HIREF SPA

Their core work

HIREF SPA is an Italian industrial company specializing in shallow geothermal systems, particularly ground source heat exchangers and drilling equipment. They provide engineering expertise in heating and cooling solutions that use geothermal energy from shallow boreholes and building foundations. Their work spans the design and installation of coaxial heat exchangers, plug-and-play geothermal systems, and decision support tools for retrofitting both new and historical buildings with renewable heating and cooling.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

HIREF's early H2020 work (2015) centered on fundamental shallow geothermal installation — borehole drilling, coaxial heat exchangers, and plug-and-play systems for new construction (GEOTeCH, Cheap-GSHPs). By 2018, their focus shifted toward more complex applications: retrofitting historical and existing buildings with geothermal systems, along with decision support tools for site-specific assessment (GEO4CIVHIC). This evolution shows a company moving from general geothermal equipment supply toward specialized, high-value retrofit solutions where technical constraints are much tighter.

HIREF is moving toward the harder problem of adapting geothermal technology for existing and heritage buildings — a growing market as EU renovation mandates accelerate.

How they like to work

HIREF operates as a specialist contributor rather than a project leader — they have never coordinated an H2020 project and participated twice as a third party linked to lead partners. Their involvement in 36 unique partners across 12 countries suggests they plug into large Innovation Action consortia where their drilling and heat exchanger expertise fills a specific industrial gap. For potential collaborators, this means HIREF is a reliable technology provider comfortable operating within large teams without needing to drive project management.

Despite limited direct project roles, HIREF connects to a network of 36 partners across 12 countries through large IA consortia, indicating broad European exposure within the shallow geothermal research community.

What sets them apart

HIREF brings industrial-grade geothermal drilling and heat exchanger manufacturing capability to research consortia — they are not a research lab but a company that builds and installs the actual equipment. Their pivot toward historical building retrofits is particularly distinctive, as very few industrial partners can address the technical constraints of installing geothermal systems in protected heritage structures. For consortium builders, they fill the critical gap between laboratory research and real-world deployment of shallow geothermal technology.

Highlights from their portfolio

• GEOTeCH
  Their main funded project (EUR 296,012), focused on making geothermal heating/cooling economically viable through improved drilling and installation methods.
• GEO4CIVHIC
  Most recent and longest-running project (2018-2023), tackling the technically demanding challenge of geothermal retrofits for historical buildings.