Frequently Asked Questions on Enerterre’s participative building parties

In our sense we mean “building with local and natural materials (to the extent of possibilities), implementing traditional techniques, with respect to ancient (renovation of old buildings).

We mean “the populations living in a modest or very modest financial situation, following the criteria established by national authorities (in France the criteria of ANAH are based on fiscal revenues and the number of people living on this mentioned revenues).

A difficulty is to locate the beneficiaries. Enerterre has tested several methods. After experimentation, they feel like the best way is « to spread the word » (mouth to hear / viral message).

The heart of Enerterre target are people in social needs, who are geographically isolated (remote rural areas), and socialy isolated. A secondary target are the « autobuilders ». We have to bear in mind that the mixity of people and beneficiaries is a key for Enerterre. It eventually prevents from having the etiquette « works for poor people », that would be devalorising.

The difficulty to engage beneficiaries in precarious conditions of habitat relies on the fact that it is hard to say « I need help », or « come to my place and I will tell you how bad it is ». One solution that Enerterre used was to make them come on other collaborative building sites, so that they feel useful and can imagine doing one at their house.

Energy is a key driver and indicator, however the objective of energy performance is not compulsory and central in the framework of Enerterre. If a local stakeholder feels it is important, it can become central in its adaptation of Enerterre in his country. Note that Enerterre ambition would rather be « to avoid bad housing » than « to get a very performant house ». However most often, improvements of energy use and comfort are made. In every case, we need a global approach, an overall plan to improve the house and the living conditions inside it.

The possibilities of inclusion of migrants aren’t so obvious in every country. This aspect is not central for the adaptations of Enerterre, we can consider it as optional. In particular, it seems that they could not be interested because they are only passing through the country. In France Enerterre involved migrants who were very happy to help, eventhough they didn’t want to stay. To avoid confusion and ensure a better local anchorage, local stakeholders can clarify that their main target is « people in social difficulties ».