The building sector has a major impact not only on economic and social activities but also on the natural and built environment. The sector is responsible for about 30% of primary energy use in OECD countries. Sustainable building is an approach to building design. construction and management that reduces or eliminates the negative impact of buildings on the environment while promoting enhanced building performance and occupant health. This cluster will develop synergies between four Interreg IVb projects: Livinggreen. Regain. Cap’em. and SusStation to achieve: 1) Improved conditions for reduced energy consumption in buildings. and hence CO2 and other greenhouse gas emissions: accelerating knowledge development and dissemination regarding sustainability and climate neutrality across a wide range of building types including monuments. schools. offices. train stations. tram depots. training centres and business parks. 2) Enhanced outputs of the individual projects integrated. joint outputs for widespread implementation in NWE: generating synergies between the projects participants. augmenting knowledge exchange and dissemination by coordinating the projects together; providing technical input from each other’s projects when fitting. to broaden. deepen and accelerate the learning curves of participants. This will enhance the impact of standards. assessment tools and working methods developed by the individual projects and result in joint outputs for use in the building sector on practical level and on the level of decision makers. 3)Raised visibility of the different projects’ findings. By connecting the directly involved partners of the individual projects and involving them in the production of joint products enlarging the critical mass for external impact of the individual projects and the cluster as a whole. Raising awareness and convince the general public. stakeholders. policy makers. professionals and the future professionals. Expected Results: 1) Toolkit for sustainable buildings to develop transnational standards and methods for sustainable energy promotion and management in the built environment a. Standards relating to sustainable materials (low energy, low environmental and health impacts, renewable resources…) b. Standards on the installation and use of new techniques and technologies in buildings c. Standards on the performance of comparable types of buildings d. Special recommendations for new build and renovation projects e. Specialised recommendations on applying these methods to heritage buildings, industrial parks, office buildings, commercial buildings, train stations and tram depots 2) Informing Policy to identify specific aspects of the policy context that are critical to the mainstreaming of sustainable buildings and promote improvements to this context. a. A report on the policy context of sustainable building in NWE and the obstacle against its mainstreaming. b. A series of policy communication messages, aimed to influence specific aspects of the policies impacting sustainable building. c. A database of local, regional, national and European decision makers that can help make sustainable buildings “business as usual”. 3) Awareness Raising to maximise diffusion of the SICs findings, ensuring that key messages reach the target audiences across NWE a. Five Eco Conferences on mainstreaming sustainable building b. A mobile exhibition to be used at the SIC Eco Conferences, project partner closing events and a tour of demonstration sites c. A guide to sustainable building demonstration centres across North West Europe 4) Communication tools to enable knowledge sharing on enhancing the sustainability of building and to promote the SIC and its overall objective of mainstreaming sustainable buildings a. Logo, visual identity, banners c. Web site, press release format, newsletter (2x year), ,multimedia promotion (e.g. twitter, facebook)