Climate Change and Historic Places Webinars 1

The first of two related webinars (14 & 21 January 2021), this event looks at the close relationship between managing historic places and climate change.

To-date 300 out of the 404 district, county, unitary and metropolitan councils in the UK have declared a Climate Emergency, and are looking at what ‘net zero’ emissions by 2030 or 2050 means for their strategic policies and day-to-day actions. At the same time, the heritage sector has a new call for action: Heritage Declares.

While the inherent sustainability of re-using existing buildings is well-known, how persuasive are we at arguing for their retention in energy terms, or the microclimate of their settings?

How to balance adapting historic places to be more environmentally-responsible, whilst not harming their historic character, is a key challenge.

With low and zero-carbon strategies becoming increasingly important to places and organisations, what are the kind of actions that can be taken – large and small? What role can communities play when setting their own agendas for neighbourhood plans or rescuing historic buildings?

This seminar will address these issues, for professional and communities alike, and will explore the principles of the Heritage Declares charter (https://www.heritagedeclares.org/) below:

1. Be a platform for change
2. Shift conservation priorities
3. Build and share the evidence
4. Conserve embodied resources
5. Plan for sustainability
6. Rethink heritage tourism
7. Empower practitioners
8. Protect skills and materials
9. Detoxify conservation practice
10. Pursue ethical finance.

• Welcome, Louise Thomas, Director, HTVF
• Introduction, Chair – Helen Ensor, Director, Donald Insall Associates
• Heritage Declares: the heritage sector vs. the climate and ecological emergency, David Garrard, co-founder of Heritage Declares and Senior Lecturer in Historic Conservation, Oxford Brookes University
• Understanding embodied energy, Richmond House, Whitehall, Mark Hines, Director, Mark Hines architects
• Retrofitting older buildings for energy efficiency and sustainability, Nigel Griffiths, Director, Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance
• Low carbon strategies for historic buildings and areas, Julie Godefroy, Director, Julie Godefroy Sustainability

Sponsored by Donald Insall Associates

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