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Energy and Buildings xxx (2014) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy and Buildings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enbuild

Energy retrofit of historic and existing buildings. The legislative and

regulatory point of view
Livio Mazzarella ∗
Politecnico di Milano, Dipartimento di Energia, Via Lambruschini 4, 20156 Milano, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The building sector is one of the key consumers of energy in Europe; consequently, European Union
Available online xxx has enacted several directives dealing, directly and indirectly, with energy efficiency in building aiming
to reduce the buildings energy use. Those directives, while dealing with existing buildings, do not take
Keywords: care of the Architectural Heritage in a specific uniform way adopting the derogation regime: exceptions
Energy are available at the national level to exclude from their application buildings listed in the Architectural
Retrofit
Heritage as historic buildings. Thus any country can adopt its own rules to include or exclude buildings
Historic building
from respecting the energy efficiency requirements for existing buildings. Consequently, up to now no
general rules, codes and standards are available for energy retrofit of historical and architectural valuable
buildings. On the other side, no international act, in the field Architectural Heritage conservation, deals
with energy and energy retrofit. Furthermore, the European Union Treaty does not comprise the Cultural
Heritage as matter of European legislation. Thus to cover this gap between historic/historical building
and energy retrofit a lobbying action is needed, managed by the national Cultural Heritage authori-
ties, which can steers EU policy in a more effective way towards energy retrofit of historic/historical
buildings.
© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.

1. Introduction (i.e. new constructions), the second is giving more importance to

the existing buildings not only when subject to major renovation
The building sector is one of the key consumers of energy in but also when building technical elements and/or technical systems
Europe where energy use in buildings has seen overall a rising trend are retrofitted or replaced.
over the past 20 years. It is estimated that there are 25 billion m2 of This major attention to the existing buildings relates to the low
useful floor space in the EU27, Switzerland and Norway with a gross annual growth rates of new constructions, which in the residential
floor space equivalent land area to that of Belgium (30,528 km2 ). sector are around 1% while most countries encountered a decrease
Non-residential buildings account only for 25% of the total stock in in the rate of new build in the recent years, reflecting the impact of
Europe, but comprise a more complex and heterogeneous sector the current financial crisis on the construction sector [1]. Nowadays
compared to the residential sector. it is very evident that, to reduce fossil fuels consumption and CO2
In 2009, European households were responsible for 68% of the production in the building sector, the challenge is to reduce existing
total final energy use in buildings. Energy in households is mainly buildings energy needs.
consumed by heating, cooling, hot water, cooking and appliances In fact, a substantial share of the stock in Europe is older than
where the dominant energy end-use (responsible for around 70%) 50 years with many buildings in use today that are hundreds of
in homes is space heating [1]. years old. More than 40% of our residential buildings have been con-
Several actions have been taken by the European Commission structed before the 1960s when energy building regulations were
to reduce this energy consumption through two Energy Perfor- very limited. A large boom in construction in 1961–1990 is also
mance Building Directives: Directive 2002/91/EC [2] and Directive evident through our analysis where the housing stock, with a few
2010/31/EU [3], shortly EPBD and EPBD recasting. While the first exceptions, more than doubles in this period [1] (Figs. 1 and 2).
directive was more focused on methodologies and new buildings Data on typical heating consumption levels of the existing stock
by age shows that the largest energy saving potential is associated
with the older building stock where in some cases buildings from
∗ Tel.: +39 02 2399 3869; fax: +39 02 2399 3868. the 1960s are worse than buildings from earlier decades. The lack
E-mail address: [email protected] of sufficient insulation of the building envelope in older buildings

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0378-7788/© 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.

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Fig. 1. Age categorisation of housing stock in Europe.

Adapted from [1].

While in Appendix A definitions are reported to clarify the

meaning of such last terms, the question of what a historic building
is will be addressed in the following.

2. Historic buildings versus historical and contemporary

existing buildings

“Historic” is an adjective that means something important or

influential in history, while “Historical”, on the other hand, it is an
adjective that refers to anything from the past. Thus, a historical
building is one that is related to history but may be not important
at all from the History’s point of view, whereas a historic building
is important by definition.
The simplest definition of a historic building is that related to
three essential attributes [5]: to be considered “historic,” a property
must have sufficient age, a relatively high degree of physical integrity,
Fig. 2. Average heating consumption levels in terms of final energy use of single and historical significance.
family homes by construction year in Italy.
Adapted from [1]. 2.1. Age

