Residential buildings are the large majority of EU stock

The residential stock is the biggest segment with an EU floor space of 75% of the building stock. In the residential sector, different types of single family houses (e.g. detached, semi-detached and terraced houses) and apartment blocks can be found. Apartment blocks may accommodate several households typically ranging from 2-15 units or in some cases holding more than 20-30 units (e.g. social housing units or high rise residential buildings). An analysis of this data indicates that, across the focus countries in this study, 64% of the residential building floor area is associated with single family houses and 36% with apartments.

Non-residential buildings account for 25% of the total stock in Europe and comprise a more complex and heterogeneous sector compared to the residential sector. The retail and wholesale buildings comprise the largest portion of the non-residential stock while office buildings are the second biggest category with a floor space corresponding to one quarter of the total non-residential floor space. Variations in usage pattern (e.g. warehouse versus schools), energy intensity (e.g. surgery rooms in hospitals versus to storage rooms in retail), and construction techniques (e.g. supermarket versus office buildings) are some of the factors adding to the complexity of the sector.