Month: July 2011

‘Warmer Bath’ – a guide to making historic buildings more energy efficient.

‘Warmer Bath’ – a guide to making Bath’s historic buildings more energy efficient is the final product of the Low Carbon Bath project, a collaboration between the Bath Preservation Trust and Bristol’s Centre for Sustainable Energy. The project was funded by the government’s Department for Communities and Local Government. The project began with a series of workshops and a public meeting which explored local attitudes to preserving the historic environment of Bath and tackling climate change. Workshops were run for people with a strong interest in heritage, people involved in local green groups, building professionals and school pupils.

Download the Guide

The guidance, co-authored by Will Anderson, working as a researcher for CSE, and Joanna Robinson, Conservation Officer at Bath Preservation Trust, provides details of a range of energy conservation measures appropriate for Bath’s traditional buildings. It is the project’s ambition that this guidance makes a major contribution to the development of Bath and North East Somerset Council’s Local Development Framework.

The project grew from a recognition that there are increasing pressures on the owners and managers of historic property to contribute towards climate change mitigation. The City of Bath World Heritage Site is an historic landscape that is extremely vulnerable to change that could detract from its architectural character, authenticity, natural landscape and historic interest, and careful management is necessary.

Caroline Kay, Chief Executive of Bath Preservation Trust, said: “This guidance represents a really important shared agenda for the conservation and environmental lobbies. It is a step forward for Bath house holders, and by extension for those in other historic cities.”

CSE Chief Executive, Simon Roberts, added: “What goes for Bath, goes for other places, too. Finding a way to sympathetically adapt our older housing, and move beyond the energy efficiency standards of their Georgian and Victorian builders, lies at the heart of a viable domestic carbon reduction strategy.”