A property must be “old enough” to be considered historic. Gen-

erally speaking, this means that a property must be at least 50 years
was also reflected through the historic U-value data, which comes old, although this is just a general rule of thumb. Another way of
with no surprise, as insulation standards in those construction years looking at it is that a property must be old enough to have been
were limited [1]. studied by historians, architectural historians, or archaeologists so
The average specific energy consumption in the non-residential that its place in history is clear. This latter perspective allows some
sector is 280 kWh/m2 (covering all end-uses), which is at least types of properties that are less than 50 years old to be considered
40% greater than the equivalent value for the residential sector. “historic.”
In the nonresidential sector, electricity use over the last 20 years
has increased by a remarkable 74% [1]. 2.2. Integrity
After the EPBD and the EPBD recasting entered into force, mem-
ber states have shown an increased interest in interventions aimed In addition to having sufficient age, a property must retain
to obtain energy saving in existing buildings. This resulted in an its historic physical integrity. For a building, structure, landscape
explicit article on building renovation in the Energy Efficiency feature, historic site, or historic district, this means that the prop-
Directive 2012/27/EU [4]. erty must be relatively unchanged. Its essential character-defining
All these considerations drive to the conclusion that energy features relative to its significance must still be present. For an
retrofit of existing buildings is a very important challenge in reduc- archaeological site, integrity means that the site must be relatively
ing energy consumption, but such opportunity has to be managed undisturbed, with its patterns and layers of artefacts and other
carefully. The wide variety of existing building, age by age, does archaeological evidence relatively intact. For a traditional cultural
not allow having a unique approach to the problem as it is possible property, integrity means that the site must be recognizable to
for new constructions. This is mainly the case of historic buildings, today’s affiliated cultural group, evidenced through tradition, and
which, while belonging to the existing building category, have to still used or revered in some way.
be treated in a very specific way, usually case by case. For instance,
an open question is the definition of “historic building” itself and 2.3. Significance
the reasons for which it has to be treated differently or not from
an “ordinary” existing or “historical” building. Another important Finally, and most importantly, a property must be significant
point is that there is variety of terms used in the building sector to be considered historic. Significance is defined in three ways:
which may overlap; thus it is important to clarify what exactly is a (1) through direct association with individuals, events, activities,
retrofit, and how it differs from a renovation or a refurbishment. or developments that shaped our history or that reflect important

