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Protecting cultural heritage buildings against natural disasters and climate change

Integrated seismic and energy retrofitting is of particular relevance to EU cultural heritage buildings. The JRC has been a dynamic participant in major milestones and publications within the European cultural heritage sphere, offering insights and recommendations on topics connected to the Commission's Staff Working Document (SWD)- European Framework for Action on Cultural Heritage.

In this Framework for Action, upgrading the European built heritage from the seismic safety and energy efficiency viewpoints, is acknowledged within the Action Plan of the SWD, specifically on Cluster of Actions 9: Protecting cultural heritage against natural disasters and climate change, referring explicitly to iRESIST+. Moreover, the scientific activities of the JRC on innovative seismic and energy retrofitting of existing buildings, have a strong impact in formulating both the Orientation Paper and the Final Action Plan of the EU Urban Partnership (UP) on Culture and Cultural Heritage. Specifically, several parts of the Better Knowledge Actions 8 and 9 of the latter policy document are based and directly refer to the JRC project outputs and its novel approach to the combined seismic and energy retrofitting of existing historical buildings.