledge generated by scan2twin will also help other European stakeholders understand how automated building scanning and Digital Twins could support their own renovation activities.
Supporting Europe’s Energy Efficiency Transition
Buildings account for a significant share of Europe’s energy demand, making renovation a key priority for reducing emissions and dependence on fossil fuels.
Although digital scanning does not directly save energy, it can help overcome some of the information barriers that slow down energy efficiency investments.
Better building data can improve renovation preparation, reduce uncertainty and support the selection of suitable energy-saving measures. In turn, this can help cities and building owners move more confidently from renovation ambitions towards implementation.
scan2twin therefore demonstrates how digitalisation can act as an enabler of the clean energy transition, connecting technological innovation with the practical requirements of building decarbonisation.
EEIP’s Role in scan2twin
As a project partner, Energy Efficiency in Industrial Processes (EEIP) supports scan2twin’s communication, dissemination and stakeholder engagement activities.
EEIP will help connect the project’s developments with the wider European community of municipalities, building owners, technology providers and other stakeholders interested in digitalisation and energy efficiency.
Through targeted communication, knowledge sharing and stakeholder engagement, EEIP aims to make the project’s findings accessible to audiences beyond the consortium and support the wider understanding and future uptake of innovative building assessment solutions.
By participating in scan2twin, EEIP continues its work at the intersection of technological innovation and energy efficiency, helping translate research developments into knowledge that can support Europe’s transition towards more sustainable buildings.
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scan2twin is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe programme, grant agreement No. 101319247.
Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
