“In an ecological crisis it is the energy investment that we cling onto avoiding the energy required by new or replacement materials.”Barnabus Calder, Historian
As historic buildings continue to change and evolve, they need to contribute to a greener future and be fit for purpose for the people who live in, experience and care for them. If done thoughtfully and carefully, changes to historic buildings can achieve the complementary goals of protecting our heritage and adapting to climate change. Keeping historic buildings in use, through sensitive repair, maintenance and adaptation, can help to reduce carbon emissions, reliance on fossil fuels, and energy costs.
Since Climate Change is a material consideration in determining planning applications, we are keen to harness measures to minimise carbon emission, water consumption and waste through the design, orientation, construction and operation of buildings, however the same approach only partially applies to retrofitting existing buildings and is even more difficult to apply to listed buildings.
Our work focuses on the upgrading and enhancing buildings to ensure that they are fit for purpose and function well in the 21st century. This might often only require internal reworking of the plan form to enable lifetime homes (where the space changes to suit the changing needs of the occupants to avoid moving house) creating a truly sustainable model. We have a portfolio of listed buildings, barn conversions, ancillary buildings and modern extensions with high quality thermal and acoustic insultation, space heating, hot water storage, electricity generation and water management. (Ground source heat pump at Winfrith House image here Grade II* building).
On 23 July 2024 Historic England has published new guidance titled – Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency. This advice is a game changer as slim profile double glazing in new windows is now likely to be generally acceptable where the design of the window overall better reveals the historic character of the listed building. This is major coup for all listed building owners as it means finally that listed buildings can be made more thermally efficient.