Residential building sector in Serbia has changed dramatically over the last two decades. Large scale projects have given way to individual, private initiative resulting in smaller interventions rarely exceeding one lot. For this reason architectural concepts, building types, scopes and construction technology have been marginalized and fallen under the influence of market mechanisms and stringent local planning procedures.New regulations on energy efficiency have risen the standards for thermal insulation therefore increasing the thickness of building enclosure. This actually means that construction costs are increased and net built area, therefore expected profit, reduced. In order to provide the viable ground for both implementation of new regulations and economic benefits for investors, authors of energy efficiency regulations in Serbia have noted a whole set of solar systems, among which

This paper presents the methodology for the implementation of building typology principles as a tool for the strategic planning of residential building stock energy retrofits on a municipal level in Serbia. Research was conducted under the IEE EPISCOPE (Intelligent Energy Europe EPISCOPE/TABULA project) project with the aim of developing an adequate tool for creating building stock energy retrofit management strategies on a local level. An approach that envisions the diversity and uneven spatial distribution of building stock in smaller scale municipalities and includes statistically relevant sampling of all relevant building types was developed and tested in the pilot project that focused on the city of Vršac. Two options for local typology development were formulated: a top-down approach, which relies on the data from the national typology or other available databases by reducing them to the local level, and a bottom-up approach, which represents a new data gathering and processing method. Both approaches were tested in the pilot project and the results are compared in this paper. From the conclusions of these analyses, a common methodology for the development of local building typologies has been defined. It can be used in the strategic planning of building stock, whether for the purpose of developing local energy action plans (LEAPs) or other purposes internationally.

Buildings are the only resource growing constantly. Although relevant data for Serbia is not available, it is presumed that even more than 50% of energy production is spent on buildings in our country. This conclusion is based on two facts: the present industrial production and the state of buildings. In order to establish measures for energy efficient refurbishment, one residential building was analyzed in Belgrade. The chosen building represents the construction period when application of thermal insulation was not obligatory according to building regulation. As more than 35% of buildings were built in that period, they represent great potential for energy savings through the process of refurbishment

PurposeThis paper wants to explore the potential for energy‐efficient upgrading of existing residential buildings in Belgrade, targeting the portions of the existing building stock which seem to be the most convenient for such intervention.Design/methodology/approachUsing the methodology proposed by the scientific research project “Energy Optimization of Buildings in Context of Sustainable Architecture” (Faculty of Architecture – University of Belgrade and Serbian Ministry of Science and Technology) Belgrade's building stock is presented through six major groups. The typology shows different potentials of these building types for quality rehabilitation.FindingsThis paper shows that it can be estimated that over 45 percent of Belgrade's building stock could be efficiently improved in present market conditions. The potential overall benefit of such shift in the environmental quality of existing buildings is huge enough to initiate active involvement and support of various parties – authorities, legislation, building industry, professional organizations, NGOs, etc.Practical implicationsThe paper points out which building types are the most suitable for such upgrades and improvements. It facilitates the choice for potential pilot‐projects, experimental interventions or sampling for theoretical and numerical research that could explore technical solutions and estimate possible benefits for a particular building or building type.Originality/valueThe paper shows rather informative overview of Belgrade's building stock, structured in order to facilitate further theoretical and practical work in this area and initiate more focused and precise quantification of potential benefits.

Paper presents a case study of refurbishment with energy efficiency upgrade of a family house in Belgrade. Analyzed building is a typical representative of family housing stock, based on the national typology of residential buildings, developed during TABULA project, which resulted in definition of models for energy efficiency upgrade and recommendations for reconstruction of each housing type. In this paper possibilities of application of these principles in a real life situation are presented, and several options for each proposed measure are discussed. Some basic building data from calculations of energy performance of refurbished building and hypothetical model of building with maximum activated thermal envelope are summed up and discussed. Evaluation of achieved results and measurements of real consumption is in progress.