What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• On a listed building -  
  1. Solar heating
  2. Heat pump
  3. Insulation
  4. Window replacement (double glazing)
  5. Electric & cycle infrastructure
• Are there any approved solar panels or double-glazed window fittings approved for Grade 2 listed Georgian terraces?
• Listed Georgian house – solar panels, double glazing, heat pump
• Georgian grade 2 listed terraced house – internal insulation, internal doors, double or triple glazing, chimney change to reduce heat loss, heat recovery systems. All sympathetic, sensitive and appropriate energy-efficient retrofit solutions, heat pump reversible – heat in winter, colling in summer (not air-con)
• Shading – Brise-soleil, shade cloth on listed property
• Windows!
• More cycle lockers with charging sockets for electric bicycles and more car chargers for EV vehicles

• UK builders ill-prepared for this work, how can we get reliable, skilled builders?
• British Gas engineer working on my boiler told me he knew nothing about heat pumps – problem UK workers not trained up
• No log book or MOT for houses
• No council communication of clear plans
• No ‘green’ contractors
• No checking of contractors
• Limited and very expensive access to planning officers
• Conflicting opinions from planning, conservation, and building control officers
• Not moving fast enough, only 7 years to 2030!
• Net Zero Paradox – yes to cycling and cycling shelters, no to cycling shelters plonked in listed squares, next to historic buildings
• Net Zero Paradox – Want to make changes but no ££, so…
• Need a log book for houses, to regulate builders and tradesmen’s work
• Listed buildings – past-experience seems to be ‘no’, for no reasonable justification. Puts me off applying for anything else now (I had applied or internal changes which would not be visible from outside. It seems if it’s ‘no’ three times, then how would we get permission for double glazing?)
• Cost
• Lack of knowledge and reliable information
• Crawlingly slow approvals
• Inconsistency, it depends on which planning officer you get, especially for listed buildings
• Uncertainty about decisions planning officers likely to make: eco Vs planning interest
• We have no money to do the changes
• Historic England does not take into consideration of the realities of living in the modern world. Example – listed building with new roof and top floor ceilings, post-war, wanted to raise ceilings, not allowed, totally unreasonable
• Cost!

What support or help do you need?

• Can we get initial planning guidance before paying for expensive architect’s plans?
• Precise guidelines for planning officers = consistency
• Who has the power? Council or English Heritage?
• Set money spent on eco-improvements against tax/council tax (to encourage change)
• LBI must liaise better with Historic England
• A clear checklist of criteria the changes must meet on listed properties, for example, a tick box form to see if proposed change is likely to be approved
• Take VAT off builders materials and labour
• Listed buildings – we need clarity and simplicity – give guidelines
• Raise parking fees rather than subsidise
• £ eco grants to upgrade
• Regulation and registration of ‘green’ builders
• Centralised, regularly updated, list of approved suppliers and types of retrofits, i.e., types of windows, insulation, solar panels etc., for listed buildings
• Listed – allow wood-looking PVC double glazing (I lived in Paris, all buildings have double glazing, but it looks like wood, even though it isn’t)
• Standards for ease of use, of electric charging units, all should be contactless
• Liaise with the other councils so you/we can adopt sensible and useful guidance from London and England
• Technical advice and installers for double glazing, insulation, PV panels, air source/ground source heat (Georgian Houses)
• Electric car club cars and charging on streets to gradually replace car ownership, all over the country. Pick up and drop off anywhere
• Solar panels should always be permitted if they are not visible from the street, including listed buildings
• A list of recommended trades people who can supply the approved solar panels, pumps etc.
• Recommended suppliers, manufacturers, contractors, and trades people, familiar experience, and knowledgeable about London listed residential houses and flats
• Collective applications for listed buildings
• Need help not just about planning, but also technical and practical advice on implementation. Also, guidance on reliable builders
• Systems which are not OISY (so as not to disturb neighbours)
• Can we remove the difference between Historic England approval and planning permission?
• Does planning approval stand even if Historic England object?
• Is there a quality or plastic windows that could be approved for conservation and listed buildings please!
• Importance that guidance is in simple, plain English
• ALL buildings should be allowed to install double glazing as long as the installation is sympathetic to the original style, regardless of whether listed or not
• Specification guidelines, not requiring only particular manufacturers

