KITE Engineering participated in a competitive bidding process issued by the Municipality of Bologna, which involved several municipal lots. The project team achieved an outstanding second place out of a total of 62 participants!

The tender is part of the “Piano per l’Abitare” (Housing Plan) approved by the City Council in 2023, in line with the strategy “Three Major Hubs for a New Concept of Living.”

The objective of the tender was to design a sustainable and resilient social housing complex in the Bertalia-Lazzaretto urban area, aimed at meeting the demand for rental housing for middle-income residents.

KITE Engineering’s systems design focused primarily on efficiency and energy savings. To achieve this, the project incorporated the following elements:

• Water-to-water heat pumps (geothermal or groundwater) that are up to 30% more efficient than air-to-water systems;
• Ground-to-air heat exchanger, increasing ventilation system efficiency by 20% in winter and 25% in summer;
• Heat recovery from sanitary wastewater, enabling up to 30% energy savings for domestic hot water production;
• Rainwater harvesting system;
• Photovoltaic system.

All building systems are monitored and controlled via a BMS (Building Management System), allowing optimized and programmable management. Additionally, a green roof has been included to reduce local microclimate disturbance and enhance energy performance.