"The project 3ENCULT bridges the gap between conservation of historic buildings and climate protection, which is not an antagonism at all: historic buildings will only survive if maintained as living space. Energy efficient retrofit is useful for structural protection as well as for comfort reasons - comfort for users and “comfort” for heritage collections.The joint task of conservation and energy efficient retrofit is highly interdisciplinary. The 3ENCULT consortium consists of scientists and stakeholders, especially on the level of SMEs, from the fields of diagnostics, conservation, building physics, sustainability, architecture and lighting up to cybernetics, thus guaranteeing both, the development of sustainable solutions and the impact on European economy.Eight case studies will demonstrate and verify solutions that are applicable to the majority of European built heritage in urban areas. Building owners and local historic preservation agencies are integrated in local case study teams.3ENCULT will demonstrate the feasibility of “Factor 4” to “Factor 10” reduction in energy demand, depending on the case and the heritage value. The main objectives are the development of passive and active solutions for conservation and energy efficient retrofit including available products as well as new developments by involved SMEs, the definition of diagnosis and monitoring instruments, the long term monitoring (also for IEQ controlling) and the planning and evaluation tools and concepts supporting the implementation, the quality assurance and control of success of the energy retrofit measures. Guidelines will be disseminated to the scientific and public community.Finally, position papers will be issued suggesting possible integrations and/or implementations of the present regulation framework for improving energy efficiency of historic buildings in urban areas and in particular EPBD and Environmental Impact Assessment as well as Aalborg Commitments and Leipzig Charter."