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Windows – double/ideally triple glazed (listed and conservation areas)
• Air source heat pumps
• Improvements to the energy efficiency rating of buy to let properties (failure may prevent letting the building in the future)
• Listed building and energy conservation – The chicken and egg…. Can’t, for instance, plan for solar power on the roof of a Georgian tenement, as roof needs renewal, but can’t be brought up to energy standards and still comply with listed regs!
• Roof insulation: to avoid loss of internal space, where there are parapets, could the whole roof be raised for thicker insulation and raise parapets so appearance same
• Listed buildings – allow double and triple glazing if they are aesthetically similar
• Listed Move the balance between the protection of the past to reflect the needs of the future. So, specifically, why can’t a plate glass ‘shop front’ window be replaced by a similar solar powered generating window
• Solar panels in a conservation are. 1+2+3
• Installing chimney ‘sheep’ to stop heat loss

• Noise and light pollution/interference – will the plan enforce best practice and address problems?
• Street lighting – the problem of security repairs glare at night, effect on birds
• Noise – invasive doorbells, electric vehicle charging points
• Noise restrictions for air source heat pumps
• ASHP – Guidance on whether beneficial, why can’t they be at the front, why such strict noise requirements when if good, are similar to a/c or gas boiler noise
• Lack of knowledge of possibilities – e.g., heat pumps, and what might be allowed?
• Approved provider had no contact with planning dept, and was unaware of conservation area considerations
• What documentation is needed? E.g., scaled plans, proposed plans, site location plan application fee
• Costly and confusing process
• Inconsistent responses to a query from planning/conversation a problem
• Approved providers – charge raised prices and as commercial companies they should know the local planning requirements

What support or help do you need?

• Do people know about chimney ‘sheep’? Cheap intervention
• Could the council provide advice e.g., an energy officer (like a planning officer) to advise on appropriate improvements
• Help for whole streets etc. – can the council get involved in ideas/projects to help all the properties in a street that share a similar problem
• External space for recycling, reducing rubbish, improving experience for pedestrians and cyclists
• Clarity and consistency
• More lamppost electric car chargers
• Fundamentally what are we conserving? If the result is an environmental catastrophe
• Appears to be no enforcement where rogue builders/installers are doing non-compliant works, puts others off applying for permission
• Clarity on council website – how to find out what is required/permitted
• Recycling – how to improve? Without additional bins we can’t house. Many would be willing to sort more/recycle/reuse
• Can council facilitate whole street doing works together, as cost and performance benefit
• Could there be templates or example docs, so residents can see what is required for an application, the list is intimidating
• Does the planning dept have the resources it needs?
• Proactive pathway for listed (and all other buildings) to become energy efficient – a joined up approach
• Should conservation/listed building rules be amended to suit our new climate? Maybe control how they are done instead
• Should the listing/conservation regulations evolve to allow more changes, e.g., solar panels/double glazing
• What is the council doing for residents who have been let down by Solar Together, Green energy Together? Will people lose their deposits?  
• We felt that there are a lot of people in this room who can afford to make changes and are restricted by listing and conservation regs
• Could council help with thermal images to show where heat is lost – I think the council should do this borough wide
• Flow chart of pathway through planning

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• I don’t want trickle vents in new double-glazed windows in my draughty Victorian house
• We would like to install best possible insulation and double glazing, loft insulation, solar or PV panels, heat exchange pumps
• We are very concerned about noise insulation as well as heat insulation – Bathsbury Street is a rat run for motor bikes
• Trees – which in general we love, but, 1 Arlington Square, 1850 building, early 1900’s, 3 plane trees planted in small gardens, now huge and inappropriate, need to be able to deal with them
• We have had trees pruned twice (once every three years). They are inappropriate in small gardens, these should be reduced by 50%, if not replaced with smaller trees

• Told we won’t get planning permission to replace windows
• English Heritage seems to play a big role in rejecting retro-fitting plans
• Would love to insulate the house, but the cost would be too much for us
• Insulation cost is a barrier
• Not knowing if a trades person has the necessary expertise to do retro-fitting
• Property not insulated enough to have an air source heat pump
• There is the perception that the council pretends to listen in these consultations as in in the people friendly streets, but aren’t really listening
• Lack of space for an air source heat pump
• Planning permission is a barrier
• A disincentive to installing air source (not just space/output/insulation etc.) – electricity is many times more expensive than gas/Kwh

What support or help do you need?

