The socio-economic benefits of cultural heritage protection generally surpass the costs of conservation interventions; inappropriate interventions, due to incompatibility problems, however, affect this balance negatively.
Thus, the aim of the project is to configure a robust methodology assessment on the compatibility of new advanced materials and interventions for cultural heritage protection, based on criteria and specifications governed by sustainability concept. As the environmental crisis is emphasized by intense climatic changes, new demands on materials and conservation interventions arise, incorporating sustainability to compatibility, requiring reduced environmental loads and low costs during materials production.
Research is distributed to 8 WPs, incorporating the following:
- Coordination & Coordinator Tasks.
- Historic Building Materials & Structures.
- Characteristic phenomena & mechanisms of decay & damage.
- Advanced Materials & New Intervention Technologies.
- Criteria & Evaluation Methodology.
- Investigation of advanced materials & interventions compatibility, in relation to historic materials & structures-Sustainability investigation.
- Knowledge Platform on decision making for the protection of Cultural Heritage.
- Results dissemination & discussion with end-users, industry, construction sector.
The tasks comprising WPs result in:
- Development of application methodologies regarding investigation techniques and methods.
- Designing guidelines for the application control of conservation and restoration materials/interventions.
- Compatibility and sustainability Investigation Protocols/Control System, and a decision-making system per conservation-restoration intervention, constituting an Integrated Data Knowledge Platform for the sustainable preservation of cultural heritage.
This framework builds strategic inter-sectoral linkages among research, education and application, aiming to the socio-economic development of the country.