This research applies the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) to measure the gap between designers’ intentions towards heritage conservation and the actual design decisions. It aims at contributing to identify which psychological constructs (attitude, norm, perception of control) are hindering the implementation of sustainable conservation approaches in practice. The results suggest that attitudes have a significant correlation with performed behaviour, and that norms, despite impacting intentions, do not necessarily correlate with the performed actions. Using the TPB to analyse designers' behaviours is an innovative methodological approach that opens new possibilities for the design of interventions targeting behavioural change towards the implementation of sustainable conservation practices in built heritage.@en

This paper presents and discusses the selection of a set of core indicators for the sustainable conservation of built heritage. This core set of indicators was selected by following a two-step methodology: 1) first, a comparative analysis of indicators of two building sustainability assessment (BSA) tools with different approaches was performed by using content analysis to identify common priorities; 2) second, a selection of the indicators according to scale, stage of the life cycle, and coverage of core aspects for sustainable development, following the criteria established by the International Organization for Standardization. The results show that even if current methodologies have different structures, terminology, and priorities, they share common principles that promote a more sustainable built environment. However, by being mostly oriented to the intervention and operation phases, these methods do not have direct application as an assessment framework for the sustainable conservation of the built heritage. To overcome this situation, this research presents a concise set of indicators that can support the development of an assessment tool to ensure the sustainable conservation of existing buildings.@en