Here is how to tackle climate change when renovating historic buildings.

Reducing CO2 in historic buildings

• Heating our buildings with low carbon and/or renewable heating and changing behaviours towards energy consumption

• Monitoring and encouraging energy efficiency standards and improvements

• Increasing the adoption of energy efficiency technologies and low-cost solutions in both commercial and domestic buildings

• Minimising emissions in construction of new buildings and through procurement of technologies and materials

Benefits of reducing CO2

• Reducing energy bills for residents and local businesses

• Upgrading the quality of housing stock, making homes healthier and creating new sustainable homes

• Improving the quality of commercial premises, helping make more productive and better working environments

• Improving air quality by reducing emissions of NOx from gas boilers

• Creating new skilled employment and commercial opportunities within the sustainable construction sector

The Nottingham context

• 11 Grade I listed buildings

• 38 Grade II* listed buildings

• 752 Grade II listed buildings

• XX historic buildings in conservation areas

• c. 50,000 buildings built before 1919

In Nottingham, we have responded to the climate crisis by setting an ambition to become the first carbon neutral city by 2028. To achieve this goal we need to consider how to achieve energy efficiency and mitigate climate change through the built environment including existing buildings as well as those that are currently being built.

About 35% of all buildings in Nottingham are over 100 years old. Therefore, historic buildings are a huge part of the solution in the Nottingham City Council’s Carbon Neutral Action Plan around carbon reduction the built environment. This guide provides advice on how you can meet the 2028 challenge through your historic home or business based on best practice advice from Historic England, the Institute of Historic Buildings and the Sustainable Traditional Building Alliance.

Our built heritage makes Nottingham locally distinctive and an attractive place to live work and visit. The history of the city can be read within the built environment and its distinctive character and appearance adds special interest to the city acknowledged by the number of Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas.

Incremental changes and poor alterations harm the character and appearance of our historic built environment. For example, the details that create the character and appearance of a place include the materials used for walls, roofs and details, the windows and doors, boundary walls and architectural details. Removing or obscuring these details harms the character and appearance of our built heritage so within changes care should be taken to keep these important features.

Space heating is the largest contributor to domestic CO2 emissions (25% of city’s overall emissions), with 294,000 tones of CO2 emitted for heating and hot water by properties in Nottingham. This demonstrates that the need for a transformation in the way we heat our homes, with 84% of households currently heated by gas, towards low carbon electric heat pumps and heat networks.

There is not a contradiction between responding to the climate crisis and the conservation of our built heritage. Both can be achieved if care is taken when planning changes to historic buildings. The embodied energy contained within historic buildings means reuse and refurbishment cost far less carbon in the whole life of the building than within a new build property. The durability of historic buildings means that if retrofitted responsibly they will be more a third more efficient within their lifetime.