Planning hurdles for the adaptation of heritage buildings
Physical measures associated with climate adaptation can be generally divided into two elements:
- Alterations to improve building performance (either internal or external);
- Installation of energy efficiency measures, including renewable energy generation and the updating or replacing of services with low-carbon alternatives.
Although some of these measures benefit from an expanding set of permitted development rights (avoiding the need for planning permission), many permitted development rights are restricted when the building is listed or in a conservation area.
Listed building consent is additionally required where alterations to listed buildings will affect the building’s special architectural or historical interest.
In determining applications for both planning and listed building consent, specific heritage policies and statutory duties apply such that the local authority must have special regard for the desirability of preserving (and soon to be enhancing) the listed building and its setting.
This “special regard” regularly tilts the balance in favour of heritage preservation over the public benefits of climate adaptation and energy efficiency. The time and resource requirements for securing such consents, set against this high bar, can often deter many owners of historical buildings.
Additional tools in the planning system
The existing regime does, however, offer options for those wishing to address this head-on.
Since April 2014, local authorities have been able to make a local listed building consent order.
This effectively grants listed building consent for specified works in respect of a class or group of listed buildings, avoiding the need for multiple individual applications.
While take-up of LLBCOs has been relatively slow, a few councils have used them for energy efficiency and energy improvement measures, with an early example from North Somerset Council in 2018 that enabled secondary glazing to be installed in five Grade II listed buildings within the Tyntesfield Estate.
In April 2022, the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea led the way as the first authority to make an LLBCO for the installation of rooftop solar panels on the majority of Grade II and II* listed buildings, subject to meeting specific conditions.
A year later, RBKC made a further LLBCO in respect of three classes of window works on Grade II listed buildings, including for secondary glazing, and for double glazing for existing windows inserted or installed after the date of the listing.
While subject to strict conditions, RBKC made clear that it was seeking to make it “faster and easier for residents to improve the thermal efficiency of windows in their properties, and to signal the council’s commitment to roll out renewable energy and carbon-saving measures where appropriate in our historical buildings and areas”.
The government has proposed further consultation on increasing the opportunities to use LLBCOs to simplify the process and support energy improvement measures to be carried out across a wider range of listed buildings.
Owners of heritage buildings and local authorities can also enter into a heritage partnership agreement – a statutory agreement that grants listed building consent for specified classes of work to a listed building, or a group of listed buildings in common ownership.
Normally granted for a fixed period, an HPA allows such works to be carried out whenever convenient without needing listed building consent each time.
While an HPA does not deal with any necessary planning permissions, it can reduce the scope of overall consenting required, particularly where planning permission is not needed, such as for internal alterations.
What next?
In November 2023, Historic England issued for consultation a new draft advice note: Climate Change and Historic Building Adaptation.
It aims to provide advice for owners of heritage buildings on the consenting requirements for common changes associated with decarbonisation and improvements in energy efficiency.
It also contains advice for local authorities on the determination of such applications, and how local plans can help to deliver “a positive strategy for historic buildings that proactively supports climate action”.
The government’s latest guidance – Adapting historic homes for energy efficiency: a review of the barriers (published on 3 January 2024) – sets out a number of commitments, including that it intends to include a policy specifically for improvements to historical buildings, which will form part of a new wider heritage National Development Management Policy that would replace the heritage policies in chapter 16 of the National Planning Policy Framework.
The government asserts that “this will help to ensure greater certainty and consistency about decisions on applications for energy efficiency improvements affecting listed buildings and buildings in conservation areas across England”.
The details of any new policy will, of course, be subject to public consultation, as required by the Levelling-up and Regeneration Act 2023.
A vital and valuable resource
The planning system quite rightly includes robust means to protect our nation’s important built heritage, but as these buildings make up such a large percentage of the existing stock, it is vital that all efforts are made to ensure that they also contribute towards meeting the 2050 net-zero target.
There is a growing understanding of the embodied carbon savings that can be realised through maintaining many older buildings, and through enabling sensitively managed changes to improve their energy consumption.
The government also appears committed to exploring ways in which heritage protection and climate change adaptation can be less adversarial in nature.
Authored by Robert Gowing
An earlier version of this article appeared in Estates Gazette on 26 February 2024
