Historic Scotland is challenging the view that traditionally built homes, which comprise almost a fifth of Scotland’s houses, are energy inefficient and a barrier to meeting Scotland’s carbon reduction targets in the housing sector.
This is one of the issues discussed at the conference ‘Energy Efficiency and Sustainability in Traditional Buildings’, hosted by Historic Scotland on Wednesday 24 March at The Hub in Edinburgh.
Key research presented included:
- A report that quantifies the embodied energy in various stone procurement routes by the Scottish Institute of Sustainable Technology which demonstrates the considerable additional carbon associated with imported building stone, as opposed to stone sourced more locally.
- A report by the Carbon Centre, a work in progress, describing the various costs involved in the refurbishment of a 19th century cottage, and how that can be cheaper in financial and carbon terms than demolition and rebuild.
Roger Curtis, Historic Scotland said: “Upgraded traditional buildings can outperform modern structures when the lifelines of the buildings are taken into account. Historic and traditional buildings can also contribute to emission reductions if they are managed in a sustainable way. Although a lifeline for a traditional building is taken as one hundred years, there are many more in Scotland which are much older. “