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aspects of our history; (2) by embodying the distinctive phys- of the Council of Europe took the initiative in promoting European
ical and spatial characteristics of an architectural style or type intergovernmental co-operation for the safeguarding and devel-
of building, structure, landscape, or planned environment, or a opment of the Cultural Heritage of monuments and sites. Soon
method of construction, or by embodying high artistic values or fine after the first European Conference of Ministers responsible for
craftsmanship; or (3) by having the potential to yield information this sector held in Brussels between 25 and 27 November 1969 [8],
important to our understanding of the past through archaeological, the Assembly adopted Recommendation 589 in 1970 drawing the
architectural, or other physical investigation and analysis. attention of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to
But, this is a starting point and not a final solution. Up to now the desirability of setting up a standing committee on co-operation,
there is no a specific common “scientific” way to “objectively” preparing a European charter setting forth the “general principles
define a grade for such necessary attributes but not sufficient at of the preservation and rehabilitation” of the heritage and then, in
all. There is today a great effort to try of unifying such decisional the light of the charter, preparing a European convention.
process, but, at the end, it is based on discretionary measures. The follow up of this Recommendation was the European Char-
Here a distinction had been introduced between historic and ter of the Architectural Heritage, which was solemnly proclaimed at
historical buildings. The reason for that is a simple one: generally the Congress on the European Architectural Heritage held in Ams-
special national and/or local laws protect historic buildings and any terdam from 21 to 25 October 1975 [9]. This Charter, together the
rehabilitation (no renovation at all) cannot be carried out without Conference Declaration, states the principle of the integrated con-
special permission from the local planning authority, which typ- servation: “integrate conservation in town planning, preserve groups
ically consults the relevant central government Cultural Heritage of historic buildings and their environment and take the heritage into
agency. They are officially part of the Architectural Heritage. Thus, account as a part of economic and social life”.
also any energy retrofit has to be analyzed and authorized by such The national commitment to the protection of the Architectural
authority. In UK this type of buildings are also called “listed build- Heritage were finally stated by the Convention for the Protection of
ing”, because are just reported in a special list, as in other Countries the Architectural Heritage of Europe [10], drawn up by the Coun-
like Italy. cil of Europe, signed at Granada in 1985, and today ratified by 41
Historical building, on the other hand, may be potentially his- European Countries. Commonly known as the Granada Convention,
toric building but they do not have such status jet and thus do it is a means of proclaiming conservation principles, including a
not have any protection by default. Usually a national dependent definition of what is meant by Architectural Heritage such as mon-
procedure has to be followed to possibly get the status of historic uments, groups of buildings and sites. It seeks to define a European
building. standard of protection for Architectural Heritage and to create legal
Finally the existing buildings, which the Energy Efficiency Direc- obligations that the signatories undertake to implement. Two are
tive [4] is referring to, are not just old buildings, which can undergo the most important points stated in this Convection: protection
to the renovation process to improve their quality and fix the new at transnational level, as part of a unique European heritage, and
standards (contemporary existing buildings), but they comprise extension of the protection also to “not yet” protected buildings.
also of the historic and historical buildings, for which renovation At Helsinki conference in 1996 [11] a resolution was made
(as defined in Appendix A) is not allowed or not desirable. to establish a European methodology for heritage management
This is making the energy retrofit of existing building a not in a framework of sustainable development, which had to be
straightforward process. In fact, within an energy retrofit in Archi- based on public-private practices aimed not only at architectonic
tectural Heritage is necessary to undertake completely different preservation, but at a whole “building stock life cycles to assess the
operations in some aspects from the same interventions carried out environmental impact of rehabilitation of old buildings compared to
in contemporary existing buildings. However, the current interven- buildings constructed according to modern production methods”. This
tions often include criteria that is inapplicable on historic buildings, approach, during the Hanover conference [12], was introduced in a
even when being fully compliant to the energy saving aims. This is more complex urban ecosystem management based on optimizing
because the regulations concerning preservation of Architectural water, energy and waste.
Heritage and rational use of energy are not linked to each other, and These conferences held from 1969 through to 2001, raised
because within European standards a protocol for energy retrofit awareness in considering a sustainable perspective for heritage
and the definition of its feasibility within historical and heritage buildings; but the above described developed insights, were not
buildings is still missing [6]. effectively translated within the first EPBD [2,6]. The technical
problems related to the energy retrofitting feasibility within a his-
toric context were almost neglected or generally derogated (see
3. Regulations concerning preservation of Architectural next paragraph). In 2005, during the Faro convention solutions to
Heritage and rational use of energy overcome this detachment were proposed [13], (art. 9, letter c,
“ensure that all general technical regulations take account of the spe-
3.1. Architectural Heritage regulation cific conservation requirements of cultural heritage”) and once again
in 2010 when the first EPBD recast [3], was published, the initial
At the world wide level, the only regulation dealing with Archi- weak points regarding the matter had still not been updated.
tectural Heritage is the UNESCO’s Convention Concerning the After eleven years from the first European directive on energy
Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage [7], which and after seventeen years from the pioneering conference in
was drawn up in 1972 and ratified by 190 states in September 19th Helsinki, technical standards or specifications to clarify the heritage
2012. This convention notes that the cultural and natural heritage buildings’ position on their potential sustainable development have
is increasingly threatened with destruction. Each state party to not yet been published by European Commission [6].
the convention recognizes that the duty of ensuring identification,
protection, conservation, presentation and transmission to future 3.1.1. The Italian example
generations of this heritage belongs primarily to that state. In Italy, a number of acts, plans, national and local guidelines
At the European level from 1969 until 2001 several conferences have been produced on Cultural Heritage Conservation, dealing
of ministers for heritage preservation and management were held specifically with Architectural Heritage Conservation. In Italy, the
with the aim of rethinking the European heritage in a sustainable growing debate on the principles and procedures of restoration has
perspective [6]. Before these, in 1963 the Parliamentary Assembly led to the adoption in 1939 of the two fundamental protection laws:

