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This paper reflects on Uppsala University’s experiences from organizing higher education in conservation, and argues how curricula can be rethought and reorganized to foster a genuine shift towards sustainable education. It discusses various experiences of developing and planning interdisciplinary higher education programs in conservation and how curricula can be transformed to broaden the sustainability competence of future heritage professionals. We need to foster heritage professionals that are capable of exploiting the dynamic and negotiated nature of heritage for the good of society. By embracing change and loss there are opportunities to use heritage in more benign and sustainable ways. But there are profound differences between how heritage and its role in society are understood in conservation as a field of practice and as a field of inquiry. Based on the experience from Uppsala University, the authors argue that there is a need for a conservation curriculum in higher education that balances and integrates normative competence and critical inquiry: a middle path, where opposing perspectives can thrive in parallel.

This study presents an in-depth analysis of 69 case studies focusing on the energy retrofit of historic buildings, uncovering challenges, best practices, and lessons learned to balance energy efficiency improvements with heritage preservation. The findings highlight several challenges encountered during renovations, such as complex heritage evaluations, restrictions on alterations, coordination issues with authorities, technical limitations, higher investment costs, and knowledge gaps. On the other hand, identifying factors promoting renovation, including demonstrating energy savings while respecting heritage, early collaboration between planners and authorities, and quantifying investments, could incentivize owners and authorities. The limitations of a still-limited sample size, occasional incomplete data, and potential sample bias call for cautious interpretation of the presented analysis. Despite these, the study provides valuable insights into successful projects, emphasizing the need for scalability, knowledge transfer from innovative policies, and targeted policy-making for successful replication. The study concludes with a call for further development of the HiBERatlas (Historic Building Energy Retrofit atlas), an extensive resource for historic building renovation, expanding its database, collaborating with agencies, and tailoring guidance for stakeholders to foster energy retrofits in heritage buildings.

Building archetype identification is crucial for Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM), but is still considered one of the biggest challenges in this field. New methods of data acquisition, along with data mining techniques such as clustering, have recently received attention for the possibility of significantly increasing identification reliability and archetype accuracy. This paper aims to establish a new and simple clustering methodology for developing building archetypes for hybrid UBEM, using open data sets and multiple diverse variables, that is still reliable and possible to validate without the use of metered energy use or real building data. The methodology uses k-means clustering for 10 building parameters simultaneously, including socio-economic parameters obtained using spatial interpolation of statistical values. Building archetypes are successfully developed for the residential building stocks of two case study areas in Sweden. The results also show that the error metric values for multiple iterations diverge after a certain number of clusters, even when using the same clustering methodology on the same data set. This discovered effect, along with the combined use of one well-known and one novel error metric, constitutes a framework well adapted to accurately determining the optimal number of building archetypes.

The purpose of this aricle is to present the results from a Swedish legal research project – the REKO project – and to analyse how its findings are relevant for EU member states facing the implementation of the amended Energy Performance of Buildings Directive.We have identified that a major obstacle to renovating towards a sustainable built environment involves unclear legal construction, including which buildings are protected or designated as culturally valuable, and when a legal pre-assessment is needed. We find that this obstacle is being compounded by an overall problem in the lack of relevant knowledge among property owners, energy experts, and decision-makers. We can conclude that the interpretation of the law regarding the protection of heritage values and the requirements for energy efficiency measures is quite clear. However, it is difficult for the property owners and the average person to understand how these different sustainability goals relate to each other. A clarification in the law may therefore be needed, not least in order to ensure legal certainty for property owners. Additionally, in light of the amended directive, clarification in the law may be necessary to specify that energy requirements must be adjusted if they risk harming the heritage value in a way that is prohibited. 

Due to rapid urbanisation and the significant contribution of cities to worldwide energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, urban energy system planning is growing more important. Urban building energy modelling (UBEM) draws increasing attention in the energy modelling field due to its inherent capacities for modelling entire cities or building stocks, and the potential of varying data inputs, approaches and applications. This review aims to identify best practices and improvements for UBEM applications by examining previous research, with a focus on the currently least established approaches. Different archetype development procedures are analysed for common problems, six main under-developed input approaches or parameters are identified, and applications for future scenario development are surveyed. By analysing previous studies in related fields, this paper provides an overview of gaps in the published research and possible additions to future UBEM projects that can help expanding the existing modelling procedures. Comprehensive human behaviour models with additional aspects beyond occupant presence are identified as a major point of interest. Further research on socio-economic parameters, such as household income and demographics, are also suggested to further improve modelling. This study also underlines the potential for utilising UBEM as a tool for evaluating future climate change scenarios.

