The refurbishment of existing buildings to very low energy demand is possible and increasingly economically feasible. It represents an area with huge potential for action, particularly in regard to historic buildings.  For these buildings the main issue to be addressed is how to balance building protection requirements with the need for optimised energy efficiency.
The 3ENCULT project has been extensively researching and developing solutions to achieve this aim, and has recently developed a series of guidelines targeted at local authorities.
The guidelines developed by ICLEI Europe support local leaders who need to make informed decisions by helping them to understand what is possible / not possible in this context of historic buildings and monuments, both in the planning phase and in choosing suitable technologies. The summary e-guide for local decision makers technical guidance on energy efficient renovation of historic buildings offers a brief summary of technical solutions on the energetic retrofit of historic buildings as identified and used in the 3ENCULT project.  Each solution has a short description, an indication of their general replication potential, and some challenges or issues to be considered. 
         
The guidelines on Integrating energy efficient retrofit of historic buildings into policy and planning outline how a local government in Europe, as the owner of historic buildings and monuments, the developer of local strategy and policy, and administrator and regulator of its geographical area, can effectively  engage through linking these actions  to its broader municipal strategy, e.g. the Urban Master Plan and  the Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) or Climate Plan.
The Recommendations for Local Governments on Integrating energy efficient retrofit of historic buildings into urban sustainability explore in more detail what sustainability criteria to include both during the planning and the implementation phase, through proposing indicators and replicable factors for incorporation into the Aalborg Commitments
The Recommendations on transfer and replicability of energy efficient retrofit of historic buildings at urban level focus on outlining the replication potential of the solutions and methods applied to the 3ENCULT case studies.


For more information contact giorgia.rambelli@iclei.org