EPC Labels and Building Features: Spatial Implications over Housing Prices

Energy Retrofitting for the Modern Heritage Enhancement in Weak Real Estate Markets: The Olivetti Housing Stock in Ivrea

The enhancement of Modern Heritage buildings is nowadays a challenging issue as they are often degraded or abandoned and their historical value is not well acknowledged by potential buyers and their owners. Moreover, they are usually energy inefficient and obsolete, but investments for energy retrofit interventions are not always convenient, especially in socio-economic contexts characterized by weak real-estate market dynamics. This paper aims to study the influence of intrinsic and extrinsic characteristics on housing prices and, in particular, to understand whether elements of building cultural connotations or some housing green features are monetized by the real estate market. The UNESCO site “Ivrea, industrial city of the 20th century”, located in the weak real-estate context of the Eporediese territorial area, was selected as an emblematic case study and two data samples of property listings were built to perform spatial regression analyses. The results showed that the green features of housing, such as the heating type and the EPC level, have a greater influence on property prices than those characteristics related to the cultural connotations of a building, such as the Olivettian context. Therefore, the current incentive-based policies for energy efficiency can represent great opportunities that can be exploited both to preserve and to improve the condition of this valuable Modern Heritage.

Architectural Quality and the Housing Market: Values of the Late Twentieth Century Built Heritage

The assessment of the ‘quality’ of built heritage is a complex transdisciplinary issue, which both public administrations and real estate developers need to carefully consider when making any interventions. Recent international climate regulations underline that currently around 75% of buildings in the EU are not energy efficient. In Italy, those inefficient buildings are more than 50 years old and, if subjected to retrofit interventions, risk being totally transformed and losing their historical value in favor of a more contemporary use. This work aimed to study the residential heritage of the second half of the 20th century in the real estate market and to understand if, how, and in what measure the building and architectonical qualities are recognized and monetized by buyers. The city of Turin was chosen as a study area, and residential building qualities were analyzed using two quality indicators to perform a GWR on market POIs. The results highlighted that housing historical qualities are not homogeneously recognized by the real estate market, in favor of green ones. This work can help both public and private bodies to identify which ‘invisible’ quality residential buildings are immediately exploitable for enhancement strategies, with more respectful retrofitting interventions and a modern protection policy.

Valuation of Ecological Retrofitting Technology in Existing Buildings: A Real-World Case Study

The world’s existing buildings are aged, in a state of deterioration and in need of interventions. When selecting the type of possible intervention to be applied, the choice falls between two alternatives: simple unsustainable ordinary maintenance versus ecological retrofitting i.e., an increase in the quality of the indoor environment and building energy saving using local bio-natural materials and products. The present research seeks to respond to the requests of recent comprehensive reviews which ask for the retrofitting of the world’s huge existing building stocks and portfolios by proposing an approach and testing it in a specific case study (at the unit, building and urban block level) which can then be carried out and repeated in the future on a larger urban scale. The real-world experimentation in the provided case study achieved the important outcome and goal of a Green Building strategy and post-carbon city framework i.e., the significant enhancement of the thermal performance of the buildings as a result of a few targeted key external works and the consequent saving of energy in those already existing (but not preserved and not included in the state national register or record of monuments) Liberty-style constructions. All the above show that these important existing buildings can be ecologically retrofitted at an affordable cost, although initially slightly more expensive than the cost of ordinary unsustainable maintenance. However, this difference is offset by the favorable pay-back period, which is fast, acceptable and of short duration. The tried and tested approach, the positive proposed case study and the experimental database-GIS joint platform (the details of which can be found in an additional supplementary research which is currently being carried out) are the bases on which a future decision support system will be proposed. This support system can be carried out as a tailor- made solution for the ecological retrofitting of the enormous existing building stocks and portfolios which must be considered on a larger scale i.e., at ward, quartier, city, regional and country level.