- Standard Rate
- FREE
- Member Rate
- FREE
CIBSE Technical Symposium, DeMontfort University, Leicester UK
6th and 7th September 2011
It is becoming increasingly clear that any serious attempt to make deep cuts in carbon emissions across the UK must address the energy efficiency of the country’s existing building stock. This has been recognised by the UK Government whose proposals for a domestic RHI are aligned with the Green Deal, which will focus on efficiency. However, there is a lack of understanding and knowledge of the best techniques for deep retrofits of the Victorian and Georgian terraces which make up a significant proportion of the UK’s building stock. These buildings are an important part of the country’s architectural heritage and are often located in conservation areas in city locations.
Building on the experience of Passivhaus and low energy retrofits of such buildings, this paper examines the challenges and opportunities of deep retrofits in conservation areas. The paper is based on the authors’ experience of designing energy strategies for a number of more complicated buildings and in particular, on the passivhaus retrofit of a solid walled Victorian terrace in a conservation area in West London.
There is currently a prevalence of “shopping list” approaches to selecting retrofit measures. Used in isolation, these lists are not capable of achieving effective energy efficient retrofits. It is necessary to have in-depth knowledge of the available measures to build them into integrated design strategies, taking into account desired intervention levels and historic impact.
The design strategies are set within a wider context of the factors necessary to deliver the retrofits: tools and standards, design teams and contractor skill sets. The greatest challenges are non-technical: sociological factors relating to client acceptance of the interventions and sectoral change necessary in the renovation industry.
A case study that provides evidence of the application of the concepts discussed is included.