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Law 1089 for objects of artistic and historical interest and Act 1497 actuation rules are reported in technical municipality regulations,
“Protection of natural beauty” revised and updated in legislative like “Regolamento Urbanistico Edilizio” (RUE), specifying what kind
Decree 490/1999 the “Consolidated laws in the field of cultural and of intervention can be made (rehabilitation, refurbishment, etc.) on
environmental heritage”. Within this norm is defined as restoration any listed building category.
of a work action “in order to maintain the integrity of the material
and to ensure the preservation and protection of its cultural val- 3.2. Energy efficiency regulations
ues”. The Framework Law on Cultural Heritage currently in force
is the Legislative Decree 42/2004 “Code of Cultural Heritage and At the European Union level two main directives, the Energy
Landscape” [14]. This code defines what Cultural Heritage, cultural Performance Building Directives, Directive 2002/91/EC [2] and
and landscape assets mean. “Cultural heritage are the immovable Directive 2010/31/EU [3], had and have a key part of the EU legis-
and movable objects that, in accordance with Articles 10 and 11 are lation aiming to reduce energy consumption, which reaches about
artistic, historical, archaeological, ethno-anthropological, archival and 40% in buildings. Since the first EPBD directive “major renovations
bibliographic, and other objects identified by law or under the law as of existing buildings above a certain size” has been regarded “as an
evidence of value to civilization”. “Landscape assets are properties and opportunity to take cost effective measures to enhance energy perfor-
areas referred to in Article 134, constituting an expression of the histor- mance”, not only for the whole building but also for “those parts that
ical, cultural, natural, morphological and aesthetic values of the land, are most relevant for the energy performance of the building and are
and other assets identified by law or under the law”. Architectural cost-effective”. It was also underlined that “renovation requirements
and Building Heritage are protected by this Law or as a part of the for existing buildings should not be incompatible with the intended
Cultural Heritage or as landscape assets. function, quality or character of the building”. Only the first statement
Under the Cultural Heritage umbrella, by art.10 paragraph 1 was reflected in an article, art. 6 Existing Buildings. The second was
of the code [14] buildings owned by state, regions, other local only, indirectly and weakly, taken into consideration in art. 4 stat-
governments, as well as any other public body and institution ing that “Member States may decide not to set or apply the” energy
and non-profit private legal entities, presenting artistic, historical, “requirements” “for the following categories of buildings”:
archaeological or ethno-anthropological values, are cultural assets
by default and subjected to “monumental” constrain, i.e. they are - buildings and monuments officially protected as part of a des-
“historic” buildings “ope legis”, if they were just more than 50 years ignated environment or because of their special architectural or
old (paragraph 5), recently raised up to 70 years by Law 106/2001. historic merit, where compliance with the requirements would
For similar buildings owned by different legal entities, i.e. histori- unacceptably alter their character or appearance,
cal building, (paragraph 3), they may become “historic” only after - buildings used as places of worship and for religious activities,
the “Declaration of Cultural Interest”, which is a procedure able to etc.
recognize, from the point of view of legislation, the cultural and
historic value of a given property; and therefore they are subject to With the second EPBD directive, the recast, a bit more focus
appropriate protection requirements. Vice versa, a by default his- was made on the existing building just specifying that “for reasons
toric building may be declassed just to old existing building though of cost-effectiveness, it should be possible to limit the minimum
an inverse procedure, “Verification of cultural interest”, which pro- energy performance requirements to the renovated parts that are
vides for a specific assessment of its historical and artistic interest. most relevant for the energy performance of the building.” This
If this valuation is positive, the building remains forever under the statement resulted in a modified art. 7 – Existing building, which
discipline of protection, if negative, it is not anymore under those specifies that the energy performance requirements, specific for
rules, i.e. the building is just old and it is no protected anymore. Both existing buildings, “shall be applied to the renovated building or
this procedures as any other permission on protected buildings building unit as a whole. Additionally or alternatively, requirements
are under the responsibility of a governmental specific authority, may be applied to the renovated building elements”. When a build-
named “Soprintendenza” (Superintendence). For those buildings, ing element “is retrofitted or replaced, the energy performance of
any retrofit activity is subject to the issuance of clearance by the the building element” have to meet the “minimum energy per-
Superintendence for Architectural Heritage. formance requirements (for that element, Ed.) in so far as this is
Under the Landscape umbrella, by art. 136 paragraph 1 let- technically, functionally and economically feasible”. That means
ters b) and c), buildings, town centres and historical complexes that only technical, functional and economic reasons can avoid ful-
having aesthetic and traditional value can be declared Landscape filling the energy performance requirements, not reasons related to
Assets and therefore they are subject to appropriate protection historical, cultural or landscape heritage. The last, important, addi-
requirements. In this case the assessment procedure to get the “dec- tion on this article is that “Member States shall encourage, in relation
laration of significant public interest” is quite complex. Because of to buildings undergoing major renovation, the consideration and tak-
an overlap with the conservation of historic buildings as part of ing into account of high-efficiency alternative systems, as referred to in
the urban planning legislation, the implementation of landscape Article 6, in so far as this is technically, functionally and economically
protection is a coordinated action between Regional Governments feasible”.
and the Regional Offices of the Superintendence for Architectural Regarding the exempted building categories, Article 4 was only
and Landscape Heritage. By requirement of art 143, each Region revised respect to the wording, and it has been rewrote as:
has provided a Regional Landscape Plan (PPTR), which is a terri-
torial development plans with specific consideration of landscape - buildings officially protected as part of a designated environment
and environmental values, imposing constraints and requirements or because of their special architectural or historical merit, in
directly effective against individuals and municipalities. The R.L.P., so far as compliance with certain minimum energy performance
together with the Provincial Coordination Landscape Plan (PTCP) requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appear-
(province is a land partition of a region, like a county), define ance, etc.
strategies for territorial development and identify possible courses
of action that provide the basis for municipal planning. There- Then important references are made to existing building when
fore, the municipal urban planning act, named “Piano Regolatore dealing with nearly zero energy buildings (art. 9, point 5): the
Generale” (PRG), together with the PTCP, are acts inside which Commission shall propose measures to “encourage best practices
the protected buildings are or have to be listed. Then specific as regards the cost-effective transformation of existing buildings into