• We need advice on what we can and can’t do about better insulation, solar panels etc.
• Heat pumps need to be installed in a modern well-insulated home
• Air source heat pumps and noise (fans) guidance
• Advice on typologies – what’s cost effective, contractors, systems, approach
• Consistency amongst planning officer’s response, exclusion of trivia, concentration on critical matters
• All old houses are different (history). Need solid advice on what to do. Can the council develop relationships that allow the surveys and advice to be done/provided cheaply
• A positive, encouraging approach. The right to install (for example) double glazing without planning permission, provided the installation complies with the council’s clear requirements
• Has the council got a technical department which recommends the way to retro-fit old houses
• Money!
• Clarity – about what we can/can’t do to types of residences, and conditions for making changes
• Speedy decisions – recognition that the people who buy old houses/flats love them and want to protect them
• Trained workforce – create local employment
• Perception that the planning process is a negative process, discouraging insulation, solar panels etc., in older listed buildings
• We need to have permission to double glaze all our windows – for both draughts and noise
• SPD directions – checking enforcement, by whom? Always take place? Building control?
• Recognise/understand the best order to do work to save energy, as we can’t afford to do it all at once. In most cases, improvements will be piecemeal
• Council support on what is possible and if there are grants available

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Double/triple glazing
• Internal insulation
• External insulation
• Solar panels
• Batteries
• Shower waste, water heat recovery
• Air source heat pump
• External wall insulation, where it is inconspicuous on a listed building
• I would like to see a clas approval for listed buildings (grade 2), along the lines of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, allowing replacement of non-original windows with double-glazed windows (with applied glazing bars) to match original or existing 
• Roof mounted PV panels
• Double glazing in modern windows
• Piping for radiators under original floor boards is apparently now acceptable but we have been told that permission would not be granted for underfloor heating
• Ultra-thin double-glazing (listed property, conversation area)

• Planning and listed building consent, plus pre-planning advice, plus proportional fees are major barriers in terms of cost and effort
• Inconsistency of rules and regulations applied to energy – saving ways of getting to Net Zero. Both national rules, Historic England, and local regs are confusing
• Cost of parking and skip licenses
• Contractors wary of complication due to parking and plus fines, leading to increase cost
• Inconsistent approach to application of listed buildings requirements
• The massive gap between what the local authority will consent and what triggers enforcement is a big problem and discourages compliance with rules which are seen as ultra conservative
• At present conservation rules the roost. Sustainability needs to move up the list of priorities so that there is a better balance between conservation and sustainability
• Preciseness about original components that are not visible (e.g., plaster floorboards)
• Preciseness around improving glazing in original windows where glass is not original (listed property in conservation area)

What support or help do you need?

• The rules should note that window replacement is acceptable, if the wood is rotten, and the glazing is not original, but not otherwise generally
• I would like Article 4 withdrawn for PV on roofs in conservation areas or a blanket consent for PV on roofs/or certain roofs of grade 2 listed buildings
• Does the SPD address SUDs and permeable surfaces as a response to climate change?
• Note the use of ducted heat pumps which can reduce the visual impact and noise (in the SPD)
• Clarify the rules for solar panels
• Nature of this form of consultation is very restrictive and is designed to rather suppress views outside the guidance of the organisations
• The SPD should define terms like ‘amenity’ and ‘appearance’ by reference to prior planning decisions on a per feature (glazing, solar panel installation etc.) basis, so that there is no question involving a planning officer
• Prepare case studies of do’s and don’ts, what is acceptable and what is not, in the Islington Derist(?) guide, there were some useful pictorial examples
• The council must take the lead in low carbon construction, demonstrating applicable techniques and technologies
• Can we simplify the planning process whereby there is a pro-active system that clarifies up front sensitive upgrades? It might reduce the planning officers discretion, but it might quicken the process
• Avoid the use of the term ‘Net Zero’ unless a watertight definition is included (which may not be practical). Use the term ‘Low Carbon’ with a clear definition
• Facilitation of retro-fit works by low/no cost parking for deliveries, contractors and waste management
• Detail on technologies that don’t require planning (e.g., shower waste heat recovery, and thermal storage and PV electrical diverter)
• Why is the council still building homes with gas boilers?
• Example products and case studies of retro-fit approach
• List of possible contractors with experience of solutions

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Double glazing in front of grade 2 listed, been refused
• Install solar collectors
• Insulation on a rendered building face
• Can we add solar panels to listed buildings without needing planning consent when those roofs are at the rear or are not visible
• Council installing electric charge points to road e.g., Flemingford(?) road
• Better cycling facilities
• Large scale 
• Hydrogen added to gas system
• Improve our energy efficiency, [particularly schemes that we can undertake, as a group of houses (a street of 24 properties) and individually
• Remove gas boilers, insulate, move towards a passive house

• Need to develop proper training for workforce
• Inconsistent advice by planners
• Seeing house owners bypass and do things not approved by planning
• Stringent requirements on listed buildings making it difficult to make carbon-efficient changes
• Need the council to extend its direct labour department to train workforce and retrofit fuel poverty estates itself
• Lack of knowledge of existing workforce, self-employment and very small firms – all very fragmented
• Need much more qualified workforce for retro-fitting
• Where roofing does not allow solar cells to be installed because of roof direction (facing north)
• Finding reliable traders who have a performance/track record
• Would you take enforcement action against a resident who replaced slates on a butterfly roof, on a grade 2 listed house, with solar panels, or man-made slates, or if they added= a rooflight, even if the roof is not visible to the street

What support or help do you need?

