Burgas is home to around 1,500 residential buildings and 91,258 apartments, 80% of them built before 1990 and rated among the lowest energy classes. Renovation has picked up in recent years, but reaching the households who need it most, and doing so at the pace EU policy now demands, still depends on more than funding alone.

Developed as part of the ComActivate project, this Neighbourhood Energy Sufficiency Roadmap (NESR) sets out a locally tailored plan for the Vazrazhdane pilot area in Burgas. It combines a technical survey of the local building stock with an assessment of the social and economic factors that drive energy vulnerability, and translates both into a concrete vision: renovation targets and renewable energy goals for the neighbourhood through to 2050.

The roadmap looks at what it takes to move from ambition to action; sequencing renovation by building type, mapping the key actors who need to be involved, and outlining a realistic implementation timeline. It also examines the role of Burgas’s Resource Centre (i.e. one-stop shop) in guiding residents and home-owners’ associations through the process, from technical advice to help navigating financing schemes.

A central part of the roadmap is its approach to outreach and communication. It sets out a framework for reaching residents in ways that fit their language, circumstances and trust in public institutions, with particular attention to households facing energy poverty who are often the hardest to engage and the easiest to overlook.

Download the roadmap to explore the full technical findings, vision and recommendations for Burgas.