RESUMO
Public heritage buildings (PHBs) were evaluated with the aim to determine their operational energy performance and the objectives of identifying improvement potentials for their long term sustainable reuse. Six listed churches initially used for worship and later converted to community uses were selected and surveyed as case study buildings using purposive sampling technique. A qualitative analytical approach based on ranking the performance of the surveyed building’s energy consumption assessment compared to others within the same geographical region was adopted. Findings show that a greater number of the surveyed buildings are low-performing with their energy use being exacerbated by the combination and interplay of multiple factors such as building use pattern, efficiency of services and lighting etc. Results of the findings imply that potential and identifiable prospects for efficiency improvements and CO2 emissions reduction exists within the operation of the buildings. Recommended actions for wide-scale improvements in the form of capital replacement, retrofit/refurbishment, behavioural and improved operational management and control were suggested. The study concluded wider opportunities towards achieving energy saving such as energy management programme, building energy refurbishment scheme and use of energy efficient equipment could enhance stainable reuse of PHBs.