Measuring building performance for sustainable built heritage

Abstract

Despite a number of currently available building assessment methods, relatively little has been done on the assessment for sustainability of heritage buildings. It is important to measure the performance of a heritage building in achieving sustainability. The grading process often focuses on historical interest, architectural merits and social merits; and generally ignores the significance of environmental and economic impacts. There are also building assessment methods which focus on environmental sustainability only. This paper aims to develop a hierarchy to measure building performance of the built heritage from the three pillars of sustainability. A Heritage Building Sustainability Index (HBSI) would be described which incorporated a total of 19 indicators to benchmark performance in sustainability. Building owners, managers, government, and policymakers should make reference to these measurement metrics in order to move towards sustainability. These indicators will be useful for formulation of strategies for building restoration or adaptive re-use of heritage buildings.