A focused consultation with key stakeholders
On 24 April 2026, OBSERVE held Take 1 of its first Technical Workshop, organised online via Microsoft Teams. The session was designed as a closed, invitation-only stakeholder consultation focused on the functionalities of national Building Stock Observatories, also known as nBSOs. A second session, Take 2, will take place on 28 April 2026.
The workshop brought together a targeted group of stakeholders whose input can directly support the design and operationalisation of nBSO functionalities across six focus Member States: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy and Spain. The audience included national building data holders, technical support organisations, expert bodies, selected EU-level actors and related initiatives connected to building-stock data ecosystems.
From data mapping to practical guidance
The OBSERVE project works to support a robust and usable nBSO concept that can be implemented in Member States and connected coherently with EU-level approaches, notably the EU Building Stock Observatory. The workshop built on OBSERVE activities mapping national building-stock data ecosystems and analysing data availability, accessibility and interoperability through structured questionnaires, scoring and analysis.
The session focused on turning these findings into actionable guidance by validating priorities for nBSO functionalities and testing key design assumptions with actors close to the data landscape and practical implementation constraints. Participants were not expected to prepare presentations. Their role was to provide practical, experience-based feedback on priorities, feasibility and usability.
Refining the emerging nBSO archetype
The first Technical Workshop focused on the emerging nBSO archetype and its core components: dataset and database scope, technical standardisation, roles and governance, and quality assurance workflows. The objective was not to present a finished model, but to assess whether the first design choices are clear, feasible and relevant.
The discussion was structured around three key questions: what data and datasets are realistically in scope and how they can be structured; what roles, governance arrangements and standardisation interfaces are needed for the system to function and remain maintainable; and how quality assurance, monitoring, update cycles and transparency can be implemented in a credible and resource-aware manner.
Feedback collected through the Technical Workshops will support the refinement of the emerging nBSO archetype and contribute to the next stages of WP3 work. A second Technical Workshop is planned later in the project, in April 2027, to further refine the archetype based on the first feedback loop, additional WP3 work and intermediate testing and validation activities.
