40 C O N T E X T 1 1 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 0 the historic environment expected to make a major contribution to the reduction of Scotland’s greenhouse gas emissions, it is openly promoted for the contribution it will make to the Scottish Government’s number one policy objective: to increase sustainable economic growth. In this, the economy may be interpreted as the driver; the environment, a vehicle. As an executive agency of government, Historic Scotland has a careful balancing act to perform – a role in which it could easily be outpaced by opportunism in the construction industry. It is under pressure to say yes to interventions that prioritise energy efficiency in use, and yet the conventional criteria for defining and calculating thermal performance across the built environment are crude. The measurement of thermal capacity and its impact on human comfort levels and therefore space heating needs is largely unexplored, and behavioural patterns and their adaptability to change are not taken into account. Additionally, despite continuing research, there is no industryagreed methodology for calculating and comparing the embodied energy of existing buildings let alone interventions into them, and life-cycle parameters and analysis are poor. Little wonder therefore that research in France has identified that traditional buildings perform on average 30 per cent better in use than theoretical calculations assert, that modern buildings perform 30 per cent worse, and that the scientific explanations have so far proved elusive. Little wonder either that the Ministry of Justice in England has confounded preconceptions by demonstrating that its oldest, pre-1900 buildings are the most energy efficient, and that their performance was not approached in new construction until the 1990s and 2000s (Jon Wallsgrove, ‘The justice estate’s energy use’, Context 103, March 2008). In the light of these and related findings, emphasis by the historic environment agencies in both France and England is focused on benign interventions in the older building stock to improve their already good performance without detrimental impact on their character (Chris Wood, ‘Making historic buildings even more sustainable’, Context 111, September 2009). By necessity, Historic Scotland has become more proactive. Section 64 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 incorporates draconian enabling powers to compel owners of domestic properties to improve their energy performance and reduce emissions. It also makes provision for enforcement and penalties. Although the relevant regulations have yet to be published, the presumptions based on conventional Scrappage of traditional single-glazed windows in Scotland. (Photo: Crown Copyright, reproduced courtesy of Historic Scotland www. historicscotlandimages. gov.uk) Lauriston Place, Edinburgh: solar water heating installation in the centre valley of a typical tenement (Photo: Crown Copyright, reproduced by courtesy of Historic Scotland www. historicscotlandimages. gov.uk)
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