Bridging the gap between environmental sustainability and heritage preservation: towards a certified sustainable conservation, adaptation and retrofitting of historic buildings

Abstract

In front of the increasing importance of greenhouse gas emissions reduction required by European Directives and international agreements, historic buildings performance upgrade plays an important role in mitigating climate change. However, historic buildings are still excluded from deep renovation activities and a balance between historic values and environmental sustainability is yet to be found. If environmental certification represents a key strategy for promoting and improving energy efficiency, environmental quality, rational use of resources, and design innovation, the definition of methodologies and tools for orienting the conservation and adaptation process towards high performance levels can allow heritage buildings to play a relevant role in global reduction of energy use and CO2 emission, while maintaining their unique features. To this regard, the paper presents GBC Historic Building®, a new assessment method developed by the Green Building Council of Italy and derived from the widely adopted standard Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®). The new rating system evaluates the sustainability level of conservation-related activities on pre-industrial buildings subject to major renovation through a holistic and transparent approach.