Sustainable interventions in historic buildings: A developing decision making tool

Abstract

Integrating multi-criteria approaches for reducing greenhouse gas emissions while, at the same time, ensuring long-term maintenance of existing buildings, is a challenge that needs to be faced by both the present and future generations. The core objective of this paper is to integrate a life cycle approach within the framework of building conservation principles to help decision makers dealing with "green" maintenance and adaptation interventions of historic buildings. The proposed approach identifies conservation principles to respect, it considers low, medium, high levels of intervention, and it analyses the impact of interventions in term of emissions and energy consumptions that should be compensatedwhile the historic building is in use -with on-site renewables. The method, in the whole, allows the comparison of different intervention scenarios and the selection of the most sustainable one over a long-term management perspective of the historic building. The benefits are twofold: under the conservative perspective, for helping in choosing the right time of interventions, in reducing the decay rate, in using materials that endure longer and are compatible with existing fabrics; under the environmental perspective, for helping in reducing the carbon footprint, in supporting conservation needs through a minimal intervention approach, and in encouraging materials reuse and renewable energy systems.

Design of the Refurbishment of Historic Buildings with a Cost-Optimal Methodology: A Case Study

“…The results of this work show that historic buildings are equally affordable when compared to conventional buildings in need of energy rehabilitation, although its heritage aspects must be taken into account. Bertolin et al [50] present a decision-making methodology to prepare action projects on historic buildings, and conclude with the need to address the thermal insulation of the envelope. The thermal envelope has been a protective mechanism against the climatic and anthropogenic influence in buildings with a specific use, acting as a key element for any rehabilitation intervention.…”

Mitigating Climate Change in the Cultural Built Heritage Sector

“…In fact, the LCA methodology can be used to select solutions or materials using less energy and thus emitting less CO 2 , however, the application of the LCA methodology is still in its infancy in the cultural heritage sector [35,36]. As a result of this gap in knowledge, Bertolin and Loli [37] developed a decision-support tool integrating a LCA approach within the framework of building conservation principles, nonetheless, they highlighted the need for further work in this direction given the complexity of this issue.…”

“…The latter is consistent with Webb [43] who mentioned the lack of consideration of the embodied energy of historical buildings during retrofitting. Hence, further work is required on the evaluation of the sustainability of the materials and methods used during refurbishment in the built heritage sector, as the LCA approach has been applied mostly on new construction rather than on historical buildings [48], a gap in knowledge which Bertolin and Loli [37] also had previously highlighted. In addition, when applying the LCA approach to the heritage sector, the historical and cultural values need to be considered and added as a parameter in the evaluation of the solutions to be adopted.…”

“…In addition, when applying the LCA approach to the heritage sector, the historical and cultural values need to be considered and added as a parameter in the evaluation of the solutions to be adopted. These values are often neglected and priority is often given to new technologies and to materials targeted at energy reduction [37], without considering the sustainability of the cultural built heritage sector in a holistic way as mentioned by an interview in the following quote: "We need to evaluate (...) sustainability through 360 degrees." (Table 1).…”

Análise dos projetos e das obras no Palácio Foz, em Lisboa, entre 1887 e 1904: contributo para a sua reconstituição arquitetónica e construtiva

“…A caracterização arquitetónica e construtiva de um edifício é importante, no sentido em que pode auxiliar algumas tomadas de decisão nas diversas vertentes de intervenção, designadamente no património edificado com valor histórico, cultural e social (BERKOWSKI, KOSIOR-KAZBERUK, 2016;BERTOLIN, LOLI, 2018). Nesta perspetiva, crê-se que o estudo da evolução construtiva do edifício em análise possa contribuir para a sua melhor compreensão, e, em simultâneo, agregar informação para futuras ações de intervenção.…”