Applying International Guidelines on Historic Building’s Retrofit in New Zealand: A Critical Context View

Abstract

Interest in the energy retrofit of historic buildings reflects the current drive to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. New Zealand (NZ), unlike Europe and USA, has no country-specific guidelines considering heritage conservation, energy efficiency, reduced carbon emissions and cost. The paper explores benefits to NZ from a policy and practice perspective from such procedures. The adoption of tailored retrofit guidelines would contribute to the national goal of reduced GHG emissions by 2050. The case study investigates the relevance and challenges of assessments such as heritage impact, life-cycle carbon assessment and life-cycle costing for historic building renovations. Through interviews with a range of experts, the results for hypothetical retrofits of a heritage building are evaluated. The interviews reveal how possible trade-offs among different assessment criteria (e.g., energy, cost, carbon footprint and heritage impact) are considered by different specialist groups, as well as exploring the benefits and barriers, and providing recommendations for future renovation guidance. The main findings highlight the importance of a life-cycle perspective and of conservation plans for heritage assessment. The experts all agreed that from a conservation perspective, there was no one energy retrofit solution that fits all building types and cases.