Deep Renovation Research Articles

Technology acceptance of balcony solar systems in Hungary – exploring influencing factors in a late-adopter country

PurposeBalcony solar panels are popular and widespread in most EU Member States, except in Hungary, where their use is currently banned. However, the lifting of this strict ban is expected to be approved in the near future. The aim of this research is to investigate which factors influence residents’ intention to use balcony solar panels in Hungary and how strong these impacts are.Design/methodology/approachUnified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) is applied to predict which factors may influence residents’ behavioral intention to use this technology. Six components are tested: performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitating conditions, hedonic motivation and price value. Data were gathered in Hungary in 2023 using an online survey. A quota sampling method was employed during the data-collection process.FindingsOur results confirm the importance of all components except effort expectancy. In addition to the economic benefits that can be achieved, citizens consider energy independence and a sense of freedom to be important in the adoption of such systems.Research limitations/implicationsDespite the large share of positive responses (expressed intention) that is identified, a gap between intention and action can be expected.Practical implicationsTo increase the rate of acceptance, transparent regulation, simplified administration and the application of nudges may be crucially important. However, the widespread use of balcony solar systems is hindered by the lack of a modern, energy-efficient building stock, emphasizing the urgency of deep renovation in the Hungarian household sector.Originality/valueThis research is the first to use the UTAUT2 model to analyze the technology acceptance of balcony solar systems in a late-adopter country.

An innovative approach to automate BIM data retrieval and processing for building acoustic comfort calculations based on the IFC standard

Nowadays, there is a growing demand for deep renovation projects aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings while enhancing indoor comfort conditions for the inhabitants, both thermal and acoustic. To design effective renovation strategies, technicians need to know the current state of the building to propose acoustic or only thermal improvements. However, evaluating indoor acoustic comfort requires time-consuming and tedious calculations, which can be prone to errors when handled manually. While Building Information Modelling (BIM) can facilitate this process by leveraging the extensive contained data and offering the potential to automate these processes, such automation is not yet widespread. Typically, only geometric data is retrieved automatically from BIM models in acoustic software, while acoustic parameters must be provided manually. This paper addresses these challenges by introducing a novel approach that integrates automated data extraction from BIM with acoustic simulation tools. Specifically, an Extract, Transform and Load (ETL) solution was designed to automatically retrieve both geometric and acoustic data for an Acoustic Comfort tool, which calculates an estimation of indoor acoustic comfort, from an Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). This approach was tested in a demonstration case located in Spain, showing a significant reduction in processing time and increased accuracy compared to traditional methods of manually extracting data from BIM for acoustic assessment. This research represents a significant advance in acoustic simulations by integrating IFC data with automated processing, improving accuracy and offering practical advantages for developing more efficient and reliable BIM-based applications, thus supporting the design of deep renovation projects.

Moisture Safety in Prefabricated Roof Renovations: Causes and Strategies

Achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 requires extensive energy renovation of the existing building stock. In this study we focus on deep renovation with prefabricated insulation elements as a potential solution to attain the required renovation speed and volume. The use of such elements without a proper moisture safety strategy can, however, lead to moisture-related problems, including mould growth. Here we examine the causes of moisture and mould damage in a case study of a building that has been renovated to near-zero energy standards using prefabricated insulation elements. The study elucidates the reasons for the moisture damages detected and proposes two moisture safety strategies to improve the situation. The first strategy emphasizes the importance of ensuring dry construction conditions by either using a full temporary roof or avoiding rainfall during installation. The second strategy addresses localized water damage to the attic floor and involves the use of protective measures, active ventilation and a correct installation sequence. In the case of local moisture damage, the required amount of ventilation air flow during summer is 0.5–0.55 l/(s·m²). During cooler periods, heating is needed. The employed methods include modelling the case-study building with the IDA Indoor Climate and Energy software, as well as mould growth risk assessment based on temperature and relative humidity measurements. The results highlight the effectiveness of both strategies in preventing mould growth if applied correctly, and emphasize the need for thorough planning, moisture safety regulations and rapid response to ensure successful renovation with prefabricated insulation units. The study provides valuable information on moisture safety strategies for serial renovations with prefabricated elements. The existence and proper implementation of a moisture safety strategy is important for achieving the desired energy performance goals while maintaining building durability and occupant health, and it needs to be applied throughout the chain of site management: from the main contractor down to the skilled worker.

