Building passport for the sustainable conservation of built heritage

Journal Article (2022)
Author(s)

Joana Dos Santos Gonçalves (University of Minho, TU Delft - Heritage & Technology)

Ricardo Mateus (University of Minho)

José Silvestre (Universidade de Lisboa)

Ana Pereira Roders (TU Delft - Heritage & Architecture)

Luís Bragança (University of Minho)

Research Group
Heritage & Technology
Copyright
© 2022 Joana Gonçalves, Ricardo Mateus, José Dinis Silvestre, A. Pereira Roders, Luís Bragança
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1108/JCHMSD-10-2021-0177
More Info
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Publication Year
2022
Language
English
Copyright
© 2022 Joana Gonçalves, Ricardo Mateus, José Dinis Silvestre, A. Pereira Roders, Luís Bragança
Research Group
Heritage & Technology
Issue number
2
Volume number
15 (2025)
Pages (from-to)
168-180
Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Abstract

Purpose
This research presents the development of a Building Passport for Sustainable Conservation (BPSC) as a questionnaire with a set of 23 core indicators, for a baseline assessment of heritage buildings. The aim of this tool is to identify priorities for future interventions, by recognising the contributions of heritage buildings to sustainability that should be preserved and the fragilities that need to be improved.

Design/methodology/approach
The BPSC uses a selection of core indicators for sustainability observable on heritage buildings. It was applied to four different case studies of modern heritage in the Netherlands, to verify its applicability and limitations.

Findings
The results suggest that this tool has the potential to contribute to an expedite assessment, reaching consensual evaluations of priorities for sustainable conservation, while reducing the time and cost of the process, contributing to support informed redesign decisions.

Originality/value
Recently, existing building sustainability assessment (BSA) tools have been adapted and new BSA tools developed for heritage buildings. Some tools target existing buildings, but seldom cover cultural significance and heritage values. Others target the after-redesign situations – aiming at assessing how sustainable the redesign is. Often BSA tools are complex and time-consuming, with extensive indicators and data requirements. The BPSC developed in this research covers the main aspects of sustainability and related heritage values, in a simpler tool for a baseline assessment.