SUSTAINABLE RETROFITTING OF LARGE PANEL PREFABRICATED CONCRETE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

Summary In the present context, large part of the Romanian urban population lives in collective multi-storey residential buildings made out of large prefabricated reinforced concrete panels. Most of these buildings are over 30 years old, and the materials used for thermal insulation are already out-dated. Because most residential buildings do not meet the modern internal ambient regulations, it is necessary to improve their energy efficiency by sustainable renovation solutions, which besides the economic and social benefits will lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The study evaluates different types of retrofitting solutions starting from basic thermal retrofit and moisture control solutions, which ensure the compliance with quality requirements, up to more developed systems, integrating new materials and technologies and including the use of green energy. In order to apply a global renovation strategy, the paper also presents the representative typologies of executed buildings, the context when they appeared, their evolution in time and their current and actual problems. There are presented approaches for retrofitting the existing residential building stock. In the second part, the paper presents a comparative study, related to the environmental impact analysis, for the rehabilitation stage only, considering three solutions for cladding.