Secondary double glazing and listed buildings

I just got an email from Lydia Savage re the article in The Guardian today about secondary double glazing and listed buildings (see below). I have to applaud the Savages for getting coverage of this issue - and indeed the articles' author, David Adam (environment correspondent for The Guardian) for writing about it.

It is an extraordinary situation - at least English Heritage recognise the problem now and look set to act - let us hope it is not too long and that sensible solutions can be found that ensure warm homes and the integrity of the building is retained.

Indeed yesterday I was talking to a designer who was looking at how the stone could be cut out of the stone window frames in one house so that the frame of the new double-glazed windows would be hidden. Clearly this is one way but a huge expense. Most of the existing guidelines were written before we recognised the immensity of the challenge we face with climate change - indeed instead of making it difficult for householders isn't it time we perhaps rewarded them for taking such actions?

David Adam, in the article below, also mentions the solar panels in Bisley - see my blog on 1st August 2007 for a discussion re that issue.

The carbon cost of protecting our heritage

- Listed status takes priority over energy efficiency
- Rules stop homeowners from keeping out chills.

For more than 300 years, people have peered through the window from the kitchen at the front of Richard and Lydia Savage's 17th-century farmhouse near Painswick, Gloucestershire. And for most of the time, they probably shivered. The Savages do what they can to keep out draughts, but even in October the house has a distinct chill. As a result, their central heating system burns twice as much fuel as the average house, and produces twice the carbon emissions.

The couple want to fit modern secondary glazing throughout the house, to bring down their bills and their carbon footprint, but are prevented from doing so because the farmhouse is Grade II* listed, of outstanding architectural or historical interest. And they are not alone - some 450,000 people in England live in listed properties, and millions more face similar restrictions in designated conservation areas.

As ministers urge greater efforts on energy saving and talk of new eco-homes, thousands of existing buildings are being denied basic improvements, and are producing unnecessary carbon emissions.

Tony Allen, a legal adviser to the Listed Properties Owners Club, said: "It has become a really big issue because listed status has traditionally taken priority over a desire to save energy. It's something the authorities are going to have to look at." He deals with three or four inquiries a week from frustrated homeowners.

Walk around the Savages' house and the problem is not hard to diagnose. The walls are thick and the roof well insulated, but the glass windows barely fit their frames. One upstairs bedroom is permanently open to the elements, through a sizable gap left by a former craftsman to vent condensation. To make significant changes, the couple must get the consent of a conservation architect at their local council in Stroud, which follows guidelines issued by English Heritage.

To English Heritage, the imperfections are an example of "a physical survival of our past to be protected for their own sake as a central part of our cultural heritage and our sense of national identity". To the Savages, they are the reason the temperature in their house barely reaches 13C. The Department of Health-recommended minimum for people their age is 21C.

Mr Savage said: "We are in the middle of a conflict between environmental conservation and cultural conservation. If we put in secondary glazing, it is only going to make a very small difference to global warming, but the global answer depends on hundreds of thousands of small differences. The planners see the debate in terms of buildings and we would argue they need to see it in terms of energy efficiency. They talk about saving the houses for our grandchildren, well I want to save our grandchildren from the houses."

David Drewe, who works on energy conservation for English Heritage, said: "We know this is a hot topic and we plan to give a lot more detailed guidance to local authorities next year. There is no such thing as a standard building so it's hard to talk about specific measures, but we are trying to be much more positive towards energy efficiency measures now." He said one problem was that different local councils interpreted the guidelines about what changes were allowed in different ways, so there was little consistency. While some councils allow solar panels, for example, others refuse all requests.

Phil Skill, head of planning at Stroud district council, blames the government for sending out mixed messages. "We don't want to appear unsympathetic, but the government has left us in limbo between two sets of different priorities." He said they were being asked to arbitrate and would like unambiguous guidance.

The council is also in dispute with John Cowen, who has been refused retrospective permission for the solar panels he installed in 2001. The council says they are an eyesore; Cowen says nobody noticed them for six years. He argues that efforts to reduce carbon emissions will be of historical interest, and as such should be protected.

The guidelines

People living in listed properties and conservation areas must get consent before doing anything to their building in case it harms anything that in the government's words "adds to the quality of our lives, by enhancing the familiar and cherished local scene and sustaining the sense of local distinctiveness which is so important an aspect of the character and appearance of our towns and countryside."

In practice this means work to external walls, windows, roofs etc should not alter their character and appearance, though the final decision on consent is left to local councils' planning officers, with the help of bulky guidance notes. On replacement windows, the notes say factory-made double-glazed windows are "almost always damaging" and should not be allowed. Secondary glazing, a less obtrusive window mounted inside the original, is "an acceptable option for some windows". Solar panels are not mentioned, though because they can be removed in future, some councils allow them.

See article here and links to other related articles in The Guardian:
www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/24/energyefficiency