Minister of State for nature, heritage and electoral reform, Malcolm Noonan has launched new guidance to support energy upgrades in traditional buildings.
Primarily aimed at the specifiers and installers of retrofitting projects, the guidance will also be of interest to owners, occupiers and other custodians of historic buildings – both residential and non-residential – who want to increase the comfort in these buildings while reducing their energy usage, energy bills and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The guidance will greatly assist in the regeneration of historic buildings in towns, cities and countryside, enabling disused or underused buildings to be brought back into use.
Minister Noonan said: “We’re seeing lots of demand for renovations including energy upgrades to bring older building stock back into use.
“This guidance means that more of these types of buildings can now be brought up to better energy efficiency standards and in turn, make them more comfortable places to live.
“As these types of buildings are often located in our towns and cities, this guidance can also help to support our efforts to revitalise town centres and address vacancy.
“By sensitively upgrading our historic buildings, we not only protect their architectural heritage value, but improve the comfort and quality of life for occupants and enable vacant properties to be brought back into use,” the minister stated.
He added that upgrading such older buildings can reduce the energy use of these buildings which is an important step in meeting climate targets.
Upgrade of older traditional buildings
The guidance will assist specifiers and installers by providing practical advice on how to make the right decisions when undertaking retrofitting works to traditional buildings.
It explains how these buildings work, how to assess their performance and how to plan for climate change.
Advice is given on options for upgrading the different elements of the building fabric, and what to take into consideration when upgrading existing services or choosing a new energy system, including renewable energy, for a traditional building.
In Ireland, traditional buildings are built with solid, load-bearing masonry walls, single-glazed windows and timber-framed roofs.
This type of construction was used in the majority of buildings built in this country before approximately 1940 and forms a significant component of the built environment.
Traditional buildings form the core of cities and towns, and also populate the countryside.
They can be landmark buildings of high heritage significance, simple single-family dwellings and any building type in between, according to the minister.
Special care is required when undertaking building or energy upgrade work to building stock of this nature.
Guidance
The guidance is aimed at helping the custodians of traditional buildings in increasing energy efficiency in ways that protects the character of the buildings, while also avoiding potential damage to the fabric of the buildings and the health of their occupants.
The guidance is published by the National Built Heritage Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) under the Climate Action Plan 2023.
A Project Steering Group, chaired by the National Built Heritage Service, was formed to oversee the preparation of the guidance and included representatives of the DHLGH; the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications; the Department of Education; the Office of Public Works(OPW); the Heritage Council; and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI).
The Project Steering Group worked with a contract team led by the Irish Green Building Council together with Carrig Conservation International, KRA and Passivate.
Under the Climate Action Plan, the equivalent of 500,000 homes are to be retrofitted to a B2 Building Energy Rating (BER) or cost-optimal equivalent by 2030.
All public sector buildings are to achieve a BER of B by 2030, with around one third of commercial properties aiming to achieve the same target.
The EU’s Renovation Wave aims to at least double the annual energy renovation rates in the next 10 years.
Traditional buildings
Many traditional buildings are protected structures or are located in architectural conservation areas, but the vast majority do not have statutory protection.
The Department of Heritage has said that nonetheless they require careful technical consideration in their upgrading and enhancement for contemporary use so as not to prejudice the character of the building, or increase the risk of long-term deterioration of the building fabric.
The guidance discusses the statutory requirements that may apply to retrofitting projects; the recommended skills and expertise required for different types of projects and explains how heat and moisture move through a traditional building.
It sets out a step-by-step approach to developing a retrofit strategy, the types of materials that are suitable to use and other efficiency measures that can improve the energy and resource efficiency of these buildings.
A number of case studies will be developed based on the principles of this guidance to show what energy-efficiency options are appropriate to use and what they are likely to achieve in terms of improvement to their BER.