Climate change is increasingly having an impact on our lives, whether it is noticing changes in weather conditions and patterns or in making an effort to reduce our energy bills and carbon footprint.
In order to address climate change and its effects the UK government has committed to reducing the country’s dependency on fossil fuels and to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 26 per cent by 2020 against a 1990 baseline and by at least 80 per cent by 2050. All homeowners can play a part in helping to tackle climate change by undertaking small scale measures to make homes more energy efficient.
Historic buildings should not be exempt from pressure to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and the council recognises that owners of historic properties as well as owners of modern homes want to improve their buildings and make them more energy efficient. However, historic buildings can be sensitive to change and some measures to improve their energy efficiency can harm a building’s historic character or appearance. Fortunately historic buildings are often very adaptable – it is one of the reasons that so many of them survive – and with a little consideration most can be made more energy efficient without harming their character. It is also important to recognise that historic buildings will seldom be able to fully meet modern expectations in terms of levels of insulation and that there is a need to balance improving energy efficiency with preserving a building’s historic character.
This page of the website gives owners information and advice on the type of changes they can make to their homes to improve energy efficiency without harming their building’s historic character. It also gives advice as to the type of consents that may be required for various types of improvements.
How traditional buildings ‘work’
Before considering any improvements to a traditionally constructed building it is first worth understanding how they differ from modern buildings in terms of their construction and their thermal performance.
Traditional buildings are often thermally efficient. This is due to the way they are built. They often have thick walls and small windows which means they are cool in summer and warm in winter.
Traditional building materials are also often energy efficient and are very durable and environmentally friendly. Traditionally building materials were locally sourced and did not require much energy to produce, such as making bricks from local clay and using mud and horse hair to add to daub, and the same is still true today.
Similarly traditional softwood window frames have a very long life if properly maintained and regularly repainted, unlike plastic windows which may need to be replaced every 10 or 15 years. UPVC windows also require a great deal of energy to make and dispose of them, where as draught-proofing and secondary glazing an historic window requires much less energy to do and is a much longer-term solution.
Traditional buildings also have ‘embodied energy’. This means that energy was expended in making, for example, a wall or a window in the first place. Consequently further energy will be used if they are to be replaced. Nowadays materials are rarely sourced locally and often travel hundreds if not thousands of miles before they reach their final destination, which also has an energy cost. Much less energy is consumed or wasted if historic fabric and features are retained and repaired rather than replaced.
Guidance on making improvements
There is however clearly scope to improve the thermal and energy efficiency of traditional buildings. The cheapest and most cost effective method of doing so is to draught-proof doors and windows. A large proportion of heat lost through windows is due to draughts between the sashes or casements and the frame. Draught-proofing is quick, cheap and easy and has instant and significant results. Improving roof insulation is another quick and effective method of improving energy efficiency.
English Heritage’s publication entitled ‘Energy Conservation in Traditional Buildings’ is a useful introduction for homeowners and gives advice on how to make relatively simple improvements.
English Heritage have also produced a series of guides that look in more detail at how you can reduce energy consumption in a traditionally constructed home. These range from how to improve a building’s performance through insulation to small scale renewable technologies or ‘Microgeneration’ such as solar panels and heat source pumps.
These guides and other helpful information and links can be found on their dedicated climate change website at
Listed Buildings
If you live in a listed building you will need listed building consent if you wish to change your windows, introduce solar panels, or make any other changes that would affect the building’s appearance or its historic fabric. If you are simply draught-proofing existing windows or introducing secondary glazing it is unlikely that you will require formal consent but because these systems vary a great deal please contact the Conservation Team to check this first (see below for contact details).
Please click here for details of the type of work that may require consent.
Please also see the listed buildings page of this website for more general guidance about the law and listed buildings.
If you are unsure as to whether consent may be needed or if you would like to discuss improving the energy efficiency of your house then please contact a Conservation officer (see below for contact details).
It is important that you check whether or not listed building consent is required before you undertake works to a listed building, as to undertake ‘unauthorised’ works to a listed building is a criminal offence and can result in prosecution and/or formal enforcement action being taken.
In considering any changes you would like to make to your home it is important to remember that traditional buildings perform differently to modern buildings and that they need to ‘breathe’. Modern impermeable products can inhibit a building’s ability to breathe and can trap moisture which can cause irreparable harm to historic fabric and/or long term maintenance problems. It is therefore important that you understand how the work you are doing will impact on your building in both the short and the long term.
Work should ideally be capable of being reversible without harming the built fabric. The council’s Conservation Officers are happy to answer any queries you may have on any aspect of upgrading a listed building.
Further guidance and contacts
Conservation Team
Neighbourhood Development Unit
T: (01256) 845414
E: neighbourhood.dev@basingstoke.gov.uk
Civic Offices
London Road
Basingstoke
Hampshire
RG21 4AH
This webpage has been endorsed by English Heritage (March 2009)