Assessment of the Renovation Need, Material Authenticity, and the Cultural and Environmental Value of Historic Apartment Building Neighbourhoods

Preserving the built heritage, maintaining the original exteriors of historic apartment buildings, and achieving today’s living standards and ambitious environmental objectives require a multidisciplinary approach encompassing cultural, economic, legal, social, environmental and historical factors. This study aims to assess the need for renovation and the cultural and environmental value of historic apartment buildings. Architects, conservators and civil engineers have been involved to evaluate the authenticity of materials and forms, their technical condition and suitability to the historic urban milieu across 19 building components. Our findings reveal significant replacement activities in various elements such as roof coverings, roof eaves, façades, stairwell windows, stairwells, exterior doors, and window and frame distribution, with a particular focus on materials rather than geometry. Notably, there is often a lack of original materials of the windows. When comparing materials and geometries, we observed a higher frequency of material replacement. While the immediate need for intervention may not be urgent, many historic apartment buildings are at risk of imminent material deterioration, necessitating timely renovation. The deep renovation approach, which extends the service life, enhances energy efficiency and indoor climate and restores the exterior aesthetics, offers a threefold benefit. However, aligning the current reconstruction requirements with the preservation of milieu values may remain ambiguous, leading homeowners to resist or overlook these obligations. Consequently, a culture of step-by-step (staged) renovation emerges, contributing to an eclectic appearance of the historically valuable area and promoting the use of inappropriate materials. In conclusion, this research emphasizes the importance of a holistic approach to building renovation, which yields architecturally superior and technically sustainable outcomes. The current study underscores the necessity for a shift in the authorized heritage discourse in Estonia. Rather than primarily imposing restrictive measures on construction and renovation projects, the focus should pivot towards effective communication of historical values. It is crucial to provide support and guidance (not restrictions) to building owners, designers and builders in this regard.

Main Principles and Solutions for Acceleration of Energy Efficient Renovation in Latvia

The European Renovation Wave aims to at least double the annual energy renovation rate by 2030, especially promoting deep renovation. In order to achieve this goal, EU member states need to overcome the existing obstacles in the whole chain of the building renovation process by using certain policy measures and finance instruments. According to the Ministry of Economics of Latvia, the current necessity is to renovate around 26 thousand multi-apartment buildings. Therefore, not only the problem of the lack of additional financing should be solved but also the pace of implementation should be significantly increased. This study starts with an overview of the main obstacles of the building renovation in Latvia and gives an insight into the main challenges in the achievement of the goal. The study includes the review of existing support programmes and financing schemes, designed to improve the energy efficiency of multi-apartment buildings in Latvia. Moreover, the study analyses the existing support mechanisms in Latvia, and reviews different policy measures for regulatory requirements, fiscal and economic incentives and information campaigns in Europe. In addition, the study proposes an assessment of the availability of financial support for the low-income households, and analyses energy poverty solving tools. As a result, the study defines basic principles and examines the solutions for energy efficient renovation in Latvia – including tax incentives, regulatory framework, development of financial schemes and models for acceleration of building renovation. The solutions have been evaluated considering country specific economic, technical, and social aspects, and defined as a set of recommendations for decision makers.

Deep energy efficiency renovation of Germany’s residential buildings: is this as economically viable as Germany’s policymakers and popular promoters often claim?

Germany needs to steeply increase the rate of deep energy-efficiency renovation of its old buildings, to meet climate goals. The government has long maintained that deep renovation to a specified “minimum” energy efficiency standard is economically viable: that the costs are paid back, through energy savings, over the technical lifetime of the energy-efficiency measures. Many private and public organisations support and promulgate this view. It accords with a stream of academic literature which suggests that the under-adoption of energy efficiency measures is a paradox indicating market failures and economically irrational behaviour by property owners. This paper offers cost–benefit analyses of 44 case study scenarios to test whether deep renovation in Germany pays back in monetary terms. These include both specific buildings and Germany-wide averages of classes of buildings. It uses current construction, finance and energy costs, and takes account of inflation, discount rates and opportunity costs. None of the scenarios are economically viable in monetary terms, and the average payback after 25 years is around 22.5%. Sensitivity analyses suggest payback would only be achieved using improbable parameter values. Energy-efficiency renovation is necessary but promoting it needs to take account of these realities.

