Achieving energy efficiency in public heritage buildings: Towards a sustainable approach to practice

Heritage buildings in the UK unquestionably constitute some of the most beautiful features of the country’s cityscape. The challenge is that since most of these buildings were designed and built in a very different age, they are often seen as hugely energy-inefficient. Although, numerous attempts have been made to improve their energy efficiency, however due to the impulse to protect their delicate fabric, few have achieved little or no success. This paper as part of a doctoral research into energy management in reuse of public heritage buildings (PHBs); investigate strategies adopted to improve energy efficiency in adaptive reuse of PHBs where energy use problem could potentially be addressed. An online survey was conducted among heritage building stakeholders who reported their perceptions of energy use reduction for sustainable reuse PHBs. Findings show that most respondents were less inclined in their projects to implement energy efficiency strategies. Across the survey, few respondents who had significant success had better perceptions of the sustainable approach to achieving energy efficiency for heritage buildings. The paper presented the recommendations as perceived by the stakeholders; conclude by highlighting that a well-designed efforts to improve energy efficiency in reuse PHBs would require energy management to be incorporated into the daily operational practices. This could pay greater dividends towards achieving environmental sustainability of heritage buildings with better outcomes in both heritage and energy conservation.