Much of the existing Baltic infrastructure was built decades ago, with several buildings dating back to the Soviet era.

Today, these buildings are struggling with aging internal and external infrastructure and face higher energy demand. Increasing climate pressure, such as coastal flooding, strong windstorms and intense heatwaves further exacerbate these issues.

However, in many cases, demolishing and rebuilding everything is not always realistic or possible, both environmentally and economically.

As such, retrofitting existing buildings can be a way of upgrading them and their surroundings more sustainably, without having to start from scratch.

Across the Baltics , building retrofits are increasingly being seen as a way to not only make buildings more energy-efficient, but also as a way to boost urban resilience by reducing infrastructure vulnerability while extending the lifecycle of existing buildings.

“Building retrofits in the Baltic states are no longer just an energy efficiency measure. They are becoming a broader urban resilience tool – strengthening energy security and lowering household running costs,” Gustas Germanavičius, the founder and CEO of InRento, told Forbes in an email.

He added: “ Vilnius is a good example. The city has limited attractive land plots for new residential development, while much of its older buildings no longer meets the needs of today’s residents and buyers. Retrofitting these buildings is therefore not only about sustainability, but also about preserving housing affordability.”

The Problems Facing Older Soviet-Era Buildings

Older Soviet-era panel apartment blocks (mikrorajons) and commercial buildings across key Baltic cities like Vilnius and Riga are increasingly dealing with a number of issues that are pressurising local municipalities.

Given that a significant portion of the population lives in these blocks, many buildings which were originally built between 1950 and 1990 have already reached or even exceeded their intended operational lifespan.

In many cases, buildings are facing accelerated structural decay. This means that while the thick outer concrete panels themselves can sometimes endure for decades, internal elements such as older plumbing, single-pipe heating networks and ventilation systems are on their last legs.

Some Khrushchev and early Brezhnev era buildings use outdated aluminium two-wire electrical systems, mainly suitable for when households used to run only a radio and a few lightbulbs. Under modern electrical loads however, they can suffer extreme voltage sags and pose high fire risks.

In several cases, residents may have made a number of alterations, such as tearing down walls to expand their living spaces. Due to many of these apartments being small and walls being entirely load-bearing, this can severely structurally compromise the load-bearing integrity of entire building columns.

These buildings can also be extremely energy inefficient. If the building’s walls, roofs or windows don’t have adequate thermal retention, they can also leak vast amounts of energy, forcing cities to pump maximum district heating during harsh and long Baltic winters.

Residents cannot also always control or regulate the heat in their individual apartments, due to most of these buildings using old centralized one-pipe heating systems. As such, if a flat gets too hot, the only solution may be to open a window, which can waste considerable municipal energy.

In turn, this can lead to soaring utility bills for residents, especially in the context of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and its subsequent effects on gas and energy prices.

In many cases, hotter summers and more extreme weather have greatly exacerbated the need to adapt these buildings accordingly, for safety reasons.

As a result of these issues, local governments have increasingly turned to retrofitting solutions.

How Retrofitting Could Help Build Urban Resilience In The Baltics

Since new buildings built from scratch are not always an option due to cost, space and regulatory issues, retrofitting could often be the more practical solution.

A comprehensive retrofit could materially improve a whole building’s insulation, especially around key areas like doors and windows. By boosting proper ventilation and strengthening heating systems, retrofits can help significantly in better energy management, thus reducing household costs.

This is especially important in boosting energy resilience and reducing exposure to energy-price shocks and supply disruptions.

This can also allow buildings to incorporate more renewable energy elements like solar panels, for a more sustainable approach too.

Better insulation, shading and ventilation can also help better protect buildings during heatwaves, cold snaps and other extreme weather events.

However, this comes with a key caveat, according to Gintarė Kapočiūtė, partner and architect at BLUMA.

“A building may become more energy-efficient, but the neighbourhood as a whole will not necessarily become more resilient if it remains surrounded by impermeable paving resulting in heat islands, insufficient vegetation and shade, aging infrastructure, and public spaces unable to cope with extreme heat or increasingly intense rainfall,” she noted.

Similarly, lower operating costs gained from better energy management can give owners, tenants and businesses some breathing room, while helping extend the useful life of existing buildings.

“Retrofits help cities become more resilient by protecting housing affordability from several directions at once. When housing itself remains more affordable, residents are less pressured by mortgage payments and interest rate changes,” Germanavičius said.

He added: “From a real estate investment perspective, it allows cities to modernise aging neighbourhoods, improve liveability, and reduce pressure to rely solely on expensive new construction, which can take several years to deliver.”

The Limits Of Retrofitting

While retrofits can have significant benefits to combat a lack of urban space and poor energy management in older buildings, they still pose a number of challenges.

In some cases, they may be too expensive for some owners, especially as they may require specialized licences and regulatory approvals, which may be complicated to obtain in some jurisdictions.

Financing may also not be easily available, especially to smaller property owners. This could indirectly lead to retrofits mainly being concentrated in larger, more commercially valuable urban areas, while more rural areas lag behind.

In several cases, poorly designed renovations which cut essential corners could pose significant new problems such as water damage and mold, fire and electrical risks and compromised load-bearing walls.

These could be considerably expensive to rectify and in the meantime pose a lot of health and safety risks to residents.

“One of the main challenges in the Baltics is implementation. Energy-focused renovation can be pursued through relatively clear and measurable performance targets, while public space, biodiversity, stormwater management and architectural quality are often divided between different institutions, responsibilities and funding programmes,” Kapočiūtė pointed out.

She added: “Renovation should not be approached as an isolated intervention of a single building. Building upgrades need to be coordinated with the renewal of underground utilities, public spaces, mobility infrastructure, landscape and green infrastructure, while also responding to the social needs of the local community.”

Towards stronger urban resilience

The rise of retrofits across the Baltics highlight the need to adapt existing infrastructure for evolving conditions, instead of automatically turning to new builds as the solution.

As urban and climate pressures across the Baltics and the rest of the world intensify, wider urban and renovation planning needs to work more closely together, as part of one coordinated process.

The cities which recognise the value of maximising the lifecycle of their existing infrastructure before adding more to the mix will be better placed to handle ageing buildings, space constraints and climate threats in the next few years.