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The renovation would present a great opportunity to boost the economy and create new jobs, agreed participants of a panel bringing together representatives of construction organisations and the state's Eco Fund last week.

To insulate their buildings, owners can draw between EUR 12 and EUR 15 per square metre of facade from the Eco Fund, and even up to 100% in some cases, Vesna Černilogar of the Slovenian Environmental Public Fund (Eco Fund) told the panel.

Meanwhile, Darko Bevk of the association of facade and thermal isolation manufacturers said that at least 7% of buildings should be renovated on a yearly basis in order to meet the goals set for 2020. At the moment, however, less than 2% are being renovated annually.

Moreover, by pushing the building renovation, 3,600 new jobs would be created. The number would even double factoring in all the related services, Bevk said.

The participants also pointed to the problem of unsuitable building managers. "Utilities that do not have people capable of advising tenants in apartment buildings are problem number one. Primarily, the system of building management should be put in order," Luka Petkovšek of Eco Fund added.

His opinion was echoed by Dejan Papež of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS), who blames the situation on poor requirements for the post of building manager. "Every painter can be a building manager even if he has no clue how to run things."

Saša Galonja of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Spatial Planning admitted that although there were several institutions dealing with energy renovation, no strategy for building renovation has been developed yet.