Investigating Energy Renovation of Multi-Owner Buildings and Real Estate Market Issues in a Degraded Greek Urban Area

States establish ambitious policies and important measures to achieve targets for the energy upgrade of buildings but although some important barriers prevent their implementation in space, they are rather overlooked by research. In this paper, it is argued that extensive multi-ownership (MO) and weak performance of the real estate market in degraded urban areas impede the mass energy retrofitting of multi-owner buildings (MOBs), which are an important part of the urban building stock A deprived area of central Athens (Greece) that serves as a case study. With a pluridisciplinary approach based on extensive field surveys, cadastral data analysis and cases of energy renovation of buildings through a public–private partnership financing scheme as well as ways to overcome the MO issue were explored, according to the provisions of the Greek legal framework. The integrated urban regeneration approach is promoted as a means to encounter the MO issue and enhance the functioning of the real estate market by the generation of surplus values that will render the energy retrofitting of buildings more attractive to investors and thus achieve the deep renovation of MOBs towards the sustainability of the urban environment. This paper ultimately advocates the integration of energy planning with spatial planning.

Low carbon emission renovation of historical residential buildings

The urgency of renovating residential buildings in heritage conservation areas while addressing carbon emission reduction and energy performance has become a concern in the context of climate change. European directives stress the importance of enhancing existing buildings to achieve climate neutrality by 2050. An approximately 100-year-old wooden apartment building in the heritage conservation area in Võru, Estonia, was designed as a nearly zero-energy building (nZEB). This study examined the impact of different renovation scenarios, considering both embodied and operational carbon emissions. During the study, the technical requirements of the National Heritage Board were developed in several aspects. The results of this study indicate that it is possible to renovate buildings in heritage conservation areas and achieve great energy performance. In addition to improving energy performance, it is possible to make the restoration of a significantly damaged exterior with intermediate repairs more cost-effective for the owner. Deep renovation of a historical wooden building decreases its carbon footprint as it leads to more energy-efficient renovation solutions. This is because operational emissions dominate over embodied emissions in a cold climate. From an environmental perspective, it is more feasible to renovate historically valuable buildings more deeply than it is to upgrade the external appearance of buildings. Renovation work to achieve an nZEB building should include insulating the thermal envelope while restoring the historical appearance and preserving the original building profile. In conclusion, this study offers a comprehensive analysis of various scenarios, including carbon footprint, energy performance, and cost optimality, related to different renovation strategies for buildings located in heritage conservation areas. There is a need to align heritage board technical requirements with the environmental perspective. Given that major renovation is more cost-effective and better at preserving the exterior appearance compared to staged renovation, the former should be preferred to ensure the owner's willingness to pay.

Circular Renovation of an Apartment Building with Prefabricated Additional Insulation Elements to Nearly Zero Energy Building

Construction and demolition waste constitute more than one-third of the total waste generated in the European Union. The pursuit of sustainable renovation must progress further to encompass elements that ensure reuse or recyclability. A fundamental transformation, involving extensive renovation and a transition to circular renovation practices, is indispensable in effectively addressing the pressing challenge of decarbonization for the entire building stock in Europe. In this study, we have developed a circular deep renovation solution using prefabricated modular external additional insulation elements to achieve a nearly Zero Energy Building (nZEB). Circular prefabricated modular external additional insulation elements were formulated, manufactured, and installed. The potential for disassembly and reutilization of materials was developed and demonstrated for both a prototype and the complete deep renovation. The analysed prefabricated modular solutions exhibited greater potential for circularity compared to the traditional External Thermal Insulation Composite System (ETICS) due to their superior demountability and reusability characteristics. The overall cost of the renovation, which included the installation of a new heating system, replacement of water and sewer pipes, addition of 50 kW photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof, installation of new balconies, addition of a balanced ventilation system with heat recovery, and replacement of the electricity system in common areas, amounted to 505 €/m². Following the deep renovation, the Energy Performance Value was measured to be 92 kWh/(m²·a), resulting in an EPC class of A. This implies that the building now meets the requirements for nZEB in accordance with Estonian legislation, with no performance gap.