• Better guidelines re heat pumps
• The necessary workforce and training, no cowboys
• Large scale plan for retro fitting
• Expanding fuel poverty payments(?)
• Tree officers should more regularly prune the street trees. Failure to allow tree pruning at 1 Hungerford Road was partly responsible for the developers unlawful demolition of that house
• Improve communal car availability in order to reduce individual reliance on cars. Berlin’s communal cars are an example
• Encourage guerrilla gardening to residents so we can ‘green up’ our streets
• Dormer windows were once allowed, allowing dormers to all properties would add consistence to aesthetics and allow solar to be installed on these
• Must involve unions and FE colleges and form taskforce 0 with coalition of different groups
• Free application advice on whether /why planning consent is needed
• Need building controls in-house
• Seriously consider modifying the restrictions on listed buildings e.g., grade 2
• Will you have guidelines for new air source heat pumps in back gardens, so their noise does not adversely affect neighbours enjoying their gardens
• Finding out the layout of common land, e.g., where are the cable/water pipes that need to be considered for ground source heating
• What can we do as a group of residents to streamline the planning process
• More information on heat pump installation
• Council needs to accredit reliable building firms experienced in environmental techniques
• Map the entire borough for housing types, requirements and what is underneath
• Assistance in interpreting possible avenues to meet a homeowner’s desire to be more sustainable
• Participate and draw on council; initiatives and contribute to council initiatives

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• External shade – I am a vulnerable person susceptible to heat stress, I want to retrofit either canopies, external shutters or louvres
• Green infrastructure – green walls, green roofs, tress and living infrastructure
• Active cooling – I have just come back from hospital to my home and have heart and lung problems, I need cooling as temperatures are in 38 degrees
• Re-evaluate overlooking properties, density ratios, height of new developments
• New glass technologies very expensive, but possibilities vis a vis, better insulation of windows without double glazing (for listed/conservation areas)
• Double glazing – listed buildings and conservation areas
• Solar panels, also on front roofs when not visible from the street
• Sustainable initiatives – how are they being well communicated to residents – grants available?
• ASHP – Please can the restrictions on ASHP be reviewed, so it isn’t treated to the same as air con units on shops, for example
• Raising roof to fit more insulation
• Double glazing
• Replacement suspended floor in grade 2 with insulated solid floor
• Basement doors double glazed – 1960’s replacements in Grade 2
• Solar panels – forbidden in Grade 2

• Green infrastructure – have to go through planning. Daylight higher up on the hierarchy compared to over-heating, lack of local businesses
• Whole life cycle assessment - embodied carbon policy for reuse, refurb, repurposing. Presumption not to demolish prior to evaluating reuse viability
• External shade – heritage/conservation feel my external shade measures are not  in-keeping with the building type, I can’t afford cooling/bespoke measures
• How will insulation process applications that are predominantly aimed at improving thermal performance of buildings
• Active cooling – I’m not allowed cooling without proving my building is over-heating from an assessment done by a professional, I can’t afford planning fees
• Listed building – inconsistent, law unto themselves, not answerable, poor appeals process
• Double glazing is forbidden in Grade 2
• Listed building owners may have more money to lead the way, yet they live in most restricted (LB) houses

What support or help do you need?

• Tune into ACAN (Architects Climate Action Network) monthly webinars and network to lobby government and influence policy
• Focus first on vulnerable households/residences/care homes!
• Clarity – drawings, diagrams, dimensions, not just vague descriptions that need to be interpreted
• Designate areas/archetypes that are permitted for green infrastructure
• Relax daylight requirements for buildings susceptible to overheating
• LA company to support with upkeep of green walls/roofs/living walls
• Relax rules around canopies/external shade
• Islington allows vulnerable people an accelerated route to passive and active cooling measures
• Islington to provide temp/air quality monitoring
• For certain building types, with particular overheating issues, have permitted cooling measures; passive and active
• Green roofs- what fall protection is available, balustrades?
• It would be good to know what external shade products are suitable for my house/flat based on orientation/overheating risks
• Islington to encourage local businesses that do installation
• Good double glazing can be visible if standards are high (there are Georgian houses in Islington which people don’t know they are double glazed – can we specify)
• Islington should convert all old machine (pay & display) points to electric charging points
• In most Islington four storey houses the top floor sash windows have rotted first and would be least visible if replaced by double glazed ones

