The Conference on Training in Architectural Conservation (COTAC), supported by the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (IHBC) and the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), has highlighted how inappropriate ‘Green Deal’ works could threaten the historic environment.
COTAC, supported by IHBC, SPAB and private and charitable funders, enabled some of the most knowledgeable UK researchers and practitioners in the field to present recent research findings at their national conference ‘Improving Thermal Performance in Traditional Buildings’, held in Greenwich on 15-16 November 2011.
Wide-ranging research demonstrated that inappropriate works could severely damage historic fabric, as well as have economic impacts on property owners through increased maintenance liabilities, saleability issues, and possible financial burdens if Green Deal works do not deliver expected savings. This last was a risk highlighted by SPAB research showing calculated ‘SAP’ values for older buildings consistently underestimating measured performance. The conference agreed that Government’s haste to get the Green Deal in place will prohibit proper training and risk wasting large sums of public money, in particular Green Deal ‘improvements’ to buildings in poor repair.
The research, relevant to 25% of the country’s building stock, indicated an urgent need for joined up working across Government to link the Green Deal initiative with Planning, Building Control, Heritage, and National House Condition Survey interests.
Conference delegates resolved that:
- Government should adjust the Green Deal so that it takes into account the special qualities and characteristics of traditional buildings
- Government should use the Green Deal to inform the public about the performance of traditional buildings, and to promote training in traditional buildings across the Construction industry
- To monitor the effectiveness of the Green Deal, the National House Condition Survey should be amended to:
- incorporate the Green Deal initiative in its on-site survey assessment approach (a 10% sample on-site survey every 5 years)
- Subsequently record and illustrate the efficacy of Green Deal initiatives across the range of properties that are being monitored.
A detailed submission is being made to the next Green Deal meeting, being convened by DECC on 28 November. For further information, contact John Preston education@ihbc.org.uk.
For the Green Deal see: LINK
