Retrofitting the UK’s historical buildings, from Georgian townhouses to the mills and factories that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution, could generate £35bn of economic output a year, create jobs and play a crucial role in achieving climate targets, research has found.
Improving the energy efficiency of historical properties – those built before 1919 – could reduce carbon emissions from the UK’s buildings by 5% each year and make older homes warmer and cheaper to run, according to a report commissioned by the National Trust, Historic England and leading property organisations.
Nearly a quarter of all UK homes, 6.2m properties, were built before 1919 and almost a third of commercial properties, about 600,000, are also historical sites. They are responsible for about a fifth of the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions, with old buildings accounting for a significant proportion.
Retrofitting older buildings – such as ensuring their windows and heating systems are more energy efficient – lowers emissions and can prolong their lifespan. It avoids the carbon emissions caused by knocking down and building from scratch, in particular the large amount emitted from cement and steel produced by construction.
A national retrofitting campaign would lead to an extra £35bn of economic output annually, through construction activity and knock-on benefits for the tourism and hospitality sectors, according to the report, whose backers include the housing association Peabody, the crown estate and Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s property firm.
Peabody Avenue in Pimlico in London, two terraces of staircase-access flats built in 1876 and owned by Peabody, was used as part of a pilot to understand how to sensitively retrofit heritage buildings. Meanwhile, work is under way at the Grade II-listed Canada House in Manchester, built in 1909 and owned by Grosvenor, to improve its environmental performance, while Historic England has restored several listed buildings at the 18th-century Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, including the main mill and kiln.
Bob Kerslake, chair of Peabody, said: “Making these buildings energy efficient will stimulate spending in the construction industry, support about 290,000 jobs in supply chains and boost heritage-related tourism and hospitality.
“And where needed, making older homes more energy efficient will transform the lives of the people who live and work in them, reducing household energy bills and improving health and wellbeing.”
The organisations behind the report are calling on the government to work with industry to package together skills, training, funding, standards and advice into a national retrofit strategy, as the UK only has half the skilled workers needed to retrofit all old buildings.
The report, which will be formally launched at an event at the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, shows that more than 105,000 new workers, including plumbers, electricians, carpenters and scaffolders, will be needed to work solely on revamping the UK’s historical buildings every year for the next three decades for the UK to meet its 2050 net zero target. This includes 14,500 more electricians and 14,300 plumbers.
An estimated 100,000 people now work on historical buildings. But adapting the buildings requires more specialist skills and training. Plumbers will need to be able to work with heat pumps and hydrogen boilers, and many workers will need to be taught additional specialist skills to ensure heritage characteristics are protected.
The industry has long complained of skills shortages due to an ageing workforce, exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit.
One of the key differences between old and modern buildings is how each building type manages air flow and moisture: new buildings are built to be airtight. As living standards have changed, with showers, heating, washers and dryers in people’s homes, the risk of moisture buildup in older homes has gone up.
The organisations want the government to make the apprenticeship levy more flexible, allowing unspent funds to be channelled into training more people in the heritage retrofit field, such as funding six- to eight-week bootcamps. About £3.3bn in unused funds from the levy was returned to the Treasury between May 2019 and July 2022.
