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The paper seeks to examine the background to the UK Government White Paper on the conservation of the built environment, and particularly to identify drivers for legislative change and possible consequences of new legislation for conservation practice.

A critical review is undertaken of major trends in conservation and management of the historic built environment that may affect future conservation legislation.

Three major trends are identified: the development of holistic landscape‐based approaches to conservation; the widening of heritage values to include those of particular groups and communities as well as those based on academic disciplines; and a shift from control‐based approaches to conservation towards those based on dynamic management of change. Each of these trends presents opportunities and challenges in framing of legislation and policy.

This is a wide and fast‐developing field. The UK Government's proposals for legislation are not yet in place and the framework for debate may change.

There has been a long period of stability and consolidation in the legal framework for conservation of the historic built environment. It is likely that we are moving towards a period of accelerating change in which accepted values may be challenged and new skills may be required.

The paper draws together a diverse set of themes that are likely to affect the future development of conservation legislation.

This paper presents an approach where a survey study is combined with energy and indoor environment auditing in the built environment. The combination of methods presented in this paper is one way to obtain a wider perspective on the indoor environment and energy use and also let the people in the building voice their comments on the indoor environment. This is arguably even more important in historic buildings where many of the physical properties are to a higher degree unknown when compared with conventional buildings. The purpose of the paper is to report the experiences from this research project.

A combination of energy and indoor environment auditing and standardized occupant surveys.

The main findings in the paper are related to the good agreement between results from standardized occupant surveys and physical measurements. The possibility to triangulate problems related to poor indoor conditions was shown to be one main advantage of the combined methodology presented in the paper. A standardized survey approach also allows benchmarking, in this case with two groups representing “average” buildings as well as a group representing well-functioning buildings. The use of records from building key cards was also shown to be an effective way of keeping track of activity in the building and thereby distribute internal gains. In addition, the paper reports a linear correlation between activity level and electricity use.

The paper shows an effective way to investigate the performance, in terms of energy use as well as indoor environment, of historic buildings in use. This type of approach could benefit property owners, as it both allows benchmarking as well as investigating individual properties before, e.g., a refurbishment.

This research informs the intersection of climate and heritage policy development by examining the history of US energy policy as it relates to historic buildings, emerging policy tools to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the implications of a changing legislative landscape on historic buildings through the case of New York City.

This study employs a multi-method approach, including a review of US energy codes; discourse analysis of government records, energy studies, and reports related to historic buildings and energy; select research into energy-related heritage policy at the municipal level; and geospatial and statistical methods to analyze policy implications in the case study of New York City.

Historic buildings have long been afforded exemptions from energy code compliance in the US, and these waivers are widespread. Contemporary operating energy and greenhouse gas data, as well as energy justice findings about whom these waivers privilege, challenge these exemptions and signal a need for significant policy reform in light of climate change.

This study questions longstanding rhetoric about historic buildings being inherently green and supports the need for more evidence-based research to undergird heritage policy reform that is equitable and climate-responsive.

The purpose of this paper is to create a longitudinal data-driven model of change over time in a postindustrial landscape, using the “Copper Country” of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula as a case study. The models resulting from this project will support the heritage management and public education goals of the contemporary communities and Keweenaw National Historical Park that administer this nationally significant mining region through accessible, engaging, and interpretable digital heritage.

The paper applies Esri’s CityEngine procedural modeling software to an existing historical big data set. The Copper Country Historical Spatial Data Infrastructure, previously created by the HESA lab, contains over 120,000 spatiotemporally specific building footprints and other built environment variables. This project constructed a pair of 3D digital landscapes comparing the built environments of 1917 and 1949, reflecting the formal and functional evolution of several of the most important copper mining, milling, and smelting districts of Michigan’s Keweenaw Peninsula.

This research discovered that CityEngine, while intended for rapid 3D modeling of the contemporary urban landscape, was sufficiently robust and flexible to be applied to modeling serial historic industrial landscapes. While this novel application required some additional coding and finish work, by harnessing this software to existing big data sets, 48,000 individual buildings were rapidly visualized using several key variables.

This paper presents a new and useful application of an existing 3D modeling software, helping to further illuminate and inform the management and conservation of the rich heritage of this still-evolving postindustrial landscape.

