Retrofitting a Grade II Listed Building for Operational Carbon Reduction and Climate Resilience: The Inland Revenue Centre Case Study, Nottingham, UK

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🔬研究者:Provides a methodology for assessing retrofit impacts on listed buildings using dynamic simulation, highlighting trade-offs between conservation and carbon reduction.

🏢実務担当者:Demonstrates that conservation-compatible measures can achieve substantial energy and carbon savings in listed buildings, offering a benchmark for similar projects.

🏛政策担当者:Informs building retrofit policies for heritage assets, showing that strict conservation constraints need not preclude meaningful decarbonisation.

Heritage buildings constitute a significant element of the United Kingdom’s (UK) built environment, with 460,000 listed buildings across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These assets present substantial challenges for national decarbonisation due to statutory constraints on fabric alteration and the need to consider whole-life carbon impacts. This study evaluates the impact of conservation-compatible retrofit strategies on the operational energy and carbon performance of Fitzroy House, a Grade II listed late-modern office building in Nottingham. Dynamic building simulation (IES Virtual Environment) was used to assess baseline performance and to develop two retrofit scenarios incorporating improvements to glazing, airtightness, roof insulation, and the introduction of mechanical ventilation with heat recovery (MVHR). Climate resilience was evaluated using future weather files for the 2080s. Results are derived from comparative scenario-based modelling rather than calibrated predictions of absolute performance. Within this framework, the proposed measures can reduce annual heating demand by up to 68%, cooling demand by 60%, and operational carbon emissions by approximately 41% (district heating) to 64% (natural gas), relative to the as-built baseline under the most advanced retrofit scenario. Performance remains broadly robust under future climate scenarios, although cooling loads increase modestly. The findings demonstrate that, while meaningful reductions in operational carbon are achievable, retrofit outcomes are fundamentally shaped by conservation constraints, which act as an interpretive framework defining the limits and possibilities of intervention. However, results should be interpreted as indicative of relative performance improvements rather than fully generalizable or predictive outcomes, and embodied carbon impacts are not included within the scope of this study. The research provides an evidence-based pathway for improving similar late-modern listed office buildings while highlighting the limits imposed by conservation requirements and existing building fabric.

• openalex https://doi.org/10.3390/architecture6020071first seen 2026-05-28 04:49:30 · last seen 2026-06-07 04:32:14