Technical State, Renovation Need and Performance of Renovation Solutions of Estonian Wooden Log Houses

The wooden log house serves as a prevalent architectural archetype in rural regions of several Nordic and Baltic countries. To ensure the long-lasting nature of these buildings, proper maintenance is imperative. However, in order to meet the evolving expectations of residents and minimize the environmental impact, a deep renovation is currently required. To successfully achieve the goals of this renovation wave and effectively address the personal needs of the homeowners, it is crucial to develop systemic renovation solutions that can be offered through a digital renovation passport. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to identify common damages, renovation requirements, and evaluate current renovation practices. The findings will serve as a crucial resource for the development of a digital renovation passport. In our study, we utilize rural wooden log houses (comprising 208 houses, 4 years of data) as our research subject. The building elements that are most in need of renovation are the external walls, roofs, and foundations, which require renovation in 77%, 63%, and 63% of the buildings, respectively. The primary cause of damage to the vulnerable structures is excessive moisture. Additionally, decay in the foundation can be attributed to factors such as erosion of mortar, frost, insufficient plinth height, inadequate foundation depth, and inadequate moisture protection. Recommendations provided by consultants primarily focus on restoring and preserving the dwellings' original architectural appearance. As a result, they are deemed insufficient in terms of improving energy performance and indoor climate. This lack of comprehensive consultation is concerning as it fails to consider the potential for cost efficiency, minimizing disruption to occupants, and achieving a comprehensive end result. The absence of recommendations for enhancing indoor climate, energy efficiency, general living quality, and reducing the building's carbon footprint performance the necessity for such renovation solutions and the importance of educating professionals and homeowners. The study's novelty lies in the establishment of statistical probabilities for damages and their causes, as well as the assessment of renovation and maintenance needs and the quality of existing recommendations. Results are scaled to the Estonian building stock, showing the renovation need on national scale. The findings can be incorporated into the digital renovation passport, along with specific renovation goals related to a given house.

Revitalizing Modernist Districts: Neighbourhood Level Mass-Renovation with SOFTacademy Project

This article discusses the neighbourhood-level renovation potential in Tallinn's modernist privately owned apartment blocks, with the aim of addressing the global need for deep renovation. The analysis considers international directives, national policies and municipal objectives, highlighting the focus of current renovation initiatives on apartment buildings. The discourse drives the ongoing conflict between energy-focused renovation and the preservation of spatial quality, relevant especially for the countries that favour partial renovation over the complete transformation of a building. It analyses the emerging impact of the New European Bauhaus (NEB) initiative, emphasizing the need to balance technical energy investments with cultural and aesthetic considerations in wider neighbourhoods. Shifting the focus to Tallinn, the article deals with the challenges of modernist mass production housing districts, recognizing their technical structure, current decay and socio-economic limitations. The European Renovation Wave strategy and upcoming energy efficiency requirements are seen as catalysts for neighbourhood revitalization, prompting the exploration of innovative models to transform these neighbourhoods into liveable and functional spaces. The discussion unfolds within the NEB compass, emphasizing the core values of beauty, sustainability, and cohesion. Practical considerations for the transformation of Tallinn districts are discussed, including spatial regulations, the complexity of ownership and the different perspectives of apartment owners. As a solution, the SOFTacademy approach is introduced, proposing a collaborative model establishing both the hardware and software elements for NEB driven renovation of neighbourhoods. In terms of hardware solution, prefabrication and modularity is used both for renovating the buildings as well as reinventing the courtyards around them. While the physical rejuvenation of the neighbourhoods is the key to NEB transformation, the shift depends as much from the software solutions. The results outline a process for initiating neighbourhood-level renovations, emphasizing the importance of consulting with owners, creating blueprints, and entering into cooperative agreements.

An ontology-based tool for safety management in building renovation projects

Managing deep renovation projects is challenging due to the interactions with their surroundings, the issues of limited access and space, and the uncertainty around the composition and conditions of existing buildings. The interplay between the building areas, the building elements involved in the deep renovation, and the renovation scenarios and activities present challenging situations for managing safety risks. Research on enhancing safety in building projects using digital approaches such as BIM has mainly focussed on new construction works, yet limited research is available for deep building renovation projects. Using a Design Science Research (DSR) methodology, this paper develops an ontology for representation and identification of hazards in deep building renovations, instantiates the ontology through the development of a digital tool, and demonstrates its usefulness in hazard representation and identification by performing tests with real industry data from deep renovation projects, as part of a Horizon Europe 2020 research project, called RINNO. The testing involved a multi-residence apartment case study and three different renovation scenarios and successfully demonstrated the ability to automatically identify potential hazards relating to a particular renovation strategy. While the proposed ontology can be used to reduce the risk of accidents and injuries in building retrofit projects, its main implication is in laying the foundation for future digitally enabled approaches for managing safety in building renovation projects.

