A study of the green retrofit industry chain

•The industry chain in existing building green retrofit can be divided into five parts.•The industry chain in existing building green retrofit is a complex with a variety of characteristics.•The industry chain can create more economic, environmental and social benefits.

Existing building area in China is about 46 billion m2 accounted for a large proportion of the total building area. Therefore, green retrofit for existing building plays an important role in the development of green building construction. However specialists involved in existing building retrofit projects, such as designers, consultants and all other relevant partners are accustomed to work separately in China. And it has been recognized that this kind of working states have several demerits, thus a exploration of effective working methods allows no delay. This study is to explore such operation modes and combine them into a chain to solve related problems in existing building retrofit projects, along with further analyses in its economical, environmental and social benefits.