What's the first image that comes to your mind when you think of a LEED-certified building?
If it was a newly opened building, smelling new, mirrored and full of technologies, you are not wrong. However, very old buildings with some degree of listing by historical heritage protection agencies can also receive sustainability certifications, such as LEED.
There are different paths to obtain LEED certification in historic buildings, depending on the state of conservation of the property and the interventions allowed by heritage agencies.
In fact, the oldest building in the world with this certificate is in Venice. It is the seat of the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, a Gothic palace built in 1453, located on the banks of the Grand Canal, in the Dorsoduro district.
How does LEED certification work in historic buildings?
Regardless of the level of listing, as long as the project respects the guidelines of the heritage agencies, any building can undergo a complete restoration. The goal is to preserve the original historic structures and update the building systems. However, this type of intervention has a high cost. For this reason, LEED BD+C serves new buildings or large-scale renovations.
On the other hand, theother alternative is to certify historic buildings in operation through LEED O+M, aimed at the operation and maintenance of the projects.
Even historic buildings with the highest levels of listing have undergone modifications over the decades of operation. After all, keeping a building in operation requires continuous adaptations. For example, if we imagine a building built in 1926, over these almost 100 years components such as lamps and faucets have been replaced. As a result, water and energy consumption is closer to that observed in current buildings.
The very old buildings were designed for a time when the use of air conditioners was not common. In addition, they were often built with thicker walls and slabs, which also helped to keep out heat. As a result, these characteristics directly influence the energy performance of buildings.
In this context, these characteristics explain the results observed in LEED's Arc platform. In the same city and with a similar occupancy pattern, old buildings can achieve energy efficiency levels much higher than those of more recent glazed buildings.
Thus, if the building has monthly monitoring of water and energy consumption, a good waste management system, with the implementation of selective collection and landfill diversion targets, the main challenge becomes meeting the ventilation criteria of the most recent standards.
Even so, current technologies and the use of more compact fans allow obtaining certification in buildings with high levels of tipping.
Therefore, our team is prepared to carry out these studies and conduct the LEED certification process in historic buildings, reconciling heritage preservation, operational efficiency and sustainability.
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