LCA-Based Low-Carbon Retrofit of an Industrial Heritage Warehouse: Building No.7 of Scalo Ravone, Bologna

This thesis investigates low-carbon retrofit strategies for Building No. 7, an early-twentieth-century reinforced-concrete warehouse at Scalo Ravone (Bologna) slated for adaptive reuse as a university innovation hub. The baseline was documented with construction and energy profiling using Honeybee, and preliminary embodied-carbon accounting with Tally; before specifying upgrades, a reuse design reorganized functions and space, setting heritage and performance constraints. Envelope measures were then developed and assessed at component level—external walls, windows, skylights, and roof—and synthesized into a whole-envelope low-carbon package. Energy performance was simulated in Rhino/Grasshopper (Honeybee), and life-cycle carbon quantified with One Click LCA over a 50-year period (A1–A5, B4–B5, C1–C4, B6; D excluded). Results show operational emissions dominate; triple-glazed windows and skylights and a PIR-insulated roof yield the largest operational reductions, while a double-wall external wall balances performance with embodied impacts. The combined package cuts total EUI by ~40% and total life cycle GWP by ~35–40%, despite a moderate rise in embodied carbon. The study highlights envelop performance as a primary lever for decarbonizing industrial heritage and supports adaptive reuse as a pathway to climate-aligned urban regeneration.