Identifying sustainable retrofit challenges of historical Buildings: A systematic review

The UK is reported to have approximately 400,000 historical buildings as listed buildings and buildings in conservation sites. Due to the historical value of these buildings, the level of changes possible to these buildings is limited. However, the government's vision for sustainability requires retrofitting existing buildings to minimise emissions as historical buildings contribute around 5% of total UK emissions. The study finds the specific challenges of retrofitting historical buildings by systematically reviewing 52 articles. Three databases were selected, namely ProQuest, webofsciences and Scopus. Challenges of historical building retrofit were identified, generalized, and thematically presented for better comprehension. The main challenge of retrofitting historical buildings is balancing historical values with energy efficiency. As these two objectives are mutually exclusive most of the time, when one is achieved, the other has to be compromised. Further, the complexity of retrofit works and unclear building characteristics were other challenges. There is a total of nine challenges identified. The study concludes that historical building retrofit needs better attention to address the identified challenges. Technological solutions, subsidies to the owners, supply chain development and collaborative stakeholder engagement models can be helpful in this regard.