European Historic Urban Environments (HUEs) are highly appreciated by their inhabitants and visitors and they can be considered as one of the most valuable collective achievements of the European culture. The preservation of our urban heritage requires the protection of the social context as well as the preservation of the authenticity and integrity of its physical materiality. That means improving the quality of life of their inhabitants as well as the sustainability of the historic districts. This paper proposes an incremental decision-making methodology that allows the modelling of the historic city and the selection of the best strategies. An application of this model is demonstrated through a case study using the historic city of Santiago de Compostela in Spain that was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985.

Arbetet med brandsäkerhet för byggnader med kulturvärden kräver anpassade lösningar som också kan tillgodose ett bevarande av byggnaderna och deras kulturvärden. Det finns, utspritt, mycket kunskap och erfarenhet inom det här området både i Sverige och internationellt. För att tillgodose ett behov av samlad kunskap inom detta område initierade Brandforsk en kunskapsöversikt tillsammans med Akademiska hus, Fortifikationsverket, Kammarkollegiet, Kyrkans försäkring, Riksantikvarieämbetet och Statens fastighetsverk. Den här kunskapsöversikten syftar till att sammanställa och presentera den kunskap som finns. Ett kompletterande syfte är att definiera områden där kunskap saknas. Kunskapsöversikten är indelad i sex områden:

2. Skydd mot brands uppkomst

3. Spridning av brand inom byggnad

4. Spridning av brand till byggnad

5. Brandens påverkan på byggnadens stomme

6. Utrymning

7. Räddningstjänstens insats

Med utgångspunkt från workshops har en sammanställning av behovsbilden gjorts. Kunskapsöversikten och behovsbilden ligger till grund för en gap-analys vilken pekar på behov av fortsatt forskning och utveckling.

Working with fire safety in historic buildings requires adapted solutions that can also satisfy the preservation of the buildings and their cultural values. There is a lot of knowledge and experience in this area both in Sweden and internationally. In order to make this available to end users, Brandforsk initiated a literature review together with a group of national sponsors. This literature review aims to compile and present the documented knowledge in the field. A complementary purpose is to define knowledge gaps. The review is divided into six areas:

2. Fire prevention

3. Fire spread within buildings

4. Fire spread between structures

5. Structural fire resistance

6. Evacuation

7. Fire and rescue service activities

Based on workshops the needs of end users have been compiled. A comparison of the outcome of the review and the end user needs defines a knowledge gap pointing to the need for continued research and development.

Purpose

Energy use in buildings needs to be reduced to meet political goals; however, reducing energy use can conflict with heritage preservation objectives. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate a method that combines quantitative and qualitative analyses of the potential of energy savings in an historic building stock. Specifically, this study examines how requirements of historic building preservation affect the energy saving potential on a building stock level.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the World Heritage Town of Visby, Sweden as a case study, this paper illustrates a step-by-step method as a basis for implementing energy savings techniques in an historic building stock. The method contains the following steps: categorisation of a building stock, definition of restriction levels for energy renovation scenarios and life cycle costs optimisation of energy measures in archetype buildings representing the building stock. Finally, this study analyses how different energy renovation strategies will impact heritage values and energy saving potentials for different categories of buildings.

Findings

The outcome of the study is twofold: first, the method has been tested and proven useful and second, the results from the application of the method have been used to formulate differentiated energy renovation strategies for the case study.

Originality/value

The study shows that it is possible to integrate techno-economic analysis with assessment of heritage values in a given building stock in order to facilitate a strategic discussion balancing policies and targets for energy savings with policies for the preservation of heritage values. The findings will contribute to sounder policy development and planning for historic building stocks.

Purpose Improving the energy performance of historic buildings has the potential to reduce carbon emissions while protecting built heritage through its continued use. However, implementing energy retrofits in these buildings faces social, economic, and technical barriers. The purpose of this conceptual paper is to present the approach of IEA-SHC Task 59 to address some of these barriers. Design/methodology/approach Task 59 aims to achieve the lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings. This paper proposes a definition for this concept and identifies three key socio-technical barriers to achieving this goal: the decision-makers' lack of engagement in the renovation of historic buildings, a lack of support during the design process and limited access to proven retrofit solutions. Two methods - dissemination of best-practice and guidelines - are discussed in this paper as critical approaches for addressing the first two barriers. Findings An assessment of existing databases indicates a lack of best-practice examples focused specifically on historic buildings and the need for tailored information describing these case studies. Similarly, an initial evaluation of guidelines highlighted the need for process-oriented guidance and its evaluation in practice. Originality/value This paper provides a novel definition of lowest possible energy demand for historic buildings that is broadly applicable in both practice and research. Both best-practices and guidelines are intended to be widely disseminated throughout the field.