Buildings need to be made more energy efficient: this is instrumental in meeting the EU's climate goals.

This position paper refers to a workshop which took place during the Sustainable Places 2021 Conference, focusing on the outcome of six Horizon 2020 projects. It assesses the challenges and barriers (including circularity) in terms of developing, adopting and/or implementing Zero Energy Renovation Kits, which address the need for efficient, sustainable and customisable deep-renovation solutions.

32 technological, market, financial, legal, and institutional challenges and barriers were identified. The workshop also explored strategies that could overcome them.

The paper presents a coherent framework mapping strategies for tackling these challenges and barriers.