Retrofitting urban areas with wood: the origin of new projects in an emerging business ecosystem

Nurturing a low-carbon residential building stock requires businesses to create new solutions for markets. Wood material-based retrofits would be one solution but have remained rare in the urban context. Our study explores the structure and dynamics of an emerging business ecosystem (BE) of wooden retrofits in Finland. We study wooden retrofit projects, from the perspective of the initial steps of local-level development. By applying the concepts of BE and dynamic capabilities, we aim to shed light on the role of actors and their early-stage decision-making and use actor mapping and qualitative analysis of 27 thematic interviews with retrofit businesses and municipal actors. Results show that project initiation has relied on individual champions seizing opportunities as a main base in building dynamic capabilities. Builders and customers are key actors of wooden retrofit projects in local BEs in Finland. The identified actors are further involved with future plans for wooden retrofits, some with ambitious deep renovation with wood. Motivations for projects are driven from urban densification strategies, improvement of suburban neighborhood attractiveness and from the efficiency of space utilization. Results further elaborate a certain degree of difficulty in the early-stage decision-making. This study contributes to the scientific knowledge of both the BE and the dynamic capability perspective by exploring a path to material-driven sustainable construction in the Finnish context. We provide new information on this emerging retrofit construction business with potentially significant international implications if scaled up more widely.

Assessing the circular re-design of prefabricated building envelope elements for carbon neutral renovation

Buildings and the construction industry at large are significant contributors to the catastrophic climate breakdown. The built environment is responsible for 37% of the total global carbon emission, of which about a third arises from the energy used to produce building and construction materials, usually referred to as embodied carbon. One of the key strategies to reduce the environmental impact of buildings is to significantly improve their energy efficiency, which is referred to as deep renovation. Prefabricated building envelope elements intended to prevent heat loss through the building envelope are considered a key deep-renovation technology. Connecting prefabricated elements to a building reflects a potential stream of waste if applied linearly with severe negative environmental impact in terms of natural resource depletion and exposure to pollutants. This article reports on a quantitative Design for Disassembly (Dfd) indicator to assess future recovery potential and, subsequently, its impact on embodied carbon emission of the circular redesign of three different prefabricated building envelope elements. Although none of the redesigned elements are yet considered 100% circular, the development of these three prefabricated building envelope elements showcases that the environmental impact can be substantially reduced following a well-structured and dedicated innovation process. The reduction of the environmental impact is indicated by lower quantities of embodied carbon up to 50% and an improved design for disassembly, reflecting a higher reuse potential of building materials and components. Several limitations and directions for further research were identified to advance the development of circular, prefabricated deep-renovation building envelope elements.

Multifunctional façades for renovation through industrialization

This Special Issue compiles results of EU H2020 funded projects working on the development of multi-functional envelope solutions for deep renovation of buildings. The projects have a common and aligned objective to develop and demonstrate plug & build smart components, including insulation materials, heating and cooling elements, ventilation, smart windows, energy production, solar harvesting, and storage with necessary connecting and controlling parts to be integrated in a prefabricated envelope system. They highlight that plug & build solutions are suitable for mass production by industry for buildings undergoing deep renovation to NZEB standards. They also underline that the development and implementation of digital based technologies can boost the application of such industrialized concepts.

Off-site prefabricated hybrid façade systems

The residential sector is responsible for the largest share of global energy consumption, while the existing building stock in Europe is relatively old. This issue, in combination with the low rate of new constructions, highlights the necessity for deep renovation of existing buildings to reach NZEB standards. At the same time, in the last decades, off-site prefabricated solutions have gained popularity in the building market, allowing the reliable and effective integration of diverse components and reducing the total renovation cost and occupants’ disturbance. The current study describes three all-in-one “Plug & Play” prefab renovation solutions and their assessment in terms of thermal, static, acoustic, and fire performance. The assessing performance is selected depending on their incorporated element as well as the national regulations of the country where the renovation solution is going to be installed. The assessment aims to ensure their characteristics’ satisfaction with the European and national requirements. In parallel, the assessment identifies the accurate behaviour of prefab façade systems both in passive and active mode and improves/optimises any possible design drawbacks.

