KEEPING THE HISTORICAL HERITAGE ALIVE: Methodology for the energy renovation of the historic residential stock of the east extension in Brussels

Keeping the historical heritage alive is part of European culture. There are a huge number of historical buildings in Europe, the majority of which are still wasting large amounts of energy (1). Although a certain degree of caution should be maintained when thinking up renovation plans for historical buildings, the simple argumentation that they can't in anyway be adapted to integrate new renewable energy installations for fear of changing their nature and appearance is not endurable in the societal move towards sustainability (3). This study defines a pre-assessment methodology for the retrofitting of historical building stock in the east extension in Brussels and the rules to understand the factors influencing the efficiency measures applied. Beginning with the evaluation of the building stock characteristics and its urban structure context under a holistic approach, we are able to identify the synergies and/or incompatibilities between the different techniques applied. The result is a tool that identifies in an early stage the benefits or impacts of different actions and the solutions that better fits, achieving an energy efficiency improvement from a technical, legal and economic point of view.