Horizon Magazine: Buildings leap to the future with new logbooks
A new article takes a closer look at two Horizon Europe projects on digital building logbooks: openDBL and Demo-BLog.
The article explores how Digital Building Logbooks (DBLs) are reshaping the way buildings are managed, renovated, and monitored across Europe. It highlights efforts to transition from traditional paper records to dynamic digital models enriched with real-time data such as energy consumption, air quality, and maintenance history.
The openDBL project is piloting sensor-equipped 3D scans of buildings in Italy, Greece, and Spain. These “talking buildings” allow building managers to monitor conditions remotely and respond proactively.
Demo-BLog project, meanwhile, is enhancing existing DBLs in five countries (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the UK). Demo-BLog aims to expand the functionality of DBLs with features like automated renovation advice, material reuse standards, and community-based decarbonisation tools—supporting the EU’s goal of a climate-neutral building stock by 2050.
Together, these projects illustrate the growing role of digital infrastructure in achieving energy efficiency, improving transparency, and modernising Europe’s ageing building stock.