Identifying the Sustainable Design Elements for the Conservation of Historic Buildings in Malaysia

The integration of sustainable design elements (SDEs) to the practice of historic building conservation ensures the disused, ineffective or obsolete structures are converted into an economically viable new use which carries both environmental and social benefits whilst retaining its historical values. Although it would heighten its functionality in terms conservation and efficient use of resources, there is an apparent conflict between these two practices as intervention to the historic buildings must adhere to the principles of building conservation which dictates the need to retain the historical values of the building. This poses a challenge to protect the historic values whilst upgrading its usage to suit the contemporary needs and statutory requirement. Currently, there is a lack in the present guidelines that integrates SDEs into the conservation of historic buildings in Malaysia. This paper aims to identify SDEs and practices suitable to be integrated into the guidelines. To achieve this, a documentary review has been conducted by reviewing historic building conservation guidelines from selected countries and few rating tools for assessing building’s environmental design and performance. The identified SDE categories are: 1) energy efficiency; 2) water efficiency; 3) materials and resources; 4) indoor environment quality; and 5) sustainable site planning, building and management. From these identified SDEs, qualitative data would be collected to support it. Incorporating these SDEs into the existing guidelines for conservation of historic building would provide guidance to architects, building conservators and other stakeholders in promoting a more sustainable and greener practice of historic building conservation in Malaysia.