Exploring Lean Principles in Large-scale Renovation: a Review of Socio-economic Impacts

Large-scale renovations, as promoted by the European Union's Renovation Wave initiative, are essential for achieving energy efficiency and climate goals while delivering socio-economic benefits.Yet, such projects face considerable challenges, including high upfront costs, stakeholder fragmentation, and limited process scalability.This paper explores the socioeconomic implications of large-scale renovations, emphasizing opportunities to reduce inefficiencies and improve customer value.Based on a systematic literature review and lean construction principles, the study highlights how methods such as Value Stream Mapping, Target Value Design, and Location-Based Scheduling, supported by portfolio-level planning, multiskilled teams, and coordinated crew flow, can improve process reliability, reduce waste, and enable scalable renovation strategies.The findings offer actionable insights for policymakers and practitioners aiming to align environmental objectives with social and economic value creation.