Please cite this article in press as: L. Mazzarella, Energy retrofit of historic and existing buildings. The legislative and regulatory point
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nearly zero-energy buildings”; and with the introduction of the com- EPBD requirements for existing building and no grading on their
pletely new art. 8 – Technical building system. application is provided in the Law up to now.
This new article states that “Member States shall, for the pur- Thus in the Italian law a derogation regime has been imple-
pose of optimizing the energy use of technical building systems, mented for historic (i.e. protected) buildings as foreseen in the
set system requirements in respect of the overall energy perfor- EPBD directive, which is based on the judgement of the compe-
mance, the proper installation, and the appropriate dimensioning, tent authority. However, the Law does not specify how to comply
adjustment and control of the technical building systems which are with the EPBD requirements if the historic (i.e. protected) build-
installed in existing buildings.” “System requirements shall be set ing may partially undergo to renovation or only rehabilitation or
for new, replacement and upgrading of technical building systems restoration.
and shall be applied in so far as they are technically, economically No mention at all to those building which are comprise in
and functionally feasible.” In addition, intelligent energy metering the category of historical buildings (i.e. potentially declarable pro-
and automatic control systems shall be encouraged to be used. tected), which are equated to the contemporary existing buildings.
Another directive, Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy Efficiency In Italy the EPBD requirements for existing building, which
[4], in its art. 4, is specifically addressing the building renovation undergo to renovation, are today the following.
stating with art. 4 that “Member States shall establish a long-term In the case of existing buildings renovation, and as far as the
strategy for mobilizing investment in the renovation of the national minimum required energy performance, a gradual application is
stock of residential and commercial buildings, both public and private”. expected in relation to the type of intervention:
This because the rate of building renovation needs to be increased,
as the existing building stock represents the single biggest potential
a. full application to the entire building in the case of:
sector for energy savings.
i. complete refurbishment of the building elements forming the
Furthermore, because buildings owned by public bodies account
envelope of existing buildings with an useful floor area of more
for a considerable share of the building stock and have high visi-
than 1000 m2 ;
bility in public life, it was therefore considered appropriate to set
ii. demolition and reconstruction (redevelopment) of existing
an annual rate of renovation of buildings owned and occupied by
buildings with an useful floor area of more than 1000 m2 ;
central government on the territory of a Member State to upgrade
b. a full application, but limited to the building enlargement when
their energy performance. This renovation rate has been then set
this enlargement is volumetrically more than 20 per cent of the
to 3% the total floor area of heated and/or cooled buildings owned
existing building;
and occupied by its central government each year (article 5). The
c. a limited application in respect of specific parameters, perfor-
main point is that this renovation has to comply with the mini-
mance levels and requirements, in the case of interventions on
mum energy performance requirements established by application
existing buildings, such as:
of Article 4 of Directive 2010/31/EU [3].
i. total or partial renovation, extraordinary maintenance and vol-
To avoid trouble with historic building, in point 2 of art. 5 it is
umetric enlargement of the building other than those already
again stated that “Member States may decide not to set or apply the
provided in letters (a) and (b);
requirements referred to in paragraph 1 (3% renovation rate, Ed.)
ii. installation of new heating systems in existing buildings, reno-
to the following categories of buildings:”
vation of these facilities;
iii. replacement of heat generators.
- buildings officially protected as part of a designated environment
or because of their special architectural or historical merit, in
so far as compliance with certain minimum energy performance In Table 1, the required limiting values of envelope parameters
requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appear- for existing building under case c) are reported as function of the
ance, etc. climatic zone (Italy has been divided in several different climatic
areas), while the requirement for the installation of new heating
Then, as it was anticipated, the technical problems related to the systems or its renovation is defined through a minimum yearly
energy retrofitting feasibility within a historic context were almost average value of the overall system efficiency as:
neglected or generally derogated. No any mention how to improve
energy efficiency in historic building while preserving their “func- sys,ave ≥ (75 + 3 · log10 Pn )%
tion, quality or character”.
where Pn is the useful thermal power of the heat generator(s) in
kW. No limits have been set up until now for cooling.
3.2.1. The Italian example
In Italy the Legislative Decree of 19 August 2005, no. 192 [15],
implementation of Directive 2002/91/EC on the energy perfor-
mance of buildings, as amended by Law 90/2013 [16], due to the Decree:
implementation of Directive 2010/31/EU, provides in the same way (a) buildings that fall under the regulations of Part II and Article 136, paragraph 1,
a derogation regime for the Cultural Heritage. letters (b) and (c) of Legislative Decree 22 January 2004 no. 42, the Code of the Cul-
The Article 3 states at paragraph at paragraph 3, 3-bis and tural Heritage and Landscape, as amended by paragraph 3-bis; (i.e. building declared
to be historic building).
3-bis.11 that historic buildings have to comply with the EPBD (b). . .
requirements limited to energy certification and operation, main- 3-bis. For buildings referred to in paragraph 3, letter (a), this Decree shall be limited
tenance and inspection of technical installations, as long as to the provisions relating:
Superintendence for Architectural and Landscape Heritage is pro- (a) the energy performance certification, referred to in Article 6;
(b) operation, maintenance and inspection of technical installations, referred to in
viding a negative judgement on the possibility to undergo to
Article 7.
any renovation without altering unacceptably their character or 3-bis.1. The buildings referred to in paragraph 3, letter (a), are excluded from the
appearance. If the judgement is positive, they are subjected to all application of this Decree, pursuant to paragraph 3-bis, just in case implies that
the requirements substantially alter their character or appearance, with special
reference to the historical, artistic and landscape values, as it must be judge by
the Authority the authority which is in charge of the authorization according to
1
3. The following categories of buildings are excluded from the application of this Legislative Decree 22 January 2004 no. 42.