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Listed 1755 property wants solar panels and double glazing, none of the windows are original, want double glazing
• Double glazing more affordable because here’s more supply and more skills, helped by more demand
• Double glazing only allowed at back though none really need double glazing and specs
• Original skirting but want to add insulation to inside bases of walls – guide on how to do this
• I’d like to install heat pumps but rules are out of date and are not keeping up with the tech
• Community heat pumps
• Collective purchasing of solar panels
• Coordination of installation of solar panels

• Will never get permission, windows deteriorating, no point, Islington won’t allow
• Solar together disconnect and process very expensive (not asking for subsidies)
• But being blocked by council from installing double glazing on listed houses
• Contradictory policies from council: it offered listed houses solar subsidies but then planning said no!
• Quieter heat pumps 1m rule is out of date
• Council refuses double glazing on front of listed houses – number of applications have not been made because of this

What support or help do you need?

• Simple process – clear list of rules I need to produce to get planning permission consent
• Lower fees that encourage people to make homes zero-carbon friendly
• Friendly and clearer policy for listed houses that keeps traditional structures RBKC like policy
• Guidance has to address windows in listed houses, council agrees – a lot of heat loss from windows
• List of named providers approved by the council. It’s quite an art to find people (and architects)
• Comprehensive list of what’s allowed, where heat pumps are concerned, and other elements
• Remove discretionary element from planning with explicit list of conditions for retrofit
• Build on RBKC proactive approach that requires notification of changes and council checks they meet conditions
• Identify clear contractor certification standard, so people know whom to trust and whom to hire
• Electric vehicle charging points on roads – perhaps on lamp posts and other places in community
• Consider dropping planning conditions attached to permission if planning docs state  that those measures will be carried out by one of those (sub) contractors
• List of options homeowners could implement to help make homes energy efficient and green i.e., solar panels, double glazed windows, wall insulation and which ones can be used on all buildings
• Comprehensive list of what options are permitted and when permitted
• Manual in plain English on how to make changes to windows and other parts of our houses
• Support for local skills retrofit training in Islington
• Guidance that is regularly updated as tech develops

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Double glazing front and back
• Doubler glazing is critical – very few original windows in listed grade 2 Highbury Place, different window shapes, different glazing patterns – why do we freeze history – the terrace has changed over 250 years!
• Enhanced ventilation e.g., mechanical ventilation with heat recovery, reduce internal air pollution, improve thermal comfort, reduce heat consumption/increase energy efficiency
• External insulation on back of all houses
• Increase (slightly) size of mansards(?) to achieve greater efficiency
• Solar panels

• One unnecessary barrier is protection of rear elevations (look at difference at Highbury place 1775 – now, history shows houses need to change)
• Finding the right people to do the job
• TV programmes that promote new kitchens and big windows without talking about energy/overeating
• External wall insulation – some properties require alteration of roof (where there is no overhang/projection), condensation risks if inadequate ventilation is available
• Lack of certainty of outcome
• Absolute discretion of conservation officers in deciding what needs to be saved, and being asked to save irrelevant features (e.g., non-original windows)
• Apparent arbitrariness (of decisions)

What support or help do you need?

• Advice and best practice on heat pumps
• Aesthetics (no PVC) see guidelines
• Right balance between aesthetics, insulation and housing space
• Technical advice on ventilation
• Guidelines and diagrams – e.g., this design, style, size of heat pump on house
• Yes to solar panels everywhere – unless seen from the street
• Guidelines – if you do this, you will get planning permission
• Retrofit hierarchy – set out typical (advisory) order of preference for the various retrofit measures, make it specific to Islington properties
• Embodied carbon – will SPD cover embodied carbon emissions?
• Net Zero – need to consider embodied carbon

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Roofs, solar panels are not visible from street, do they have the same regulations
• Double glazing in listed buildings – it needs to happen
• Replace or double glaze windows in Grade 2 property affordably
• Allow residents to build up instead of into green space (roof extensions)
• 1838 listed house – need to be able to do double glazing in 1838 style, internal walls need to be allowed to instal internal insulation on external walls, how to generate heat/energy in future, PV panels on roof – only visible by drone, how will heat pumps work without insulation (from 2030 onwards)

• The planning process is a blunt instrument and discourages residents from engaging with Net Zero, especially if living in a listed building
• Lack of clear, simple guidance on which measures do or do not need planning approval, across all building ages and types, whether listed, conservation areas, or not
• How can we enable solar panels, heat pumps, external insulation, etc., for flats (whether converted terrace houses or purpose built blocks)
• Gas boiler needs replacing very soon, can’t afford to do expensive double glazing and other measures before that, so no heat pumps etc., which won’t work in leaky 1837 house!
• 2030 deadline – how will that be possible. If we have to go through planning for everything (Grade 2 listed)
• Listing rules  appear to prevent – sensible double glazing, PV panels/only visible by drone, internal  wall insulation, heat pumps do not generate enough heat for leaky buildings
• Quid pro quo – recognise green benefits in return for other works
• How will it work from a noise perspective if there is a terrace of 30 houses all with heat pumps, backing on to a terrace with the same?
• EV vehicles, is there a way that it can be made possible for cars to be charged in a public square (where you often can’t park within 100m)

What support or help do you need?

