TrustNews Sep 21

Can historic buildings play their part in tackling climate change?

A new report says they can - but only if the government takes action.

 

A new report* published by Grosvenor Britain & Ireland and written together with Donald lnsall Associates, argues that historic buildings can play a leading role in the fight against climate change.

 

Around 500,000 buildings in England alone are protected by statutory listing, and hundreds of thousands more are situated in conservation areas. They cover many building types from stately homes to public buildings, terraced streets and blocks of social housing.

 

Excellent work to make historic buildings more energy efficient is already being done by some architects, contractors, building owners and research institutions. Four examples, ranging from residential homes to listed industrial buildings, are included in the report to show what can be done (see photos). But this work is very often done despite the planning system rather than because of it.

 

Policy that is inconsistent and inconsistently applied, fragmented guidance and a skills gap offer little help to building owners, leaving a substantial percentage of UK building stock vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and preventing them from contributing to the Government's net zero aims.

 

 

 

The potential carbon savings from making these buildings more energy efficient could be vast. The report estimates that improvements to listed buildings in England and Wales, combined with unlisted historic dwellings in conservation areas, could deliver carbon savings equivalent to 5% of the UK's carbon emissions associated with all buildings in 2019.

 

But for this to happen, the report says that five core issues have to be addressed: policy, guidance, cost, supply chain skills and capacity in local government. The report urges the Government to use the impetus of planning reform and this autumn's COP26 climate summit to commit to aligning heritage protection and environmental sustainability much more closely in the National Planning Policy Framework, and to include policies for carbon reduction in relation to all designated heritage assets, excluding scheduled ancient monuments.

 

The report's conclusions have been developed over the last six months in discussion with a group of partners including the National Trust, Historic England, Peabody, Southern Housing Group and The Crown Estate. Historic England was also a consultee and the report reflects many of its views.

 

Cordula Zeidler, Consultant, Donald lnsall Associates, and co-author of the paper, said: "Historic buildings are beautiful, inherently adaptable and have stood the test of time. We must build on these great qualities and allow them to evolve to become more energy efficient and resilient to climate change."

 

"This report, Heritage & Carbon: how historic building can help tackle the climate crisis, can be downloaded at www.grosvenor.com/heritageandcarbon