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Table 1
Maximum parameters (thermal transmittance) values to fulfil the requirements for letter c cases.

Climatic zones Uwall (W/m2 K) Uroof (W/m2 K) Ufloor (W/m2 K) Uwindow (W/m2 K) Uw.gass (W/m2 K)

A 0.62 0.38 0.65 4.6 3.7

B 0.48 0.38 0.49 3.0 2.7
C 0.40 0.38 0.42 2.6 2.1
D 0.36 0.32 0.36 2.4 1.9
E 0.34 0.30 0.33 2.2 1.7
F 0.33 0.29 0.32 2.0 1.3

4. Risk for energy retrofit in historic and historical For instance, in France, the Ministry of Culture and Communica-
buildings tion requested exemptions for more than protected buildings. They
wished exemptions for protected environments (cultural and natu-
Despite derogations for officially protected buildings quoted in ral), the surrounding perimeter of historic monuments, for ‘classed’
Article 4 of EPBD [2] and in its recast [3], and repeated in the sites, for UNESCO sites and for buildings protected by regional
Energy Efficiency Directive [4], these interventions are also rising authorities, for buildings recognized as XX-century heritage, for
in regards to historical fabrics [6]. apartment houses under art L123-1-2 of the urbanism code and
According to a recent study made by Building Performance for apartments that have elements that are of historic interest. But
Institute of Europe, “minor and moderate interventions might be per- the result was a national French regulation that granted exemption
formed also in case of heritage buildings” in order to achieve Energy only to buildings protected under the Cultural Heritage Act, and
and CO2 reduction by 2050 [1]. In fact they say that “these buildings only on condition that window changes would modify or change
are not excluded (from the energy renovations, Ed.) because there will their character in an unacceptable manner [26].
always be some energy efficiency measures that can be applied, even Furthermore, the major concerns are those related to historical
if it is not a total renovation. Minor and moderate measures may often buildings (i.e. buildings that may have historic value but not already
be feasible in the case of heritage buildings”. If on one hand the energy protected). This point was partially addressed at the Granada
retrofitting in existing buildings is considered challenging because Conference [10], where the building protection was extended
of the significant opportunities for reducing primary energy con- also to buildings for which “the protection procedures have been
sumptions, then on the other hand the problem in linking energy instituted”, when proposals for their altering have been planned.
improvement to building protection arises when the intervention This concept, which anyhow does not include historical buildings
is carried out in historical buildings [17,18]. for which no protection procedure have been instituted, is not
The main point is how to identify the “unacceptable alteration” present in the EPBD regulation which allow derogation only for
the EPBD directives is referring to or “the minor and moderate already listed buildings. Thus, there is a serious risk of alteration
interventions” that might be done [1]. “Which kind of materials for those historical buildings, not yet protected, which consti-
or interventions might be considered detrimental for the building tute large part of European historical centres and villages, when
itself? Who and which instruments are capable of defending the applying energy measured required for contemporary existing
unacceptable alteration due to the energy retrofits interventions in buildings.
historical buildings? Following the conclusion of [6], when historical or historic build-
In fact, while a lot of technologies for energy retrofit in existing ings are involved, the energy saving has to be seen as one of
buildings are available today [19] a large part of these solutions the several parameters to take into account for a conscious envi-
cannot be applied if preservation issues have to be considered ronmental improvement. Thus the energy retrofit has to balance
[6,17,20–22]. Furthermore, despite the big amount of CEN stan- consciously different requirements, i.e. indoor comfort and mate-
dards aimed at providing methodologies for energy performance rials conservation, energy savings and architectonic character of
calculation in new and existing buildings [23], no standards or the building. The retrofit materials choice has to be considered
methodologies have been delivered up to now in order to clarify on its physical, chemical and mechanical compatibility with exist-
the allowable retrofitting methodologies for historical buildings or ing materials; the retrofitting technologies have to be weighted
to define the intervention boundaries (allowed materials, allowed on their reversibility or less invasiveness, considering the whole
techniques) [24]. Only recently CEN TC 346 (Conservation of Cul- environmental impact of each solution.
tural Property) technical committee has started a working group, Coming back to the question on what is ‘officially protected’
WG 8 “Energy efficiency of historic buildings” to write a standard and how this is defined at national level, the real point is if EU
on this item. This standard is supposed to be procedural, rather than can limit the national built heritage to only what is protected or
defining general solutions. It should show a harmonised, system- not. The issue is that Cultural Heritage policies are not part of
atic approach to facilitate the best decision in each individual case the EU Treaty, while Cultural Heritage is funded and supported by
[25]. the EU. For this reason, the EU has no competencies in regulat-
In Italy this point has only partially been solved involving the ing the Cultural Heritage field. The EU legal acts (directive) that
competent Authority to declare if or if not a historic building may impact negatively on Cultural Heritage administration and con-
undergo to a full or partial renovation, but there are no general rules servation stem from areas inside EU competencies. The negative
to define all the intermediate cases (rehabilitation, restoration, etc.) impact creates an increasing problem for the maintenance and con-
and what are the most compatible available energy retrofit tech- servation of the Cultural Heritage following the guidelines outlined
nologies. in international Treaties, Conventions and Charters [26]. Thus the
Today European Union leaves this duty to the local Bodies, which only way to regulate in harmonized way the relationship between
it may be correct on one hand, but it might lead to a different inter- energy retrofit and historic and historical building is to monitor
pretation in the intervention evaluation on the other hand. If no any development and implementation of those legal acts involving,
shared EU methodologies aimed at evaluating the level of tolerance directly or indirectly, such relationships and to inform all Cul-
are provided, we can run the risk of judging differently each retrofit tural Heritage administrations. The Cultural Heritage sector may,
strategy: more acceptable in one country as opposed to another when informed, influence the legal acts in time and on a proactive
[6]. basis.