The purpose of this research is to test the effectiveness of integrating Grasshopper 3D and measuring attractiveness by a categorical based evaluation technique (M-MACBETH) for building energy simulation analysis within a virtual environment. Set of energy retrofitting solutions is evaluated against performance-based criteria (energy consumption, weight and carbon footprint), and considering the preservation of the cultural value of the building, its architectural and spatial configuration.

This research addresses the building energy performance analysis before and after the design of retrofitting solutions in extreme climate environments (2030–2100). The proposed model integrates data obtained from an advanced parametric tool (Grasshopper) and a multi-criteria decision analysis (M-MACBETH) to score different energy retrofitting solutions against energy consumption, weight, carbon footprint and impact on architectural configuration. The proposed model is tested for predicting the performance of a traditional timber-framed dwelling in a historic parish in Lisbon. The performance of distinct solutions is compared in digitally simulated climate conditions (design scenarios) considering different criteria weights.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation linking physical and digital environments and then, identifying a set of evaluation criteria in the analysed context. Architects, environmental engineers and urban planners should use computational environment in the development design phase to identify design solutions and compare their expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour.

The unavailability of local weather data (EnergyPlus Weather File (EPW) file), the high time-resource effort, and the number/type of the energy retrofit measures tested in this research limit the scope of this study. In energy simulation procedures, the baseline generally covers a period of thirty, ten or five years. In this research, due to the fact that weather data is unavailable in the format required in the simulation process (.EPW file), the input data in the baseline is the average climatic data from EnergyPlus (2022). Additionally, this workflow is time-consuming due to the low interoperability of the software. Grasshopper requires a high-skilled analyst to obtain accurate results. To calculate the values for the energy consumption, i.e. the values of energy per day of simulation, all the values given per hour are manually summed. The values of weight are obtained by calculating the amount of material required (whose dimensions are provided by Grasshopper), while the amount of carbon footprint is calculated per kg of material. Then this set of data is introduced into M-MACBETH. Another relevant limitation is related to the techniques proposed for retrofitting this case study, all based on wood-fibre boards.

The proposed method for energy simulation and climate change adaptation can be applied to other historic buildings considering different evaluation criteria and context-based priorities.

Context-based adaptation measures of the built environment are necessary for the coming years due to the projected extreme temperature changes following the 2015 Paris Agreement and the 2030 Agenda. Built environments include historical sites that represent irreplaceable cultural legacies and factors of the community's identity to be preserved over time.

This study shows the importance of conducting building energy simulation using physical and digital environments. Computational environment should be used during the development design phase by architects, engineers and urban planners to rank design solutions against a set of performance criteria and compare the expected impact on the building configuration and performance-based behaviour. This study integrates Grasshopper 3D and M-MACBETH.

Heritage or historic building information modelling (BIM), often referred to as HBIM, is becoming an established feature in both research and practice. The advancement of data capture technologies such as laser scanning and improved photogrammetry, along with the continued power of BIM authoring tools, has provided the ability to generate more accurate digital representations of heritage buildings which can then be used during renovation and refurbishment projects. Very often these representations of HBIM are developed to support the design process. What appears to be often overlooked is the issue of conservation and how this can be linked to the BIM process to support the conservation management plan for the building once it is given a new lease of life following the refurbishment process. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper presents a review of the context of conservation and HBIM, and then subsequently presents two case studies of how HBIM was applied to high-profile renovation and conservation projects in the UK. In presenting the case studies, a range of issues is identified which support findings from the literature noting that HBIM is predominantly a tool for the geometric modelling of historic fabric with less regard for the actual process of renovation and conservation in historic buildings.

Lessons learnt from the case studies and from existing literature are distilled to develop a framework for the implementation of HBIM on heritage renovation projects to support the ongoing conservation of the building as an integral part of a BIM-based asset management strategy. Five key areas are identified in the framework including value, significance, recording, data management and asset management. Building on this framework, a conceptual overlay is proposed to the current Level 2 BIM process to support conservation heritage projects.

This paper addresses the issue of HBIM application to conservation heritage projects. Whilst previous work in the field has identified conservation as a key area, there is very little work focusing on the process of conservation in the HBIM context. This work provides a framework and overlay which could be used by practitioners and researchers to ensure that HBIM is fully exploited and a more standardised method is employed which could be used on conservation heritage renovation projects.

