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Working with historic buildings brings special challenges. Green interventions such as insulating windows or walls become much harder if the windows are historic and the walls have cornices and skirtings which would be masked by new linings. It may not be possible to introduce a draft lobby into a historic entrance. Space for new, sustainable plant may be hard to find.<\/p>\n
Historic theatres are public buildings and there\u2019s a need to make public buildings fit-for-purpose in the climate emergency. At the same time, some environmental changes can risk compromising the building\u2019s heritage value.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Making historic buildings as sustainable as possible is therefore a complex process that involves some genuine dilemmas. It needs time, thought, and expertise.<\/p>\n It\u2019s important to stress, first, that the most sustainable thing we can do is go on using existing buildings. To replace a historic building with a new structure, even if it runs far more efficiently, would be completely unsustainable. The new building\u2019s \u2018embodied carbon\u2019 (the carbon generated from building materials and construction) would massively exceed any benefit from cleaner operation. The sustainable option will always be to keep using old theatres and make them as efficient as possible.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also important not to destroy irreplaceable heritage to achieve only minimal gains. Historic buildings may never reach the efficiency of newer structures. However, with skill and determination it\u2019s still possible to make very significant improvements, and to make historic theatres fit for purpose in the context of the climate emergency.<\/p>\n \n The starting point is thorough understanding of the building\u2019s heritage significance. That\u2019s best achieved through a Conservation Management Plan, commissioned from a heritage consultant. The Conservation Management Plan will identify what\u2019s special about the building, what needs to be treated with the most care, and where changes are easier to introduce.<\/p>\n The Conservation Management Plan should include a section on sustainability. It should identify where improvements can be made, comment on where it may be hard to achieve commonplace upgrades (such as double-glazing), and suggest alternative approaches where possible.<\/p>\n If you have an existing Conservation Management Plan, it should be updated to include this section.<\/p>\n \n Working with historic buildings is a specialist field, which requires experience and expertise. Understanding the compatibility of any new materials with the existing building construction is important. For example, many historic, traditionally constructed buildings will require vapour permeable materials to be used to allow the building to \u2018breathe\u2019 and moisture to move through the building fabric. Older buildings are often \u2018leaky\u2019 but air infiltration through the building fabric will contribute to how the building regulates moisture and therefore must be taken into consideration when planning any changes.<\/p>\n Consultants used to working with old theatres will have come across most challenges before. They\u2019ll know what to look out for, and may have tried-and-tested ways of improving sustainability in difficult areas. It\u2019s therefore important to make sure that your consultants have the right background and experience for your theatre.<\/p>\n Expert input can also be obtained from Historic England, and from Conservation Officers. It\u2019s important to see them as partners, rather than as hurdles to be overcome. Historic England have good online advice to follow about many areas of conservation: https:\/\/historicengland.org.uk<\/p>\n The Theatres Trust can also offer expert advice on the challenges and opportunities of working with old theatres: http:\/\/www.theatrestrust.org.uk<\/a><\/p>\n \n It\u2019s almost inevitable that at some point you\u2019ll face difficult decisions in weighing sustainability options against heritage value. Will secondary glazing harm the appearance of an old window? Does a proposed draft lobby ruin the historic entrance? Try to keep the following in mind:<\/p>\n \u2022 You\u2019re not alone. There is good advice and support to be had from Historic England, the Theatres Trust, conservation officers, specialist architects and heritage consultants.<\/p>\n \u2022 How much benefit does the proposed intervention give? If it\u2019s significant, then the intervention may be the right thing to do. But it isn\u2019t worth destroying something irreplaceable for a marginal gain.<\/p>\n \u2022 Are there alternatives? Think laterally. You may find a much less damaging option which gives nearly as much benefit.<\/p>\n \u2022 At all costs, try to make sure that changes are reversible. That means you aren\u2019t destroying historic fabric once and for all.<\/p>\n \u2022 Conservation and sustainability run hand-in-hand. Re-using old buildings is sustainable. Historic building techniques, using natural and recyclable materials, have much to teach us about how to build in more sustainable ways.<\/p>\n <\/strong><\/h3>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_button button_url=”https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/sustainablebuildings-toolkit\/” button_text=”Back to The Toolkit” button_alignment=”center” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_button][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Theatre Green BUILDINGS Toolkit – Historic Buildings Introduction Working with historic buildings brings special challenges. Green interventions such as insulating windows or walls become much harder if the windows are historic and the walls have cornices and skirtings which would be masked by new linings. It may not be possible to introduce a draft lobby […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1121,"featured_media":0,"parent":796,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-817","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":249923,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/817\/revisions\/249923"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theatregreenbook.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Conservation Management Plan<\/b><\/h3>\n
Expert Advice<\/b><\/h3>\n
Difficult Decisions<\/b><\/h3>\n
Other Useful Guidance<\/p>\n
Historic England: Retrofit and Enegy Efficiency in Historic Buildings<\/a><\/h3>\n
City of London: Historic Buildings Retrofit Toolkit<\/a><\/h3>\n