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5. Conclusions present and future generations. Conservation includes preventive

conservation, remedial conservation and restoration
The energy efficiency in historic buildings is an extremely sen-
sitive issue. Cultural Heritage preservation and energy savings are Integrated conservation(3)
important issues for Europe, but there is no strong coordinate action
at the EU level. Until now, the derogation regime to national trans- Integrated conservation is achieved by the application of sen-
position laws is the adopted solution for defining if or if not a sitive restoration techniques and the correct choice of appropriate
historic (i.e. protected) building undergoing to some renovation functions. It should be noted that integrated conservation does not
has to comply with the energy efficiency requirements. This is a rule out the introduction of modern architecture into areas contain-
no-solution because it introduces differences among EU countries ing old buildings provided that the existing context, proportions,
in applying energy efficiency requirements to historic buildings. forms, sizes and scale are fully respected and traditional materials
Furthermore, the historically and architectonically valuable build- are used. It is a set of measures that are intended to ensure the con-
ings not already listed (i.e. not officially protected) are equate to tinuity of an heritage, to protect its conservation in the context of a
contemporary existing buildings and subjected to their energy effi- built or natural appropriate environment as well as its destination
ciency requirements. and its adaptation to the needs of society.
In the current state of art of standards and codes, it is possi-
ble to highlight the lack of a specific protocol aimed at providing
well-balanced solutions for the energy efficiency improvement in Preservation(1) (American English) – conservation (British
historic and historical buildings. Such detachment between build- English)
ing preservation and energy improvement is an institutional issue
at the European Union level, because Cultural Heritage policies are Preservation is defined as the act or process of applying mea-
not part of the EU treaty and thus EU cannot directly constraint sures necessary to sustain the existing form, integrity, and materials
any national Cultural Heritage policy. On the other hand, EU direc- of an historic property. Work, including preliminary measures to
tives on energy efficiency, on materials and on other items may protect and stabilize the property, generally focuses upon the ongo-
strongly affect the Architectural Heritage conservation. One possi- ing maintenance and repair of historic materials and features rather
ble solution to overcome such impasse is a correct lobbying activity than extensive replacement and new construction. New exterior
that should be made by all national bodies responsible for Cul- additions are not within the scope of this treatment; however,
tural Heritage. Through this lobbying activity might be possible to the limited and sensitive upgrading of mechanical, electrical, and
steer EU policy in a more effective way towards energy retrofit of plumbing systems and other code-required work to make proper-
historic/historical buildings. ties functional is appropriate within a preservation project.

Appendix A. Terms and definitions Preventive conservation(6) (syn. of prevention, Ed.)

The following English definitions are taken from [27](1) , [28](2) , Measures and actions aimed at avoiding or minimizing future
[9](3) and are consistent with the definitions reported in the Italian damage, deterioration and loss and, consequently any invasive
Code of Cultural Heritage and Landscape [14](4) and in the Italian intervention.
Consolidation Act on Building [29](5) . Those definitions are com-
pared with the CEN Conservation of cultural property definitions Reconstruction(1)
[30](6) , when available, taking into consideration that they applies
not only to Architectural Heritage conservation. Furthermore, ref- Reconstruction is defined as the act or process of depicting, by
erences are made to the source using superscript(x) . means of new construction, the form, features, and detailing of a
non-surviving site, landscape, building, structure, or object for the
Conservation(4) purpose of replicating its appearance at a specific period of time
and in its historic location.
The preservation of Cultural Heritage is ensured through consis- The CEN definition (CEN, 2011) is more general: re-
tent, coordinated and planned activities of analysis (assessment), establishment of an object to an inferred earlier form using existing
prevention, maintenance and restoration. or replacement material.