• Please write the manuals ASAP
• Fast track system for approvals of minor retrofit works
• Shared sense of urgency, recognition that resident’s retrofits are needed to get to 2030 net zero carbon
• Personalised advice to help using my budget in the best way for my house
• Change the rules on listed buildings so that – windows can be double glazed, internal walls can be insulated, realise heat pumps will be no adequate substitute for gas heating
• Thermal imaging as a council service, drone facilitated
• We need competent installers in Islington for all the retrofit measures – can the council help enable this
• List of recommended builders/craftsmen
• Retrofiited buildings need to be ventilate. Planning guidance should clarify the position on wall vents, extract fans and trickle vents too
• Set up an advice centre which supports residents with local knowledge – approved contractors, financial support
• Better awareness of permitted development rights for owners of non-listed, non-converted area house owners
• The planning and listing rules should say what IS permitted and what is NOT, they should not be discretionary because experience shows that wastes time and money and leads to contradictory decisions
• The range of permitted development rights should be expanded – double glazing for example, should be subject to clear rules, 28-day notice of compliance
• The SPD should permit double-glazing in listed houses provided it looks identical to the original windows – and it should permit internal insulation of walls
• List to support double glazing and insulation on back of properties (listed buildings) as of now!
• Coordinate bulk buying of heritage double glazing – price is a barrier

What do want to do/on your property?

What challenges are you facing?

• Mid-terrace Victorian 1860’s conservation – heat pump, remove gas, insulation external and internal, insulated roof, solar shading top floor, window replacement
• Listed and conservation areas – solar panels/tiles, heat pump
• Insulate internal walls
• Improve energy efficiency of windows, especially listed
• EV points permitted developments, more lamppost charging points
• Preserve deciduous trees – stop pollarding
• Seedling(?) roof without permission

• Efficiency/suitability of heat pumps for older buildings
• Not enough clear exemplary products outlined locally
• Time and money
• Cost of architects/technical challenges for small projects
• Planning uncertainty
• Change presumptions – Net Zero more important than listing/conservation areas
• Allow more visibility of solar

What support or help do you need?

• Should be a presumption in favour of ecological/net zero projects
• Barriers of planning system/LBC – disincentivise making positive net zero changes
• Lists of approved builders and architects, and eco experts, retrain assessors
• Need local mayor – funding of shared systems, heating..
• Cannot find environmental expert (retrofit assessor) or retrofit coordinator
• Define boundaries of acceptable changes – on/off limits
• Presumption in favour – tip the balance – silos conservation officers/planning – marry them up
• Approved or listed products and systems
• Pattern book of acceptable solutions
• One-stop shop concept list of approved products, certified builders
• Certified products, builders, providers, approved lists – one-stop shop concept (Ireland), sub-contract builders
• Buying club(s)
• Clear categories of window replacement – pattern book, window types that could be allowable
• Street-wide community groups to hire retrofit assessors to save money
• Local retrofit assessor lists
• Energy centre

What technologies & approaches are you aware of & advising?

How will sustainability requirements affect feasibility of projects?

• Insulating internal plaster/render
• PHPP & Wwfi software
• Natural breathable insulation materials
• Water harvesting – potential shortages, just make some, we are considering water consumption
• Traditional measures, e.g., shutters, tapestries! (re-instate missing features)
• Historic awnings on listed buildings (many listed buildings still have awning boards external, and external shutters)
• Using chimneys for summer ventilation
• CLT
• Double/triple glazing, super thin glazing, glazing thickness
• ASHP
• MVHR
• Natural materials; wood fibre, eliminating EPS
• Avoid demolition
• Repair of existing buildings – buildings e.g., avoid damp
• External insulation
• Night cooling for traditional buildings
• UFH VS Radiators
• Reversible interventions as a guiding policy for listed buildings (e.g., for insulation or even PVs!)
• Solar PVs suitable for traditional buildings, even if visible in conservation areas (cathedrals have them now!)
• Hybrid heat pumps, community heat pumps
• Internal wall insulation
• Ventilation with heat recovery
• ACROCO
• Share case study examples?
• Radiant electric heating e.g., radiant panels/radiant chandeliers
• Wind turbine
• Solar PV glass
• Solar slates
• SUDS – biodiversity, landscaping

• Cost increase
• Education – acceptance of change of practice
• Lack of knowledge of architects
• Can be a more complex and slower project
• Requirements can be too onerous e.g., ambient acoustic test for a heat pump adds 10% to cost
• Why can’t heat pumps never go in front gardens on individual circumstance surely
• Managing the building more consciously
• Should there be a push from council? Church of England for example require justification why you need a boiler instead of renewables

What are the perceived barriers for delivering sustainable development?

