Making every house in Flanders energy efficient by 2050 is no small task. But that’s exactly what the Flemish government has set out to do with their recent renovation pact. This goal, alongside their aspiration for a more innovative and digitalised service offering, led to the conception of Woningpas.

The first step in building this tool was to assemble all relevant stakeholders, including Wonen-Vlaanderen, Vlaams Energieagenschap, Openbare Vlaamse Afvalstoffenmaatschappij and Departement Omgeving, and several private entities. We carried out multiple co-creation workshops with all parties aimed at getting everyone properly informed and aligned toward a common goal.

Next, we needed to gather and analyse all national housing data, which was scattered across a multitude of various public and private domains, in different formats and levels of detail.

Processing and re-organising all the necessary information into a consistent, user-friendly output was a significant task. Service design helped us keep all stakeholders well informed and iterative user-testing ensured our end product was human-centric, built to be easily understood and inherently helpful. We involved a large and diverse user base in the process.

While co-creating and designing Woningpas, we also got the opportunity to revise the official EPC document that informs citizens on the energy efficiency of their home.

Together with the VEA (Vlaams Energieagentschap), we analysed the information and co-created a new design that helps people understand what the EPC rating is all about. As always, we tested our designs with users and iterated to get the best result.

Our work with the Flemish government on centralising housing information won both the Agoria e-Gov award for usability and the Henry van de Velde award for digital products. We continue to expand on the platform to improve functionality and user-experience.