GREEN MAINTENANCE FOR HERITAGE BUILDINGS: AN EMERGING CONCEPT OF EMBODIED CARBON APPRAISAL

Abstract

It is well accepted that maintenance is essential for long-term performance of any building. Importantly, it contributes to simultaneous retention of cultural value in historic fabric of heritage buildings. Progressively, the efficiency of maintenance interventions for heritage buildings can be assessed in terms of cost, building conservation philosophy and, increasingly, conformity to environmental sustainability. Commonly, low carbon consideration in heritage buildings is considered difficult to achieve due to their limited retrofitting capability. On the other hand, maintenance is one mechanism by which allows carbon savings, initiated through necessary repair strategies. This paper proposed Green Maintenance model for evaluating the efficacy of maintenance interventions for heritage buildings, based on embodied carbon appraisal. It utilised repair material life cycle data within cradle-to-site boundary of life cycle assessment (LCA), in the form of generated Environmental Maintenance Impact (EMI). Moreover, formulaic expressions of the model used to calculate the relative merits of selected maintenance intervention over a given time frame. Emergently, the model represents a framework for selection of maintenance interventions in relation to cost, philosophy and embodied carbon expenditure i.e. CO2 emissions. Significantly, this integrated multi-criteria approach of maintenance decision-making enables carbon emissions to be accounted for an adoption of sustainable repair approach for heritage buildings.