ACAN climate emergency conservation area toolkit

This methodology for auditing conservation areas for climate emergency housing retrofit (with a worked Conservation Area case study) was published on November 27, 2022 by ACAN, written by Christopher Procter.

Launch of ACAN's new guide 'The Climate Emergency Conservation Area Toolkit' - discussing aspects of retrofitting in Conservation Areas Webinar - December 6, 19.00-20.30

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/climate-emergency-conservation-area-toolkit-tickets-471704820817

Many parts of the UK have relatively old building stock, which is often considered part of its charm, character and national identity. Conservation of this heritage is an important concern not only for many built environment professionals but also communities and cultural institutions. One of the established planning designations which picks up buildings and areas of this nature, that do not fall within formal grade listings are conservation areas and in some cases what councils call locally listed buildings. These designations are taken as material consideration in planning decisions as well as feedback from local community engagement groups such as Conservation Area Advisory Committees (CAAC).

Whilst discussion over the need for conservation and protection of specific areas continues on a case by case basis, what is accepted is that many of these building perform poorly in terms of current buildings standards and may need retrofitting. The LETI Retrofit Guide, its follow up the LETI Retrofit Guide- Part 2 and this toolkit refer to these buildings as constrained homes, where non-constrained homes are those that do not fall under this kind of planning designation. Whilst the majority of homes in the UK are not constrained, a quarter of the total stock is, representing over 5% of carbon emissions, furthermore certain councils have much higher levels of constrained buildings stock. In these situations standard retrofit options may not be possible, whilst guidance on listed buildings is too stringent.

As this document points out, with "338 out of 409 UK councils" having declared a climate emergency, and 270 of these having written a Net Zero Plan there is a need to guide councils and communities towards carbon savings in these specific situations. The document goes further in describing itself as second and third generational because it discusses the identification of harm and opportunities for beneficial change in conservation areas and then onto the audits of building elements such as roofs, walls, and windows and their retrofit potential. First generational auditing is described as appraisals that consider features that make a positive or negative contribution to the significance of a conservation area, which stems from recommendations made by historic England in ‘Conservation Area Appraisal, Designation and Management -second edition, Historic England Advice Note 1’ (2019), further supported by an associated Planning Policy Guidance document (PPG also 2019).

What is key is that as many councils have not completed these positive/negative building audits of their conservation area buildings, so there is an opportunity to complete the recommended first generation audit along with the second and third generation audits, thus giving a holistic overview of conservation areas both from historical significance as well as beneficial climate change opportunities. The document runs through in detail the steps from designation (step 1 and 1st generation designation), appraisal (step 2 and 2nd generation appraisal), element appraisals (step 3 and 3rd generation appraisal) and finishing with the 4th step which is the action plan and implementation of planning policy.

The toolkit is then broken down into these steps with easy to understand diagrams and familiar descriptions for the different building options from woolly hats and ear muffs to leg warmers helping understand the approaches being taken. It describes topics such as solar mapping and lense mapping not only in clear detail but also through the worked example, making it easy relevant to the professional and understandable to the layperson.

This document presents solutions methodically, clearly, definitively and on a a strong evidence basis. It is extensive and detailed with its 85 pages and for those living or working in conservation areas that it is a must read and highly likely to act as a key point of reference for councils and communities in the coming years.

It has been published by ACAN - Architects Climate Action Network, a network of individuals within architecture and related built environment professions taking action to address the twin crises of climate and ecological breakdown. It was written by Christopher Procter an RIBA Registered Architect, specialising in sustainable residential projects in conservation areas in London, director of Procter-Rihl architects established in 1995 in Islington, London.

For more information visit http://www.architectscan.org. The executive summary can be downloaded here and the full document here. Copyright © Christopher Procter and ACAN Freely distributed under Creative Commons license with credit to authors.

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