Historic preservation is gaining popular recognition as a “green” practice connected to broader sustainability goals.  After all, reuse of a historic building is fundamental recycling.  From a national perspective, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has created a Sustainability and Historic Preservation Web resource for homeowners, Main Street communities and preservation planners.   Now Virginia can proudly join the “green” ranks.

Launched in April, the Virginia Preservation Toolkit was created to demonstrate the sustainable benefits of the reuse of historic buildings and to give these tools to owners to their owners.  The Web site was developed through a partnership with the Virginia Department of Historic Resources (DHR), Sweet Briar College’s Tusculum Institute and Dominion Virginia Power.  It explains how owners can best work with existing building materials and architectural features to increase energy efficiency — without destroying the historic character of a house or building — and use strategies that often cost less than replacement.

How can these sustainable practices benefit your Main Street community?  How can they further your organizations revitalization goals?  How might a historic commercial building owner use these practices to gain leverage in real estate desirability and property income potential?  The answers may be just a click away.