In this paper, a new method entitled "BBEE (Building Blocks Energy Estimation)" for estimating energy performance at the district level is proposed. It consists of two branches, namely the BBEE algorithm and an energy database of a typical zone. This method is used to keep architects and urban planners informed of the energy performance of their design by clustering zones and looking up corresponding energy intensities from the database. Because the related energy databases are preexisting, energy performance modeling and simulation are not required from the user. On the other hand, the database is set up and continuously replenished by parameterization simulations with a basic model of typical zones. This task was separated from the estimation process and operated by experts, which shortened the process and reduced modeling errors. As a case study, an urban district with eight buildings was estimated under three climate conditions separately following the proposed BBEE method. Results were compared with the full-model simulation using a simulation tool called DeST. The difference in annual heating demand between estimation and simulation was reported as less than 6% in all three cases. The potential applications and limitations of the proposed BBEE method are discussed at the end of this paper. Although further improvements are still required, the new estimation method could be helpful for energy performance estimation at the district level at the early stage of design. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.