Special Issue "Sustainable Reinforcement and Restoration of Historic Buildings"

Dear Colleagues,

It is now widely accepted that all building interventions must meet the requirement of sustainability. In the field of new buildings, this requirement is generally interpreted in terms of reducing "consumption". Similarly, a significant percentage of interventions on the built environment have energy efficiency and transformation for densification as their transversal objectives, with a consequent reduction in land consumption. In the field of consolidation and restoration of historic buildings, the requirement of sustainability must be carefully addressed in all its complexity.

In this case, more than ever, it is necessary that the purely technical aspects are combined with the sustainability of the intervention from the point of view of consistency with the stratified historical palimpsest, but also taking into account the cultural, social and, not least, economic factors. From the setting of knowledge phases, to the planning of diagnosis (when necessary), to the conception and evaluation of technically feasible solutions, the sustainability key must be taken into account to identify the best solution for its ability to balance the many and often divergent orders of requirements.

The techniques of reinforcement and restoration for historic buildings are evolving towards less invasive and more compatible solutions with regard to the original construction technology. Both the repair and strengthening materials must meet the main requirement of being compatible with the historical ones, so that the restoration works are durable over time.

To name some examples, the sustainability of chosen materials affects the production chain, enhancing a return to traditional natural and local materials for easy recycling and reuse. On this issue, the return to use of hydraulic lime-based mortars, suplemented with fibers of vegetable origins (such as straw, dried canvas, cork, wood chips), or composite materials with lignocellulosic fibers, meets the need to reduce the use and disposal of traditional polymeric materials obtained from oil sources, and, at the same time, can satisfy the thermal comfort requirement of the existing buildings.

Similarly, the restoration and seismic improvement of historic buildings is a very complex design process that cannot be generalized with a single unique solution, but with careful studies, developed case-by-case given the individual historical context. Here, the choice of more sustainable materials should be based on in-depth testing of the chemical–physical–mechanical characteristics (with regard to compatibility and durability requirements), also reaching a balanced response for different but interrelated requirements: static and seismic safety, restoration and conservation, thermal comfort.

Based on this premise, the objective of this Special Issue is to collect high-quality papers addressing contemporary challenges and innovation aimed at improving the sustainability of restoration and reinforcement works on historic buildings. Contributions may cover state-of-the-art research, experimental tests, intervention methodologies and case studies in this area of research.

We are pleased to launch a new Special Issue focusing on recent developments in the field of sustainable reinforcement and restoration techniques for historic buildings.

It is now widely accepted that all building interventions must meet the requirement of sustainability. In the field of new buildings, this requirement it is generally interpreted in terms of reducing "consumptions". Similarly, a significant percentage of interventions on the built environment have as their transversal objective energy efficiency and transformation for densification, with a consequent reduction in land consumption. It is perhaps in the field of consolidation and restoration of historic buildings that the requirement of Sustainability must be carefully addressed in all its complexity.

A nonexhaustive nor binding list of possible topics of interest is reported below:

• Laboratory and in situ tests;
• Lime-based repair mortars reinforced with vegetal fibers;
• Composite repair materials with natural fibers;
• Sustainable repair and restoration techniques;
• Sustainable strengthening and seismic improvement techniques
• Analysis of recycling and reuse of sustainable materials used in restoration building sites;
• Performance comparison between cement and sustainable materials;
• Case studies.

Dr. Alessandro Grazzini
Dr. Sara Fasana
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• sustainable repair mortars
• sustainable materials, historic buildings
• sustainable repair techniques
• sustainable strengthening techniques
• sustainable seismic improvement techniques
• laboratory tests
• durability restoration techniques
• LCA