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"Fears capital could lose its World Heritage Site status"

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  1. neddie
    Member

    @Yodhrim

    Who would be the best person or company to speak to with regard to getting a near-passive retrofit done?

    I've heard that MVHR units are problematic - requiring frequent maintenance and cleaning, otherwise getting blocked, etc. Is this true?

    We live in a traditional, stone built, listed tenement - would it still be possible to fit a MVHR?

    I don't think I'll be putting any sprayfoam in the wall cavities, that sounds like a slow motion (and difficult to reverse) disaster waiting to happen. It might be possible to further insulate the internal side of the walls (at the expense of partly covering the cornicing / skirting and making that look ugly)

    Do you see how problematic everything is? Nowhere to turn... :-(

    Posted 2 years ago #
  2. Dave
    Member

    I've looked into this sort of stuff a bit for our 60s wimpey box house. I don't think it's a great option for a tenament unless it's being wholesale renovated, as you need it to be very airtight. If you have air infiltration through the floorboards / skirting / around pipes / etc. etc. then you're probably not going to get that much benefit for the considerable disruption.

    If it's periodically damp you could run a simple dehumidifier, we do this when we need to dry washing indoors.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  3. gembo
    Member

    We had those windows when I was young

    They were old but they were beautiful and their colours they were fine
    In the grand old days of yore
    They were the sash windows
    My father wore

    Actually we had metal framed windows that poured condensation into the house and gave us the consumptive’s spit.

    Now we are middle class just had one sill re-replaced. The old wood abides and one bottom sash fixed again (gets hit by prevailing weather)

    Attic has plastic double glazed in the dorma

    And wasps in the Velux that have come to stay despite the poisons. Boy were they angry last night. Happy again today.

    I have contacted Morrissey as you can’t rid yourself of wasps until The Queen Is Dead

    Posted 2 years ago #
  4. neddie
    Member

    Thanks Dave.

    We do run a dehumidifier in the laundry / utility room. I'm a bit reluctant to add a second one in the back bedroom, though. I'd rather try to fix the problem at source.

    The back bedroom is the main problem area: North-facing exterior wall, two people producing breath at night, not desirable to leave the window open during the winter (or indeed most of the year)...

    Maybe some middle-class bookcases stacked against the exterior wall would help...

    I guess we'll just stick to heating the place to never more than 18.0 degrees and adding the jumpers / blankets as required... Meh.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  5. Dave
    Member

    You could insulate the wall internally, you wouldn't need to lose much depth if you just want to avoid condensation. It might even be possible to tear off lathe and plaster and replace with an insulated plasterboard and keep the existing cornice intact. When I did our bathroom I put 25mm of celotex against the bricks, then boarded and tiled over the top. There's no real condensation in the bathroom even in winter now. It won't save much in terms of energy bills though (probably never pay back) due to the thin insulation, but for shifting the condensation issue maybe worth looking into.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  6. crowriver
    Member

    Unless you're in a conservation area it's no problem to fit double glazing in a tenement. As has been pointed out though, there will still be lots of draughts from just about everywhere else. C19th tenements are supposed to be draughty - it's part of the ventilation required for traditional fireplaces (even if subsequently these have been bricked up).

    The simplest and most effective bit of insulation you can fit is in the loft/attic/roof space. Our attic rooms are really well insulated and are very cosy as a result.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  7. chdot
    Admin

  8. chdot
    Admin

    Edinburgh, one of Europe’s handsomest cities, is the surprising example. The central city has a voluble professional class that has been fighting proposed changes to the Georgian New Town since the 1960s. Its protests prevented an urban motorway of the kind that destroyed so much of Glasgow, where the middle class had decamped to the suburbs. Still – somehow – the New Town has acquired a hotel surmounted by what Edinburgh knows as the Golden Turd, a large bronzed steel coil that twists to a peak, like dog shit, to demean one of the world’s most celebrated skylines. Liverpool has nothing quite as whimsical, but its attempt to turn its grandiose Edwardian waterfront into a toytown version of Shanghai ended this week, as many predicted it would, in its delisting by Unesco as a world heritage site.

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jul/23/modernist-civic-historic-buildings-liverpool-waterfront-shangai

    Posted 2 years ago #
  9. Morningsider
    Member

    I think a very important detail is being lost in this recent reporting. The Golden Turd didn't appear because "Edinburgh" wanted it. This is what Edinburgh planning officials recommended in their report to the development management sub-committee (meeting 12 August 2015):

    The proposed building is greater in its form and height than the form established by the outline planning permission, 08/03361/OUT, to which this application relates. The proposed form would have an adverse impact on the City's Skyline contrary to Policy Des 10 Tall Buildings, because it is too big at the uppermost levels of the building and because the spiral feature proposed is too visually bulky.

    The proposed hotel would adversely affect the character and appearance of the New Town Conservation Area and would have a detrimental impact on the Outstanding Universal Value of the World Heritage Site, contrary to policies ENV6 and ENV 1 respectively. The proposals would also have an adverse impact on the setting of key listed buildings contrary to policy ENV 3.

    There are no material considerations that outweigh this conclusion.

    The Committee voted 7 to 5 in favour of approval, despite the officials recommending refusal and strong opposition to the proposal from the Cockburn Association, Edinburgh World Heritage Trust and others. This lies at the door of the Edinburgh Tories and SNP, who approved it.

    I think any Tory or SNP councillor who opposes cycle infrastructure on aesthetic grounds should be reminded that they were happy to support a blight on the city visible for miles around and liable to be in place for decades to come.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  10. chdot
    Admin

  11. ejstubbs
    Member

    Stonehenge tunnel campaigners win court battle

    Mr Justice Holgate's ruling means the order granted by transport secretary Grant Shapps has been quashed.

    ...

    In his ruling the judge found Mr Shapps' decision was "unlawful" on two grounds.
    He found there was a "material error of law" in the government's decision-making process as there was no evidence of the impact on each individual asset at the site.
    And he said Mr Shapps had failed to consider alternative schemes, in accordance with the World Heritage Convention and common law.

    Posted 2 years ago #
  12. chdot
    Admin

  13. chdot
    Admin


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