The Irish Georgian Society (www.igs.ie ) and conservation officers from Galway and Clare county councils are partnering to deliver a seminar on energy efficiency in historic houses. This half-day seminar will be held from 1pm today (Thursday ) at the Loughnane and Quinn Memorial Hall, Labane, on the Galway to Gort road.
The seminar will offer practical, appropriate, and easy to understand advice on how to thermally upgrade historic buildings and reduce energy costs while ensuring that no damage occurs to their historic fabric and character.
Crucially, attendance will equip homeowners with the knowledge of how to obtain the most return for the least cost by doing ‘as much as necessary and as little as possible’ to ensure a comfortable and sustainable home to live in.
The seminar is aimed at owners of protected structures and buildings located within architectural conservation areas, as well as owners of any traditionally built house. The event will also be of interest to architects, and attendance at the seminar is recognised by the RIAI as a structured CPD activity (2.5 CPD points ).
“With the cold and wet winter days here, for many historic homeowners this is the time of year they start looking for answers on how to keep their homes warm and dry and reduce their energy bills,” said Emmeline Henderson, conservation manager with the Irish Georgian Society. “However traditionally built buildings behave differently to modern buildings, and the wrong thermal upgrading measures can not only lead to the erosion of the historic fabric and diminish its special architectural significance, but can exacerbate problems with damp and make a building colder.”
The Irish Georgian Society and Galway and Clare conservation officers Máirín Doddy and Risteard Cronin have assembled a team of acknowledged experts on the subject to provide down to earth, low cost, sensitive, solutions for improving the thermal efficiency of historic homes.
Grade I RIAI conservation architect Paul Arnold, whose practice researched and wrote the just published Department of the Environment, Heritage, and Local Government Advice Series on Energy Efficiency in Traditional Buildings (www.environ.ie ) will provide a conservation architect’s perspective at today’s event. Peter Smith, a builder with extensive expertise in thermally upgrading old buildings, will provide advice on the right insulating methods and materials. Respected historic buildings services engineer, Edith Blennerhassett, is going to examine ways of improving the energy efficiency and running costs of an historic building. Katriona Byrne will deliver new research on the building energy rating (BER ) and how it applies to old buildings. Galway County Council conservation officer Máirín Doddy will be on hand to give advice on the planning implications of carrying out works to increase the energy performance of a protected structure, as well as letting homeowners know about both conservation and energy grants.
The seminar is the first in a series of five seminars being held around the country, which the Irish Georgian Society has organised in partnership with local authorities. The seminars have been made possible through the support of the Electricity Supply Board, Sustainable Energy Authority Ireland, and the Department of Environment, Heritage, and Local Government.
To find out about the full programme and book a place, which costs €40, visit the Irish Georgian Society’s website www.igs.ie, phone (01 ) 6767053, or email [email protected]
