Certified sustainability for heritage buildings: development of the new rating system GBC Historic Building™

Abstract

The identification of historical value must be an integrated part of a sustainable building process aimed at the preservation and enhancement of its all previous expressions with the ultimate goal of identification, enhancement and transmission of the cultural heritage to the future generations. Green Building Council Italia is moving within this cultural context with the main goal, developed through an interdisciplinary working group, of the establishment of a voluntary certification protocol aimed at evaluating the sustainability level of restoration, refurbishment and partial integration in pre-industrial buildings. The paper presents the new rating system GBC Historic Building™ starting from the identification of the protocol’s field of application and moving to the new topic “Historic Value”, introduced with the goal of improving the building’s sustainability level without compromising its cultural value. The paper also shows the innovations added throughout the new protocol and the contribution of the first registered case study.