Retrofit of Traditional Buildings

We can provide the Statements of Significance and Condition surveys required when carrying out retrofit works to traditional and protected buildings to the PAS 2035 and PAS 2038 standards. Several years ago we led a project to retrofit a terraced house owned by the Heritage Trust for the North West. We were concerned that many ‘Eco’ refurbishments at the time used materials and details that were inappropriate for traditionally-constructed buildings.

In 2016 we completed the AECB’s Carbonlite Retrofit course, and we recently completed the updated version. We helped to organise the Scottish Ecological Design Association’s conference on Retrofit in September 2023 and are in the final stages of the AECB’s Level 5 course in Retrofit Coordination. We intend to offer a more comprehensive retrofit service for protected and traditional buildings that complies with the new RICS Standard for Domestic Retrofit later this year.

The Building Research Establishment adopted our retrofit of a terraced house in Nelson, Lancashire, as one of their Exemplar Projects. They carried out a thermal imaging survey on our behalf before the works started.

The Building Research Establishment also carried out airtightness testing before work was carried out. Unsurprisingly, the house was very leaky, and smoke testing identified many of the leaks. The house was considerably more airtight after the works were completed.