Integrated seismic and energy renovation of buildings

Our buildings are ageing, posing an urgent need for renovation to achieve multidimensional European and international goals. Integrated renovation of buildings provides a unique opportunity to create a safe, sustainable and inclusive built environment, as it lies at the nexus between European policies on disaster resilience, energy efficiency, circularity and social cohesion. The pilot project ‘Integrated techniques for the seismic strengthening and energy efficiency of existing buildings’ promotes this holistic view of renovation, it provides scientific support to building renovation policies in the EU and encourages their further development. This science-for-policy report summarises the main outcomes of the pilot project. Existing seismic, energy and combined/integrated renovation technologies were reviewed. A simplified method for assessing the benefit of combined renovation was proposed and applied to representative buildings. An integrated framework was developed for regional impact analysis. Seismic risk, energy performance and socioeconomic aspects were assessed throughout Europe to identify priority regions and investigate renovation scenarios. Integrated renovation can save lives, energy and investments while reducing the environmental burden. Policy makers, EU, national and regional authorities together with practitioners and the public are the beneficiaries of this project.