Abstract The sustainable energy renovation of historical buildings and listed heritage is a challenge for Belgium and other European countries. These are crucial for urban and rural development and for the future of old buildings. This is the context of the ‘P-RENEWAL’ research project. It aims to develop a methodological tool for retrofitting historical Walloon dwellings built before 1914, to enhance their heritage values while implementing relevant energy measures. The originality of this research is to consider energy, environmental and heritage aspects in a complementary way, in order to help designers achieving a goal of greater sustainability. According to the listed heritage administration, dwelling types built before 1914 represent approximately 25 % of the Walloon stock. This project is related to the research work carried out under the Task 59 of SHC ‘Renovating Historic Buildings Towards Zero Energy’. The methodology used to achieve the research objectives is articulated in various steps. First, a typological analysis of buildings from the interest era is completed. Then, based on on-site studies performed on representative case studies, the evaluations of heritage values and performance are conducted. Finally, dynamic energy models are run to support the proposition and validation of retrofitting strategies.