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The Sustainable Traditional Buildings Alliance
An alliance of the UK's leading organisations associated with the conservation and improvement of traditional buildings
The UK Centre of Excellence for Traditional Buildings
Knowledge and guidance from the UK's leading experts
We are the home of Responsible Retrofit and are one of the founders of the Whole House Approach in the UK.
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STBA project announcement:
CALECHE (Coherent, Acceptable, Low Emission Cultural Heritage Efficient renovation)

CALECHE develops a decision support system (DSS) for renovating historic buildings, emphasizing a people-centered, holistic, and digitalized approach. The DSS integrates specific protocols for initial evaluations, heritage, energy, structure, engagement, and monitoring, ensuring compliance with cultural value protection regulations. CALECHE focuses on improving key technologies like interior bio-insulation, window conservation, and BIPV, demonstrating the link between innovation and heritage renovation. The work is showcased across four examples and accessible on the Historic Renovation HUB website.

STBA’s role is to lead the coordination on:

  • A literature review placing the approach in a theoretical context
  • A review of existing tools and methodologies placing the approach in a practical context
  • Stakeholder engagement capturing feedback on the identification and weighting of values and benefits as well as analysing trade-offs between various benefits and impacts
  • Bringing those threads together to define the key features and write the specification to this multi-criteria decision support system tool to be hosted on a Historic Renovation Hub

Other partners will be working on integrating BIM, AI, a repository of retrofit solutions, wider stakeholder engagement, and dissemination and communication, as well as four casestudies for pilot study – including individual buildings as well as areas, where outputs will be analysed over a range of factors, heritage and technical.

Thank You!

This year’s Conference was a resounding success.

Our heartfelt thanks are extended to our sponsors and exhibitors, all staff at SPAB, Ecology Pavilion, guest speakers and delegates.

We look forward to seeing you all again soon!

STBA Briefing guide: The use of Natural Materials in Retrofit

 This briefing explores opportunities, limitations, and barriers of using natural insulation in retrofitting. This essential because natural materials can mitigate risks and promote healthier buildings.

Download the guide here.

STBA Case Study: Ton Pentre: Whole House Retrofit, 2023

STBA is delighted to announce the release of a new Case Study in Whole House Retrofit. The building is a small mid-terraced solid walled dwelling in Wales, typical of many throughout the UK. The case study is particularly significant due to the excellent u-value achieved on the rear wall (0.53W/m2K), with minimal insulation thickness, and the use of materials compatible with the original fabric. Overall, the building exhibits good internal air quality and achieves an EPC band A rating. Click the image below to read the report.

How to Improve Energy Eficiency in Historic Buildings in Wales

From Retrofit to Regeneration

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) Guide to Energy Retrofit Of Traditional Buildings