What is it about?
Improving the energy efficiency of our buildings has been identified as a key step in tackling climate change. However with historic buildings it is important that we understand the aesthetic, technical and cultural impact of these actions. This article focuses on historic half-timbered buildings in the UK, exploring how we value these as part of our cultural identity and questioning how we can make them suitable for habitation in the 21st century.
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Why is it important?
Research into improving the energy efficiency the UK historic built environment has so far concentrated on solid masonry construction (brick and stone), with little study of the 68,000 historic timber-framed buildings that form an important part of the UK cultural identity. This paper forms part of ongoing research by the authors addressing this need.
Perspectives
The work in this paper comes out of my PhD and ongoing research.
Dr Christopher J. Whitman
Cardiff University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Heritage retrofit and cultural empathy; a discussion of challenges regarding the energy performance of historic UK timber-framed dwellings, International Journal of Building Pathology and Adaptation, November 2019, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/ijbpa-02-2019-0023.
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