Key to a bright future
THE Government’s decision to cancel its Green Homes Grant while simultaneously announcing it wants to replace 600,000 domestic gas boilers with heat pumps every year by 2028 has highlighted problems facing many home owners in the UK. It’s hard to argue against eco-friendly air or ground source heat pumps being used for new-builds, especially if the UK is to achieve its target of zero carbon emissions by 2050. But as the Government’s heritage advisor Historic England points out in its Heritage Counts 2020 report, 80 per cent of the homes and buildings we will live, work or shop in 30 years from now have already been built.That leaves most of us with the prospect of retrofitting our homes and that’s not only expensive but complicated.
Air source heat pumps need space for external and internal units, while ground source heat pumps must be buried in gardens or communal land, so they won’t just fit into the cupboard where your gas boiler sits.That doesn’t mean we can’t help reduce carbon emissions from our homes, says Historic England, with regular maintenance to improve the lifespan of older homes and reusing building materials to avoid embodied carbon emissions, which are made when materials are manufactured.
And if you do intend to improve your home’s insulation, when redecorating or extending it, you will need expert advice to avoid creating more issues than you solve.
Take care with ventilation bricks, when insulating walls, and suspended floor ventilation when installing floor insulation, not to mention using the correct render on exteriors, to avoid damp and other damage.
“Buildings are systems, so if you tinker in one area things happen directly or indirectly and you need professionals to support you,” says Adala Leeson, Historic England’s head of socio-economic analysis and evaluation.
The cost is also a challenge but she says:
“There are trigger points.When things come to the end of their lives is a good trigger point in terms of upheaval and cost.
“A lot of people are refurbishing and extending and that is a good opportunity to educate yourself on what you can do.”
Equally opportune, for those who want to move, is to buy a home that is well-priced because it needs doing up. Edward Heaton, founder and managing partner at buying agents Heaton & Partners, points out that there is often scope to bring Grade II listed buildings into the modern age. “One of my clients has recently refurbished an old listed farmhouse, introducing air source heating, a water harvesting system and installed a significant number of solar panels on the back of a nearby outbuilding,” he says.
“They are planning to install a wind turbine and they expect to be a net contributor to the national grid by the end of this process.”
Smaller acts, from fitting roller blinds to keep in heat to draught-proofing windows, also make an impact. “These small changes are under the occupiers’ control and they do make a difference but the real challenge is the need to co-ordinate at so many different levels,” says Leeson. “The key thing to say is repair and maintain; keep what we have got and use it as productively as possible.”