REVIEW AND ANALYSIS 27 THE JOURNEY TO SUSTAINABILITY IN HERITAGE PETER COX IN 2006 the European Union published the Energy Performance in Buildings Directive (EPBD) and by 2009 all 28 member states had signed up to it. This initiative set the scene for legislation to promote, encourage and incentivize the reduction of primary energy in buildings and to greatly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide equivalents – CO2e). This led to a drive to energy retrofit our buildings and it created the Building Energy Rating (BER) and Environmental Performance Certificate (EPC) which all buildings must have if renting, selling or leasing. BER and EPC Assessors were trained to carry out a tick-box survey system of how buildings were performing from an energy point of view. Unfortunately, the methodology for this assessment was based on post-1974 buildings. During the development of the EPD the heritage sector was seriously concerned about the negative effect this directive may have on heritage buildings and rightly so. Fast forward 14 years and we now know that the BER and EPC methodology and the level of training given to the assessors means the system is not fit for purpose. Let me clarify; the tick box system asks ‘what is the construction of your building envelope’. If you have a solid wall construction, which is most likely if your building is pre-1945, then you get assigned a default U-value of 2.1 or 2.2. When this reading moves down the questionnaire to the results, this value causes your building to fail. This results in a recommendation to put a ridiculous amount of insulation on your walls to achieve a 30 per cent reduction in energy. This is so wrong from so many points of view. In particular, the typical recommendation for insulation is a carbon-intense closed-cell insulation which may perform thermally in the short term but it will accelerate decay mechanisms in a traditional or heritage building. This is because it stops natural moisture movement, creates condensation and is most likely to also encourage mold growth, all of which will deliver an unhealthy indoor air quality that may have a negative effect on the occupiers. Dwellings across Europe that date to pre-1945 represent approximately 30 per cent of our built environment. Add early state, commercial, educational, industrial and religious buildings and we are above 50 per cent of our built environment. As little as 8 per cent of these have statutory heritage protection, so two things: this represents a huge share of the market and it puts a lot of buildings at risk of maladaptation. Solving this market sector can contribute hugely to reducing all nations’ CO2e emissions and if an adaptive reuse of our older buildings strategy is in place it could also contribute to Europe’s housing crises. RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Research is the key to increasing understanding and knowledge in our sector, traditionally early research was mainly done through universities and in some cases stayed in academia. So, most funding mechanisms now demand an SME (small to medium sized business) to be part of any bid, which doesn’t guarantee but improves the Retrofitting the Rubrics building, which dates from 1698 and is the oldest building on the campus at Trinity College Dublin: for the roof, woodfibre sarking boards were laid outside the rafters to minimise thermal bridging, with additional vapour permeable insulation between the rafters. (Photo: Peter Cox)
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