New energy efficiency guidance to support upgrading of older traditional buildings

• guidance will lead to warmer, more energy efficient homes in pre-1940s housing stock, helping to address vacancy and revitalisation of towns and cities
• technical guidance will assist installers undertaking retrofitting works in historic buildings, particularly solid block houses

Malcolm Noonan, Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform has launched new guidance to support energy upgrades in traditional buildings. Primarily aimed at the specifiers and installers of retrofitting projects, the guidance will also be of interest to owners, occupiers and other custodians of historic buildings - both residential and non-residential – who want to increase the comfort in these buildings while reducing their energy usage, energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions. The guidance will greatly assist in the regeneration of historic buildings in our towns, cities and countryside, enabling disused or underused buildings to be brought back into use.

Minister of State for Nature, Heritage and Electoral Reform Malcolm Noonan said:

The guidance will assist specifiers and installers by providing practical advice on how to make the right decisions when undertaking retrofitting works to traditional buildings. It explains how these buildings work, how to assess their performance and how to plan for climate change. Advice is given on options for upgrading the different elements of the building fabric, and what to take into consideration when upgrading existing services or choosing a new energy system, including renewable energy, for a traditional building.

In Ireland, traditional buildings are built with solid, load-bearing masonry walls, single-glazed windows and timber-framed roofs. This type of construction was used in the majority of buildings built in this country before c.1940 and forms a significant component of our built environment.

Traditional buildings form the core of our cities and towns, and populate the countryside. They can be landmark buildings of high heritage significance, simple single-family dwellings and any building type in between. Their continued existence as the backdrop to our everyday lives plays a key role in our cultural heritage, our identity and sense of place.

Special care is required when undertaking building or energy upgrade work to building stock of this nature. The guidance will assist the custodians of traditional buildings in increasing energy efficiency in ways that protects the character of the buildings while also avoiding potential damage to the fabric of the buildings and the health of their occupants.

Guidance: Improving Energy Efficiency in Traditional Buildings, Guidance for Specifiers and Installers, 2023

The guidance is published by the National Built Heritage Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage under the Climate Action Plan 2023.

A Project Steering Group, chaired by the National Built Heritage Service, was formed to oversee the preparation of the guidance and included representatives of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage; the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications; the Department of Education; the Office of Public Works; the Heritage Council; and the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland.

The Project Steering Group worked with a contract team led by the Irish Green Building Council together with Carrig Conservation International, KRA and Passivate.

Under the Climate Action Plan, the equivalent of 500,000 homes are to be retrofitted to a B2 Building Energy Rating (BER) or cost-optimal equivalent by 2030. All public sector buildings are to achieve a BER of B by 2030, with around one third of commercial properties aiming to achieve the same target. The EU’s Renovation Wave aims to at least double the annual energy renovation rates in the next ten years.

This guidance will assist in unlocking the potential to upgrade a significant portion of the building stock in a way which takes account of its construction and safeguards its fabric and historic character.

The majority of buildings constructed in this country prior to 1940 are traditional buildings. Based on 2016 Census records, 15-18% of Ireland’s residential building stock is of traditional construction.

Many traditional buildings are protected structures or are located in architectural conservation areas, but the vast majority do not have statutory protection. Nonetheless they require careful technical consideration in their upgrading and enhancement for contemporary use so as not to prejudice the character of the building, or increase the risk of long-term deterioration of the building fabric.

The guidance discusses the statutory requirements that may apply to retrofitting projects; the recommended skills and expertise required for different types of projects and explains how heat and moisture move through a traditional building. It sets out a step-by-step approach to developing a retrofit strategy, the types of materials that are suitable to use and other efficiency measures that can improve the energy and resource efficiency of these buildings.

A number of case studies will be developed based on the principles of this guidance to show what energy-efficiency options are appropriate to use and what they are likely to achieve in terms of improvement to their BER.

This new guidance builds on the previous guidance entitled Energy Efficiency in Traditional Buildings published in 2010 as part of the department’s Advice Series.