• Educate conservation officers!
• Costs
• Developing understanding of building use to develop heating solution. ASHP & PVs are not universal solutions 
• Conflicting planning guidelines
• Link planning and building regs/building control to show commitment to energy goals
• Anything that penetrates a wall, needs costs from consultants, is an extreme barrier
• Education – training of contractors
• Supply chain – e.g., availability of natural insulation
• Ph consultation/planning – 1 – fast track retrofit, 2 – assume retrofit acceptable in conservation areas, makes strong reason against not vice versa
• Sustainability IS part of conservation! (i.e., ensuring the future of heritage)
• Complexity and difficulties e.g., to get insulation right
• If you have a capable architect, don’t need retrofit coordinators – PAS requirement
• Cost – disruption e.g., internal wall installation. And NWHR
• Is the goal decarbonisation or lower bills? We can replace boilers with heat pumps, but not save any money?
• Are you coordinating with neighbouring councils?
• Fast track retrofit applications

What technologies & approaches are you aware of & advising?

How will sustainability requirements affect feasibility of projects?

• Edel how water heat pump; no external condensation, needs supply and exhaust ductwork, two penetrations to façade
• ASHP – and questions re noise and appearance, can be suitable for old properties but must be well designed
• MVHR
• Solar – photovoltaics, water heating
•  Zehnder comfoair, Q350 heat recovery vent (MVHR) – provides cooling to incoming air, no external condenser required
• Wastewater heat recovery; not too many people know about it
• Solar tiles rather than panels’ for when views are sensitive
• Insulation – rear of property (can backs be Pd?) external, internal insulation
• MVHR single wall units, rather than whole house, heat recovery for one room
• Ground source heat pumps – good for conservation as it’s relatively quiet and invisible – ground conditions?
• Insulation of bricks is very tricky, lots of moisture issues
• Solar thermal works well with heat pumps, provides free hot water in summer
• Internal heat pumps can work for small, well-insulated units, but need penetrations through the façade
• Solar PV helps to reduce bills and is consistently falling in price

• Heat pumps – Often noise assessment required – expensive!, concerns around how the attenuation box will work
• EPDs – Environmental Product Declarations; embodied carbon of technologies and materials don’t always have EPDs available
• Cooling – Some buildings drastically need cooling, but: A – restricted on external passive requirements, and B – Difficult/expensive to get through planning
• For individual domestic requirements for documents that need to be created by separate consultants are unaffordable
• Some high-performing products are very expensive for people to implement
• Establishing a green economy through accredited companies
• Perhaps a whole-life CO2 checklist, rather than analysis could be used?
• Communal projects of heat networks can make it easier, so that individual residents don’t have to invest
• Costs of demonstrating net-zero are quite expensive, how do low-income applicants upgrade their homes? 

What are the perceived barriers for delivering sustainable development?

• Heat pumps noise – could have a list of products and radius allowed i.e., for Daikin Althermal, must be 10 metres away from nearest window
• Certain heat pumps are accredited as acceptable without planning
• Any additional costs can be seen to be detrimental. Can improvements demonstrate a payback in a reasonable period of time?
• Costs of consultancy fees
• Cowboys
• Supply issues
• Very few companies available to install internal or external for single properties
• It makes little sense to decarbonise individual homes, what about street-based systems?
•  Differences between planning policy and building control – needs a more joined up approach
• Have a ‘myth-busting’ section in the SPD
• Budget – most people want to be as eco as possible, till the tenders come in and cuts need to be cut! Inflation clearly makes this worse
• Extensions and consequential improvements – if rest of building upgrades are required when extensions are done, will the upgrades required be quantified? If not, this will create more uncertainty and that in turn can scupper projects
• Sash windows – can other window types be considered for double glazing? – more affordable, more reliable and user friendly?
• Confusion about grants
• Pay back times

What net zero measures are you planning for you housing stock?

How will new sustainability requirements affect feasibility of projects?

