Responsive Retrofit Measures for Traditional Listed Dwellings: An Investigation into a Mixed Methods Approach

The body of scientific research corroborates that reducing energy consumption alongside other environmental impacts can help reduce climate change effects. Existing buildings are major contributors to energy consumption and carbon/GHG emissions. Even more so is the housing stock, and more specifically, the dwellings of some cultural value or heritage merit. In the case of historic dwellings, because of constraints imposed by their heritage value, improvements are not as easy as for the rest of the existing building stock. The UK must address retrofit measures in this sector as it inherits one of the oldest, most culturally-rich yet most poorly-performing housing stocks in Europe.This paper sets out to elaborate on the methodology developed for a research project aimed at devising a framework for interventions in traditional listed dwellings to improve the environmental impact at reasonable cost, in order to shape a more future-proof heritage by providing decision support structures for stakeholders groups. The paper concentrates on the proposed mixed methodology, which is centred on a selection of C.19th case study dwellings in Brighton, South East of England. Following a critical literature review, secondary data collection and analysis, interviews/questionnaires, measured surveys, data logging, thermal imaging and energy simulations are proposed in order to investigate the current energy performance and the possible improvements to suggest responsive and cost-effective energy retrofits of the selected dwellings.