Prevention is the set of eligible activities to limit risk situations Redevelopment

related to cultural property in its context.
Maintenance means the set of activities and interventions designed Redevelopment is the demolition of old buildings and the cre-
to control the conditions of the cultural asset and maintaining ation of new buildings on the same site with a new structure with
the integrity, efficiency and functional identity of the asset and new dimension and space.
its parts.
Restoration means the direct intervention on the well through a Refurbishment(1)
series of operations aiming to the integrity of the material and
the recovery of asset itself, to the protection and transmission Refurbishment of a building is the extensive repair, renewal and
of its cultural values. In the case of immovable property situated modification of a building to meet economic and/or functional cri-
in earthquake-prone areas declared in accordance with current teria equivalent to those required by a new building for the same
legislation, the restoration includes the intervention of structural purpose. This may involve the installation of current standard of
improvement. building services, access, natural lighting, equipment and finishes,
using historic fabric as the carcass of what is, effectively, a new
The CEN definition (CEN, 2011) of conservation is more gen- building.
eral: measures and actions aimed at safeguarding Cultural Heritage Refurbishments are often focussed on aesthetics and tenant
while respecting its significance, including its accessibility to amenities, but they can also include upgrades to the building’s

Please cite this article in press as: L. Mazzarella, Energy retrofit of historic and existing buildings. The legislative and regulatory point
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mechanical systems and can potentially have an effect on energy (5) Restoration is mainly focused on the preservation, recov-

and water efficiency. ery and enhancement of the character of buildings of historical
and artistic, architectural or environmental interest. These inter-
Rehabilitation(1),(5) ventions may also be carried out with the use of materials and
techniques different from the original, as long as consistent with
(1) Rehabilitation is defined as the act or process of making pos- the character of the buildings.
sible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations, The CEN definition (CEN, 2011) is: actions applied to a stable or
and additions while preserving those portions or features which stabilized object aimed at facilitating its appreciation, understand-
convey its historical, cultural, or architectural values. ing and/or use, while respecting its significance and the materials
and techniques used. Note 1: In some professional communities,
(5) Conservative rehabilitation especially in the field of immovable Cultural Heritage, the term
restoration traditionally covers the whole field of conservation.
Mainly aimed at hygienic and functional recovery of buildings Note 2: Remedial conservation is often carried out at the same time
that need to consolidate and integrate the structural elements and as restoration.
the modification of the planimetric layout. These interventions may
also be carried out with the use of materials and techniques differ- Retro-commission(2)
ent from the original, as long as consistent with the character of the
buildings Commissioning is the process whereby a building’s systems are
The CEN definition (CEN, 2011) is more general: interventions tested and adjusted to ensure they are all functioning as they were
on an immovable object in order to recover an inferred earlier designed to. Retro-commissioning, therefore, is performing the
functionality, to adapt it to a different function or to standards of same process on a building that has been operational and occupied
comfort, safety and access. for a period of time to ensure it keeps meeting the design intent and
needs of the occupants. Retro-commissioning or re-commissioning
Remedial conservation(6) (syn. of maintenance, Ed.) a building once every three to five years is recommended by some
experts. If a building was not properly commissioned in the first
Actions applied directly to an object to arrest deterioration place, if changes to its systems and operating conditions have been
and/or to limit damage. made since commissioning, or if its performance has degraded over
time it is possible that retro-commissioning can reduce a building’s
energy consumption by making its existing systems work more effi-
Renovation(2),(5)
ciently. As with initial commissioning, retro-commissioning can be
(2) Renovations are very similar to refurbishments and the terms carried out by the contractors who installed the building’s mechan-
ical systems or by a third party who specializes in commissioning.
are sometimes used interchangeably. The major difference is the
term renovation applies specifically to buildings, while refurbish-
ment does not. As with refurbishments, renovations are often Retrofit(2)
focussed on aesthetics and tenant amenities, but they may also
include upgrades to the building’s mechanical systems and poten- Retrofitting is the process of modifying something after it has
tially have an effect on energy and water efficiency. been manufactured. For buildings, this means making changes to
(5) Activities aimed at transforming buildings through a system- the systems inside the building or even the structure itself at some
atic set of works that can lead to a building structure in whole or in point after its initial construction and occupation. Typically this is
part different from the previous. These activities include repairs or done with the expectation of improving amenities for the building’s
replacement of certain elements of the building, removing, modify- occupants and/or improving the performance of the building. The
ing and adding new elements and systems. As parts of the building development of new technologies means that building retrofits can
renovations are included even those involving the demolition and allow for significant reductions in energy and water usage.
reconstruction with the same volume and shape of the existing,
subject only to the innovations needed to adapt to the anti-seismic References
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of view, Energy Buildings (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2014.10.073
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