Energy Retrofit and Fire Protection in Existing High-Rise Residential Buildings: A Case Study in Modena (Italy)

The deep renovation of existing buildings requires the application of thermal in-sulation to the façades. Unfortunately, with regard to residential buildings that are more than 24 metres high, thus characterized by a high number of occupants with a long time evacuation, the presence of thermal insulation inside ventilated fa-çades or within composite systems could fuel the fire by spreading the flames and reaching several floors in a very short time. Recent cases in Europe show that fire started in one of the apartments of the building and quickly spread along the en-tire façade. The paper investigates the relationship between new energy require-ments and fire safety for this kind of buildings. A case study of high rise public housing owned by ACER in Modena, Italy, is then considered, introducing a ret-rofit project in compliance with the new ‘vertical rule’ V.14 of the italian Fire Prevention Code, in line with other national regulations in Europe. In the next fu-ture many insulation materials will be hardly applied in renovation projects if not certified as ‘technological kits’, according to new regulations.