IHBC Yearbook 2022

R E V I E W A N D A N A L Y S I S 41 INTELLIGENT MAINTENANCE ALGORITHMS, DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES and DECARBONISATION ALAN FORSTER, FRÉDÉRIC BOSCHÉ and ENRIQUE VALERO B UILDING MAINTENANCE is well understood to be crucial to the conservation of historic buildings. Such is the importance of maintenance that it is central to most primary building conservation charters and legislative frameworks globally. However, while recognised as a force for good, its implementation is variable and is often a much-neglected operation. This is frustrating given that timely (ideally proactive) and well- considered maintenance is understood to slow building fabric degradation and is associated with significant cumulative cost savings in the longer term. Although benefits have largely been seen through a financial lens, more recent considerations for its role in the retention of embodied energy and CO2 savings are gaining traction. Our buildings ‘lock up’ carbon and can be viewed as ‘carbon sinks’ – we have constructed the buildings expending CO2 , in return creating architectural and societal utility. Slowing decay in fabric therefore saves both money and embodied carbon, and allows culturally significant, societally important buildings to remain in use. Small defects can rapidly accelerate into larger issues in a cumulatively worsening chain of events. A good example of this is defective rainwater goods leading to penetrating dampness in primary construction elements. That in turn accelerates masonry decay associated with freeze thaw, salt crystallisation and an array of biodeterioration mechanisms in timbers built into walls. In addition to the overt deterioration of fabric, the saturation of walling fabric causes increased thermal conductivity and greater heat loss, leading to an increase in energy use and corresponding operational carbon emissions in the long-term. Their poor thermal performance Good maintenance helps to retain the carbon that is already locked into historic buildings (their embodied energy) and progressive digital technologies can help facilitate the process. (Photo: Richard Fraser)