## 1 Introduction
The platform aligns with international standards such as ISO 14040, ISO 14044, ISO 15686-5, and EN 15978 [22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28] and incorporates frameworks like the EU's Level(s) [29, 30, 31] for energy performance and global warming potential (GWP) indicators. These features make it particularly relevant for analyzing long-term building performance under varying conditions, including disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic [32, 33, 34, 35]. The case study presented in this paper is part of the AUORAL project ([[https://www.auroral.eu/](https://www.auroral.eu/)]([https://www.auroral.eu/](https://www.auroral.eu/)) (accessed on 1 August 2024), Grant Agreement No. 101016854), a European initiative running for 48 months, designed to advance smart communities by leveraging digital services and fostering interoperability. This program aims to enhance connectivity and establish a digital ecosystem comprising smart objects and interoperable service platforms, promoting innovation, applications, and services tailored to rural settings. By bridging the digital divide between rural and urban areas, AUORAL contributesto economic development, job creation, and addressing critical societal challenges in under-represented regions. However, the COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant challenges during the project's implementation, such as delays in pilot deployments, restricted field activities, and disruptions in stakeholder engagement across the seven European regions. These limitations impacted the project's ability to collect real-world data and validate cost-efficient cross-domain solutions under normal conditions, which may have influenced the project's impact, as evaluated through its stated key performance indicators (KPI) and target values. In the presence of major unforeseen disruptions, the evaluation of such activities' efficacy requires systematic frameworks that can combine both data- and model-driven approaches and scenario-based analytic capabilities to estimate the potential outcomes of investments in the energy upgrade of the European building stock even in the presence of limited field data. This study examines the renovation of a public kindergarten in Austria conducted during the AURORAL project utilizing the VERIFY platform. The analysis spans a hypothetical 25-year period and evaluates two distinct operational scenarios: a low-usage case, based on field data collected during 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic when building occupancy was significantly reduced, and a high-usage case that reflects stable conditions with full occupancy, using the economic conditions prevalent in 2024. By integrating LCA and LCC methodologies, this research aims to demonstrate the benefits of scenario-based analysis in situations with atypical social and economic conditions, which would otherwise prevent a reliable estimation of an energy upgrade investment's impact. It also highlights the need for such analyses to adapt to dynamic operational conditions and assess long-term energy and environmental performance. The findings offer insights into the impact of reduced building usage on energy performance and emissions, validate scenario-based approaches for evaluating sustainability, and provide recommendations for integrating renewable energy systems to ensure long-term cost-efficiency and environmental resilience in public buildings.