Comparative cost analysis of traditional and industrialised deep retrofit scenarios for a residential building

In this paper, the economic competitiveness for deep retrofit actions between the industrialised off-site and the traditional on-site approaches are discussed by using a comparative Life Cycle Costing (LCC) analysis. This assessment was based on a deep analysis of all renovation-related cost and timing processes, from design to operation and maintenance phases. The study was based on three retrofit scenarios for an existing building in Italy undergoing a deep renovation. The Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) was developed starting from real costs and a list of bills collected by the design team and the industrialised technologies developers. Afterwards, the LCC modelling was performed for all scenarios. The results show that the two deep retrofit approaches (traditional and industrialised) are comparable in terms of investment costs, even if a gap of around -7% and +16% still exists. This highlights a potential for technological optimisation. Moreover, the operation and maintenance phase has shown to be key to transforming the expected higher quality of the industrialised components into a prolonged life expectance, hence highly impacting the whole cumulated Net Present Value. Finally, the analysis of the End of Life (EoL) phase in case of possible reusing of some dismantled components in the industrialised scenario resulted in contributing in a relevant way to increase the final value of such an approach.

A Parametric Approach for Optimizing Design Solutions in Urban Regeneration and Reshaping: An Application to a District Block in Bologna, Italy

This paper addresses the deep renovation and enhancement of energy efficiency in existing urban areas, aiming to transform them into zero energy districts, utilizing renewable sources. This transformative process is essential to align with contemporary models for new buildings and to elevate existing structures to meet environmental housing standards mandated by current regulations. The proposed densification strategy is motivated by the necessity to augment the real estate value and enhance the architectural and performance quality of the existing building stock, all while minimizing additional land occupation. Its efficacy has been rigorously tested and demonstrated within the European Horizon 2020 project “ABRACADABRA”. The key actions advocated for in this approach revolve around the incorporation of renewable energies, volumetric expansion, and completion volumes (urban infill), within the Positive Energy District. The validation of this process occurs on a district scale in a social housing urban block located in Bologna (Italy), with currently poor environmental performance. A multi-criteria analysis was employed to examine the architectural, climatic, and energy context. The meta-design phase successfully attained the energy and economic targets set by the project and by local and European regulations settings, offering an optimized design solutions for reshaping the built environment.

To What Extent Could Alternative Economic Models Increase Investment in the Renovation of and Reduce Energy Poverty in Social Housing in Flanders?

An important share of the social housing stock in Flanders is outdated, resulting in a high energy demand for heating. Energetic renovation is hence urgently needed. The current economic model, however, does not stimulate this due to a split incentive. As energy prices have increased in the past few years, more tenants have suffered from energy poverty. This paper investigates three alternative economic models aiming at increasing the incentive for renovation, while financially protecting the tenants. In the first alternative model, tenants are protected by inducing a maximal cost of living based on their income. In the second alternative model, a fixed rent is applied, while the third alternative model proposes to share the cost benefits of the energetic renovation. The paper analyses the alternative models by assessing the costs and income for social housing companies and the costs for tenants for an unrenovated building, a renovation with a low investment cost and a deep energetic renovation. The results show that limiting the cost of living based on income seems most interesting as this is beneficial for the tenants and gives an incentive for the social housing companies to renovate. To reduce energy poverty, a deep renovation is necessary.

Sustainable Renovation of Public Buildings through Seismic–Energy Upgrading: Methodology and Application to an RC School Building

There are many existing buildings for which seismic rehabilitation interventions are required, especially in earthquake-prone areas like Italy. At the same time, the deep energy crisis that Europe is facing highlights the need for sustainable techniques that are able to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. In order to mitigate the social and cultural obstacles for deep renovations of buildings, effective techniques and methods are required to avoid relocating users, which often discourages such interventions. To this purpose and as the main novelty, this research is aimed at presenting a new strengthening technique for reinforced concrete buildings that is able to integrate structural seismic strengthening and energy efficiency improvements. It is made up of new framed structures connected from the outside to the existing building, thus reducing the intrusiveness and relocation needs of users. At the same time, the seismic strengthening technique is conceived for an optimal coupling with energy saving interventions like high-performance external insulation finishing systems. In this study, these techniques are described and applied to a reinforced concrete (RC) school building designed only for gravity loads, according to outdated standards. The results show that the considered strengthening technique increases the seismic performance of the building with respect to both life safety and damage limitation requirements, avoiding any further local interventions to the building’s interior. On the other hand, the energy renovation allows for significant savings, since the resulting reduction in the total non-renewable energy consumption is larger than 80%.