Multiple Heritage Alliance members including the National Trust, the Church of England, Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), Historic Houses Association (HHA), Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) and the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) have written to the Government to explain that the one-size-fits-all approach to energy efficiency fails to recognise the unique nature of heritage properties.
The conservation coalition writes that current policy to address the energy efficiency of the nation’s building stock is “overly simplistic” and “designed from the perspective of modern construction and materials, ignoring fundamental building physics, such as how traditional materials and structures ‘breathe’, resulting in inappropriate and potentially damaging measures.” “We share the Government’s concern on climate change and agree that energy efficiency is central to tackling it but there are substantial flaws in the policy which left unaddressed have the potential to damage homes, cause disruption in the property market and fail to achieve the Government’s energy efficiency objectives.”
The CLA has published a report on how Government energy policy is failing older houses.