At this webinar we will be joined by heritage experts to explore solutions that effectively improve the performance of traditional buildings, while retaining historic value.

Charles Smith will give an overview of Historic England’s ‘Adapting Historic Buildings for Energy and Carbon Efficiency’ advice note. Published in July. this document aims to support planning and heritage consultants to make more consistent decision on the upgrade works permitted for heritage buildings. Grounded in the context of the climate emergency, the note gives guidance on what types of work might be suitable for different types of buildings. We will explore how designers, coordinators, planners, and contractors can effectively use the guidance to design suitable retrofit and energy efficiency packages.

Dr Freya Wise will discuss her PhD research on ‘Carbon Reduction and Heritage Retention: retrofit approaches for vernacular buildings and their residents.’ The research used a survey and detailed case study of traditional buildings to explore how people value, and use energy in, their homes and the buildings' energy performance. Freya also explored how residents' values affect the acceptability of retrofit measures and modelled the operational and embodied carbon implications of a range of retrofit measures and packages. Freya will explain how residents' comfort perceptions and energy behaviours may differ from standard assumptions. She will also provide insights on the accuracy of standard energy simulation models in representing the performance of heritage buildings.

Barbara Lantschner will then present a case study of a John Gilbert Architects heritage retrofit. The project includes the performance upgrade of 12 listed flats located on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. She will discuss how the practice navigated multiple constraints to provide warm, healthy, decarbonised homes, while retaining heritage value.

Charles Smith, Policy Director, Historic England

Dr Freya Wise, ESRC Research Fellow, University of the West of England

Barbara Lantschner, Associate Director, John Gilbert Architects Ltd

Get RetroFit - Traditional and Heritage Buildings