{"id":48538,"date":"2026-11-03T15:27:24","date_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=48538"},"modified":"2026-11-03T15:27:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T15:27:24","slug":"the-engine-sheds-blog-asks-old-buildings-cant-be-energy-efficient-or-can-they","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=48538","title":{"rendered":"The Engine Shed\u2019s blog asks: \u2018Old buildings can\u2019t be energy efficient\u2026\u2019 or can they?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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image: Holyrood Park Lodge, Sourabh.biswas003,CC-BY-SA-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historic Environment Scotland\u2019s (HES) Engine Shed has posted a blog on energy efficiency in traditional buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Engine Shed and Lila Angelaka writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Over 20% of Scotland\u2019s houses are traditional buildings (built before 1919). That means one in five of us live in a traditional home! Some think these older buildings can\u2019t be energy efficient, and that old means cold. Others try to improve the energy efficiency in a building using the wrong skills and materials, making things worse. But new national energy saving targets came into force in 2019 and we need to improve energy efficiency in our homes. Old buildings must play their part\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Holyrood Park Lodge is a Category B-listed, mid-19th century lodge at the entrance to Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. It\u2019s overlooked by the Palace of Holyroodhouse on one side and the Scottish Parliament building on the other. We retrofitted the lodge to show best practice in energy-efficiency retrofit for traditional buildings, while fitting out the lodge as a shop and interpretation centre… We removed 1980s alterations and decoration, reinstated lost fireplaces to the original designs and even used period-style electrical fittings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To improve energy efficiency, we insulated the building with breathable and natural insulation materials\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rare rural home: Downie\u2019s Cottage, Braemar\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A cottage in the countryside with a corrugated iron work<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 This mid-19th century Highland cottage is a rare thing indeed! In fact, it\u2019s an exceptionally rare survival of the open-hearth tradition of vernacular buildings in the north east of Scotland. Traditionally, the heating would have been provided by the two hearths, one on each gable. The roof was originally a heather thatch\u2026Many of early internal fittings were still present, although damaged\u2026To repair this, we rebuilt some of the walls and masonry using salvaged stones and traditional methods. We also repaired the corrugated iron roof: an important part of the building\u2019s history and significance. Inside, we insulated the wall using insulated lime plaster, about 50mm thick, which was then limewashed. Underneath the original flagstone floor there is an underfloor heating loop, set in a lime concrete bed and heated by a ground source heat pump\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The use of renewable energy and the energy efficiency upgrades have ensured that this small building, of proven durability and reliance, has a strong and sustainable future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

image: Holyrood Park Lodge, Sourabh.biswas003,CC-BY-SA-4.0 via Wikimedia Commons Historic Environment Scotland\u2019s (HES) Engine Shed has posted a blog on energy efficiency in traditional buildings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[820,797,83],"class_list":["post-48538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sector-newsblog","tag-edinburgh","tag-hes","tag-scotland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48538"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48540,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48538\/revisions\/48540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}