The purpose of this paper is to report the development of internet‐based educational support to enable practitioners in built environment conservation (preservation in American terminology) to evaluate and, if necessary, improve their competence. In the UK it is a condition of project grant‐aid of some heritage bodies that the professional leading a conservation project is accredited, and several schemes, peer‐reviewed by professional bodies, have been set up in recent years. Since these require practitioners to provide evidence of their competence, there is a need for an increased understanding of the issues involved. The work aimed to define the basis for the competences and establish an educational framework for professional development in this area.

A structured framework of competences, consisting of five units dealing with all the stages of a conservation project, is presented and evaluated against the 1993 ICOMOS Guidelines on Education and Training in the Conservation of Monuments, Ensembles and Sites. The framework is appropriate for all professional disciplines and has been converted to a computer‐assisted self‐learning package that provides support for practitioners in developing their portfolio of evidence for submission for accreditation peer‐review.

The internet‐based educational support has been available since 2007 and receives over 2,000 visits per month from all over the world. It has the support of all the UK accreditation schemes in built environment conservation.

A desk survey of electronic resources in the subject domain suggests that the educational support material described in this paper is unique in the world.

With specific focus on sustainable development of the built environment in Cape Coast, Ghana, the purpose of this paper is to examine practical and conceptual barriers for local planning authorities advancing international outreach programmes based on a global discourse on heritage and heritage management.

A discourse analysis was conducted on documents and programmes produced by international organisations and local planning authorities since 2000. Further qualitative data collection methods included 25 semi-structured interviews, literature and media review and on-site observations.

The study shows that the dominant global discourse on heritage management being interconnected with tourism development is adopted by local planning authorities. However, the requirements to advance initiated urban redevelopment projects are neither adapted to the economic realities nor institutional capabilities of the local planning system. Instead of adjusting specific Ghanaian notions of heritage or local forms of heritage organisations, negotiating the discourse is potentially a more sustainable approach.

The findings reveal important implications necessary to address from sustainable development perspective. The study can help practitioners to develop strategies based on local African planning contexts rather than western discourses on best practice.

This study discusses the impact of an Authorised Heritage Discourse on local planning of the built environment, and the need to rescale and broaden the scope of such discourses to other levels than the dominating national/global.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the historical, cultural, and social significance and the role in landscapes of Lithuanian villages with churches and to formulate the hypothetical framework for their revitalization and consequent sustainable development of country's rural landscape.

The methodology of the research encompassed the desktop study (analysis of literature, archival data, maps, and statistical data) and the analyses on site (observation, measurements, and recording in photographs of buildings and urban structures).

The findings of the research include the analysis of the historical development of country's rural settlements with the religious function, formulation of the notion of the contemporary village with church, identification of the contemporary network of country's villages with churches and analysis of their current socioeconomic and sociocultural situation and the role in rural landscape. The results of the analyses were used formulating the hypothetical framework for the revitalization of the villages with churches and the sustainable development of the rural landscape.

The analysis of literature demonstrated that Lithuanian villages with churches and their significance for the sustainable development of country's rural landscape are paradoxically neglected subjects. Meanwhile, the foreign experience has demonstrated that historic rural settlements, including the settlements with the religious function, are important not only as separate cultural assets but also can play an important role in the identity, viability, and the sustainable development of rural landscapes. Thus the findings of the research demonstrating the peculiarities and potential of Lithuanian villages with churches can be used in the fields of heritage preservation, landscape management, and rural development.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the critical factors for enhancing social sustainability of the conservation of built heritage projects and to highlight the importance of addressing social sustainability in urban conservation.

First of all, a list of social sustainability factors is compiled from the international literature and then verified by a panel of experts in the field of heritage conservation and laymen through a pilot study in Hong Kong. Afterwards, through a questionnaire survey carried out in Hong Kong for an urban conservation project, the citizens' responses were obtained and evaluated. Results were derived from factor analysis.

The results indicated that social considerations should be incorporated for achieving social sustainability in urban heritage conservation. “Educational and local cultural promotion means”, “Meanings of the place”, “Social inclusion and psychological needs” and “Public participation and opportunity for skills development” were found to be the significant underlying factors for enhancing social sustainability of the case study project.

The underlying social factors found in this study can help enhance planning, management and implementation in conservation projects that should promote social well being in society.

The case study provides a valid basis for an interesting analysis on the relevance of the social sustainability aspects to an urban conservation project that also provides insights for other urban conservation projects of a similar nature. The factors identified can form an evaluation framework to measure the social sustainability level of a significant urban conservation and revitalization project in practice.