Retrofitting the UK’s historic buildings would support 290,000 jobs and boost the UK economy by £35bn as well as slashing Britain’s carbon emissions, a new report has found.
The 'Heritage and Carbon' report was published by the National Trust, Historic England, the Crown Estate and property companies Peabody and Grosvenor, which are calling on the government to implement a national retrofit strategy for these sites.
The organisations said an extra 105,000 workers, including plumbers, electricians and carpenters, were needed to make historic buildings more energy-efficient, more than double the number currently working on the issue.
At the moment, around a quarter of all homes and a third of commercial buildings are considered to be “historic”, as they were built before 1919.
This currently amounts to just under seven million properties in Britain.
“The UK needs a long-term national retrofit strategy, led by the Government, positively bringing...