Retrofitting Sir Basil Spence’s Canongate housing : Balancing conservation and energy efficiency

Abstract

The Canongate project is a complex conservation and energy efficiency project, involving a large group of owners and leaseholders and support from a number of grant funders. It was a pilot project for the delivery of sensitive retrofit works within the World Heritage Site, and as such faced significant scrutiny. The formation and communication of this group was supported by Edinburgh World Heritage. The team adopted an evidence-based design methodology to justify decision making throughout the retrofit design process, and to allow us to present a clear logic, helping to build consensus among a wide range of owners and interests. This paper describes the variety of survey and analysis methods adopted as part of the Canongate project and discusses how these shaped the project approach. It also explores the tension between the often competing interests of conservation and energy efficiency, and the challenges faced in delivering an effective deep retrofit project without diminishing the significance of a historic site.