Context 168 - June 2021

C O N T E X T 1 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 3 adequately covered. It is intended that the guidance should be a living document under continuous review, and that it will be amended periodically. Substantive advice on extensions to listed buildings is not included, as that is a subject in its own right that would have greatly expanded a document that already runs to 33 pages. Some comments have been received already, pointing out omissions. We would welcome further feedback to consultations@ihbc.org.uk. This document alone is unlikely to overcome the concerns about inconsistency. It is hoped that once the pandemic is over, the consistency seminars pioneered by the south-west branch can be rolled out across the country through the IHBC branches, promoting a unified approach to historic building conservation. Roy Lewis, IHBC policy secretary Climate and heritage John Preston writes: The UN climate change COP26 is due to be held in Glasgow in November. Politicians are making ambitious climate pledges, and by the time you read this the government should have published its long-delayed heat and buildings strategy. I urge all readers to engage with this: it will have potentially very serious implications, as it will set out how existing buildings are to be upgraded to meet the government’s new statutory target of cutting carbon emissions by 78 per cent by 2035, compared to 1990 levels. This target follows the climate change committee’s recommendations for the 6th Carbon Budget, which are informed by a UCL report Analysis work to refine fabric energy efficiency assumptions for use in developing the 6th Carbon Budget . This has a welcome section (3) on the domestic heritage sector. ‘There is a wide range of buildings that face additional challenges in decarbonising, including those formally recognised as having some form of heritage value (namely listed homes and homes in conservation areas), as well as traditional buildings more widely – generally considered to be those built before 1919. Our evidence gathering for the purposes of this work is focused on the former, but many of the findings will be applicable to traditional buildings more generally.’ But the 6th Carbon Budget’s trajectories for residential heat decarbonisation are based on the report Development of trajectories for residential heat decarbonisation to inform the Sixth Carbon Budget (Element Energy). This notes that ‘Heritage homes, defined to include listed buildings and those in conservation areas, are treated differently in terms of cost and suitability of measures’. It does not get to grips with the scale of the challenge, noting only that two per cent of the UK stock are listed buildings, with no highlighting of, or figure given for, those in conservation areas. The report goes on to say that ‘However, it can be argued that all pre-1919 homes face similar issues to listed buildings and should be treated similarly. It was not possible to account for this in this work, but it remains an important area for further analysis.’ So there is still no real high-level understanding, or prioritisation, of the scale and urgency of the challenges presented by heritage and traditional buildings (25–35 per cent of the total stock requiring special consideration, different approaches, and specialist training). This was worryingly confirmed by the Environmental A new statue of Ebenezer Howard has been unveiled in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. The work of sculptor Ben Twiston-Davies, it was commissioned by the Welwyn Garden City Centenary Foundation as part of the town’s 2020 centenary celebrations. Howard (1850–1928) was the founder of the garden- city movement, founding the world’s first two garden cities, Letchworth (1903) and Welwyn Garden City (1920). The Grade II* listed Elvaston Castle and its grounds are to be restored by Elvaston Castle and Garden Trust in partnership with Derbyshire County Council. The house’s current appearance dates from an 1836 modification by the architect Lewis Nockalls Cottingham.