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GBC Historic Building®  is the voluntary certification protocol of the level of environmental sustainability of conservation, recovery and integration interventions of historical artefacts in respect and protection of their historical-testimonial and cultural value. The first and only rating system in the world dedicated to historic buildings, understood as building artefacts that constitute “material evidence of civilizational value”. The same buildings that represent for the Faro Convention, already implemented by the Italian Senate, a cultural heritage to be safeguarded and enhanced.

In Italy, over 30% of real estate assets date back to before 1940 and this architectural heritage often has invaluable cultural and identity value. The protocol combines two different cultures: the culture of sustainable construction which refers to the criteria of the LEED® standards and the culture deriving from the vast wealth of knowledge inherent in the world of restoration.

STRUCTURE

The protocol provides qualitative and quantitative specifications to define the level of sustainability of the building intervention in the restoration project and related works through a holistic and multi-criteria approach, according to the seven thematic areas that characterize the now consolidated protocols of the LEED-GBC family, adding a further one, specific to sustainable intervention in the conservation field called “Historical Valenza” (VS), which is in fact one of the main innovations of the protocol. Each thematic area is internally divided into requirements, some mandatory for certification (called prerequisites) and others voluntary and rewarded with scores (called credits), the sum of which defines the level of certification achievable by the project.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

GBC Historic Building applies to historic buildings that constitute “material evidence of civilizational value”. For the purposes of applying the GBC HB protocol, the building must have been built before 1945 for a portion of at least 50% of the existing technical elements.

The protocol applies in the case of restoration, redevelopment or recovery interventions, even partial integration, but in any case in the context of major renovations, understood as interventions that involve significant elements of the air conditioning systems and the renewal or functional reorganization of the internal spaces , evaluating possible solutions to improve the performance of the building envelope, compatibly with the protection of the typological and construction characteristics of the existing building.

ASACERT – ACCREDITED INSPECTION BODY

On behalf of GBC Italia, the certification body that owns the protocol and holds the certification scheme, ASACERT, can therefore carry out specific inspection and verification activities. Accreditation by GBC Italia presupposes compliance with pre-established requirements linked to the structure, process skills and quality of service, which also provide for ACCREDIA accreditation for specific schemes, such as independent third-party bodies (type A) for inspection activities (technical control and project validation) and as certification bodies for quality management systems in the EA28 sector.

Once the verification activity of a project has been assigned to ASACERT which is an ACCREDITED INSPECTION BODY, the design/construction team will deliver the evidence for the inspection activities (in the field and documentary) to GBC Italia, so that they can be carried out all necessary checks. The inspectors will then deliver the lists, verification forms and inspection reports to GBC Italia and ASACERT, in turn, will carry out the final congruence and completeness checks and deliver an verification report to GBC Italia. We will then proceed with a final review of the process: in the event of a positive result, GBC Italia will establish the level of certification that can be assigned and carry out administrative checks, and then grant certification of the project via certificate.