Rome hosted the kick-off meeting of the IRH-MED Project (Innovative Responsible Housing in the Mediterranean area) which aims to promote sustainable residential housing capable of responding to the new environmental and energy challenges of the Mediterranean.

"Faced with climate change, resource scarcity, implications of 'unsustainable' and 'precarious' development, so far the Mediterranean countries have developed their own strategies, without promoting a common approach in residential building" stress the project's promoters in a note.

IRH-MED Project is therefore aimed to promote the implementation of harmonized common policies and strategies for innovative building in the Mediterranean region, as well as to contribute to the improvement of housing and the emergence of advanced models that can respond to the environmental challenges proposed nationally, while promoting a true Mediterranean identity.

The project, carried out within the framework of the Invest in MED scheme, intends to develop concrete actions that will help to consolidate a typical Mediterranean residential housing, encourage the use of environmentally responsible models, create new market opportunities for small and medium enterprises engaged in this business. In particular - the promoters stressed - the action of IRH MED aims to:

- Push the market towards a Mediterranean innovative residential housing, attentive to issues of energy efficiency in winter and summer, water saving and so on;

- Establish innovative eco-housing in the Mediterranean;

- Establish a network of operators, as well as of equipment and technology manufacturers to support the opening of eco-housing market;

- Collect the best practices nationally and at a European level;

- Establish guidelines to promote innovative housing practices in the Mediterranean of public and private operators and local legislative framework.

The project, whose kick-off meeting was held at the beginning of June in Rome, is coordinated by the Spanish Catalan center for internationalization of  (ACC1Ó), involving ten partners representing public institutions and bodies research from five countries: Croatia, France, Greece, Italy and Spain.