Heritage buildings, or listed buildings, are buildings that cannot be replaced. These buildings are kept and cannot be torn down, due to their character, significance and cultural value and heritage. Often made with unique architectural features, materials and construction techniques, heritage buildings are one of a kind in the modern world.
However, this uniqueness and the terms that come with living or working in a heritage building mean that modern modifications are difficult to apply, without compromising the building’s historical and architectural integrity. This is especially true when it comes to retrofitting heritage buildings for energy efficiency.
When looking to save energy in heritage buildings and make them more sustainable, you face the challenge of balancing preservation principles with your energy efficiency goals. This guide will help you find what options could be available, including passive strategies built around the building’s principle design.
Planning to make your heritage building more energy-efficient.
When trying to decipher how to make your heritage building more energy-efficient, you need to conduct an energy audit and assess the building’s historical significance and identify features that must be preserved.
Conducting an energy audit
Conducting a comprehensive energy audit will help you understand the current energy usage in the heritage building, alongside helping identify areas for improvement. You can either pay for one of these to be conducted for you, by a professional service provider, or can complete one yourself.
During a home energy audit, you will need to walk around the building and check the quality and effectiveness of your:
- Insulation levels
- Ventilation
- Heating and cooling systems
- Lighting
- Electronics and appliances
- Windows
- Doors
- External walls
- Flooring
Assessing what features must be preserved
When you occupy a heritage building, you will most likely be aware of the unique features that make the building historically, culturally or architecturally significant. With this, you are probably even more likely to know what you can and cannot do to the building.
If you want to alter any listed building, you must first obtain permission from the local authority, with something called ‘Listed Building Consent’. This will let you know what alterations you can and cannot make to the building, including what features must be preserved in line with its historical, cultural and architectural significance.
This permission from the local authority, along with your energy audit, will help you come up with a comprehensive plan on how you can make your heritage building more energy-efficient – without compromising on the historic integrity of the building.
Ways to make your heritage building more energy-efficient
There are two routes you can take to make your heritage building more energy-efficient: passive design strategies and integrating modern technologies. You may choose to take one route, rather than the other, or you could combine both principles
Passive design strategies
Utilising passive design principles in a heritage building can enhance its energy efficiency, without compromising the building’s significant characteristics. This can be achieved by preserving and restoring the building’s original architectural features that contribute to passive heating and cooling, such as by optimising the building’s existing orientation, insulation, heritage windows and natural ventilation, to reduce energy consumption. It could just be as simple as maintaining heritage windows in your listed building.
However, to use a passive design strategy to make your heritage building more energy-efficient, you must first obtain ‘Listed Building Consent’ from your local authority. Completing restoration and alterations to a listed building without prior approval is a criminal offence and individuals can be prosecuted.
When utilising the passive design principles of a heritage building, it’s important to work with skilled craftsmen and conservation experts to ensure that any repairs, alterations or restoration work done to the building is done professionally and respects the building’s historical, cultural and architectural significance.
Integrating modern technologies
Depending on what comes from your energy audit, you may be able to integrate modern technologies into your heritage building to help make it more energy-efficient. This could include installing energy-efficient heating, ventilations and air conditioning systems, or incorporating energy-efficient lighting solutions, such as LED fixtures, into the building. Furthermore, you may be able to explore installing renewable energy sources, such as solar panels or geothermal heating systems, onto or on the grounds of your heritage building.
When integrating any modern technologies into a heritage building, you must ensure that all systems are compatible with both the ambiance of the historical spaces and with the regulations applied by the local authority. Some applications may also need prior consent from the local authority, with ‘Listed Building Consent’, with proof that they can be installed discreetly. This is so that any energy-efficient upgrades made to the building respect the building’s heritage and do not take away from its historical, cultural or architectural significance.
To learn more about how to make your home more energy-efficient, head over to our informative journal or contact our expert customer service team – today!
