SCOTLAND is blessed with around 50,000 listed buildings and has more than 600 designated conservation areas.
As a small country we punch well above our weight architecturally. Quite understandably this has led to a culture of protecting these buildings, preserving them in homage to their era.
However, we are now seeing a conflict between past and future - because many of these architectural gems simply cannot be made sustainable with existing technology.
This is particularly challenging in many of our tenement buildings which are home to huge numbers of Scots and are a hallmark feature of both the Glasgow and Edinburgh skylines.
While working from home, many people living in such homes were shocked to find the limitations on making them more energy-efficient. Cavity wall insulation is not possible. Ground source heat pumps are not possible. Double glazing is often not allowed, nor are solar panels. Options are incredibly limited.
I hope Scotland is on the verge of a golden era of further retrofitting innovation, or we face some incredibly difficult choices: leave our heritage buildings to belch out carbon as the rest of the country races toward Net Zero? Or ride roughshod over decades of architectural protection to achieve sustainability targets?
Attempts to retrofit homes within conservation areas are subject to myriad confusing rules. That has seen whole communities, such as the Stockbridge colonies in Edinburgh, request more clarity from councils on what they can and can’t do to make homes more sustainable.
Meanwhile, planning rules by City of Edinburgh Council state that solar panels within conservation areas “will not normally be permitted on any conspicuous elevations”. Technological limitations mean the use of ground or air source heat pumps is severely limited by a simple lack of space.
All of which means our collective preservation mindset is being tested like never before. Around 23% of all emissions are from our homes and workplaces, a significant contribution to greenhouse gases.
Nothing should stop the march towards greater sustainability, but we also have a clear duty to our incredible built environment heritage. So what can we do?
I’d love to see more grants and financial support from Government, councils, and universities to promote and support green innovators.
A retrofitting gold rush won’t just happen in Scotland, it will be across the UK, Europe and beyond so there could be decades of economic benefit for all of us if we are at the forefront of this.
To help that kind of progressive thinking we need a joined-up approach between government, local authorities, community and heritage groups and businesses to ensure positive outcomes.
We can’t bulldoze our way to a greener future – but the innovation we encourage, support and nurture today can protect both our past and our future.
Gareth Claase is the founder of Gecko Glazing, an Edinburgh-based firm producing innovative secondary glazing panes that can be installed to give single-glazed windows the effectiveness of double-glazing at a fraction of the cost.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here