• Solar PV panels
• Window replacement and upgrade to double glazing, in some instance uPVC wanted in older buildings as this is the cheapest option
• External insulation

• When external insulation is not permitted for heritage reasons, internal insulation may be the only option and this reduces the size habitable space for housing association residents. This is unfair on disadvantaged people
• When planning applications are overly complicated, a lot of money needs to be spent on consultants and this means less money can actually be spent on sustainability measures for properties
• North River Alliance can be used for funding

What are the perceived barriers for delivering sustainable development?      

• A lot of stock is in conservation areas and a large portion is also listed buildings, conservation always seems to be paramount and the issues of fuel poverty and environmental sustainability are ignored by planning officers
• Making applications on a flat by flat basis is costly and time consuming, can multiple flats be covered under one application and one fee?
• Guidance needs to be provided for typical archetypes of housing with heritage restrictions
• Without green grid electricity houses can’t reach net zero, fully retrofitting our housing stock would be really expensive
• Current feedback from planning department is that you can’t do anything to homes in conservation areas
• Inconsistency of feedback from different planning officers and on different applications
• ASHPs are very expensive and it can take a long time to source and install them. A list of trusted suppliers and engineers is needed
• When housing associations can’t retrofit their heritage housing stock to improve the living standards of residents and cost of heating, it is easier to sell the housing stock which means it will never be upgraded
• While waiting for regulations to change, residents have to wait a long time and endure low quality living conditions

How important is reducing carbon emissions to your business, and why?

What services do you offer relevant to reducing energy use, what measures would you consider for your business?

• What about emissions of renewables?
• The language around ‘Net Zero’ feels very local, need to think globally
• The language of Net Zero is highly problematic
• As architects, we have to lead the way
• Shopfronts – all the energy and heat goes out through the front door
• Re shops – how to heat, how to stay warm, double-glazing
• How can planning guidelines help change, i.e., what heat pumps, what glazing can be used?
• For businesses – energy expenditure can be a large chunk of costs, for others less so, but all want to get costs down
• What about the ethical reasons – huge marketing trend to everything ethical, financial reasons, rising costs, retrofit
• Want to understand what, as a business, we can do to reduce our emissions?
• If, as designers and architects, we are telling others to do it, we need to as well
• Minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES)
• There is NO business on a dead planet
• Unit costs of materials and resources are high, margins are squeezed

• LBI should be knowledge and information sharing, the more businesses know the better, especially about mechanical systems, new technology etc.
• How can Islington help small businesses, larger businesses have enough resources to be able to cope
• In social housing, the government has been providing funding to de-carbonise stock, for businesses there could be a provision of an archetype guide, by typology and location, in terms of what can be done and how?
• Could utilise unused garages, possibly as workshop space for small businesses
• Fabric Energy Efficiency (FEE) first rules applied
• What about different external wall insulation technology, like hemp, new and other technologies
• Could a monitoring and evaluation service be offered to small businesses, with recommendations of what could be done to reduce energy consumption?
• Possible thermal imaging guns, look at shop fronts for example, restaurants, measure temperature loss, CO2, heat etc. Tools small businesses could even hire and use on their own, a library of things (St. Albans example quoted)
• What typology of businesses have what type of premises?

What are the barriers for delivering sustainable development?

• What about using other materials, like Hemp to render, but where does the funding come from?
• How do we help businesses transition from gas to electricity (induction heat)?
• Need to identify what Islington, as an area, actually needs re businesses, how do we get that into a spatial plan?
• Can we allow for mixed use on old and new developments, can we balance business with housing, so it’s not all 100% residential?
• Are there current vacant business premises, what more can be done to support new businesses?
• We need more info, more knowledge, more guidance…
• What about allotment space for growing own vegetables/fruit etc.?
• Need to fully understand the typology of businesses in Islington, what their energy use is, what their energy/heat loss is etc., reducing bills = more profit for businesses
• Need more flexibility on what land can be used for, such as communal gardens
• Constrained by electrical supply or limits into buildings, both old and new
• Could we constrain access to the national grid to ensure supply, section 106?
• Planning regs/standards need to be flexible to allow for more innovation and experimentation
• What other materials could we be using for rendering, roads, pavements, what local (plant-based) materials work well, not reliant on oil/petrol industry?
• Encourage increased use of shop awnings for cooling
• Need more trees and hedging
• How to identify embodied carbon of surfaces, buildings…
• Could business contribute or partner to sponsor green spaces, trees etc.
• How can we involve local business communities more (sustainability network?), how can we enable and support those businesses that want to be more innovative, and want to play their part?
• How can we be more flexible and creative using vacant space, possibly for temporary licenses for holding unused or ‘removed’ building materials, circular economy, pop-up reformation spaces