Creative Commons

A sustainable environment should be considered through the preservation of built heritage and upgrade of its energy efficiency. Historical buildings, as bein g part of our cultural heritage will always constitute a major proportion of our surroundings. Their protection and upgrade should be a written law in the name of responsibil ity and respect towards our history. Retrofit is a “must” because of the already existing large inventory of buildings which have vast quantities of embodied energy and t hus extending their useful life makes more than sense. Unfortunately though, historical buildings are energy wasteful and thus need to be adapted to current needs and standards. Listed heritage buildings form a particular category of this stock and their retrofit needs and potential are more complex and need special attention. [1 ] Buildings consume significant amounts of energy (embodied and operational) and thus present significant saving potential. [2 ] Combining this fact with a holi stic approach regarding energy and environment , appropriate measure s can be drawn for the existing ’s building stock retrofit, putting emphasis on the microclimate and how it influences the building ’s energy performance . After all, in a long term perspective, retrofit naturally pays bac k owners and users translated to lower operational expenses, better thermal and visual comfort and subseque ntly better quality of life. In the case of work spaces and educational buildings it is translated also to higher productivity and work achievements . This research presents the issue of retrofitting historical buildi ngs through the literature (existing examples from other countries) and proposes a methodology to approach the matter in Greece through the parameters of green factor in outdoor spaces as well as the surface materials used. The results of the literature re view point to strategies for interventions on the historic al building while the case study aims to define the potential measures that can be applied to the external environment of the building. The study focuses on Vila Allatini, a historical building protected b y strict legislation framework. [3] The main target i s to familiarize us with the effect of microclimate on the building’s energy performance .