We completed the retrofit of a typical Victorian semi-detached home in the village of Aldford, Cheshire, on the Eaton Estate, transforming the sustainability and energy efficiency of the property, making it more compatible with modern family living, without impacting its heritage value.

Designed to inform future investment in our property portfolio, the project demonstrated how sensitively managed retrofits utilising the latest technologies can deliver sustainable and energy- efficient homes that challenge the standards of the best new builds.

The restoration of the 1890s home reduced the building’s whole-life carbon emissions – comprising its construction, use and demolition – by 83%, halved the annual energy usage, and lowered the emissions to heat the home by 94%.

Despite these impressive figures, its energy performance certificate (EPC), a theoretic measure based on assumptions which estimate the cost to heat and light a property as well as its carbon emissions, is still only a C, demonstrating that EPCs do not reflect real-life capability for historic buildings.