Environmental sustainability assessment of structural retrofit of masonry buildings based on LCA

Over the last decade, the rehabilitation/renovation of existing buildings has progressively attracted the attention of the scientific community and government institutions. While many studies report on mechanical and energy improvements of retrofitted/renovated existing structures, only few works deal with the environmental impacts of such interventions and related assessment approaches. The environmental impacts related to a structural retrofit option can be successfully quantified by means of life-cycle assessment (LCA) techniques. In particular, a proper cradle to gate (or grave) system boundary can be considered at the scale of the existing building which is subjected to the structural retrofit process, encompassing design requirements and alternative solutions. We propose a step-by-step methodological approach based on LCA which aims to evaluate the life cycle environmental impacts of typical retrofit processes applied to existing masonry structures.