• New Grosvenor report warns England’s three million listed buildings and conservation area homes are being trapped in cold, costly decline by an outdated planning system
• Local authorities spend the equivalent of 4,000 working days a year approving low-risk energy efficiency works that are almost always consented anyway
• Retrofitting listed properties and buildings in conservation areas in England and Wales could deliver around 30% of the annual emissions reductions needed to meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget

England’s historic buildings face becoming uninhabitable, unaffordable and ultimately redundant unless ministers urgently streamline the heritage planning system to more effectively respond to the climate emergency.

This warning comes as Grosvenor publishes Retrofit or Ruin, a report setting out how England’s three million listed buildings and properties in conservation areas are being held back from basic energy efficiency upgrades by slow, complex and inconsistent planning rules, even where approval is almost guaranteed.

New research from Grosvenor shows local authorities spend around 4,000 working days each year processing Listed Building Consent applications for low risk retrofit measures such as secondary glazing, insulation and heat pumps. Ninety-three per cent of applications are approved, yet only one in three are determined in the required eight-week timeframe. This slows down work that would cut carbon emissions, improve energy performance and help protect the nation’s heritage for future generations.

Despite rising energy costs, intensifying heatwaves and extreme weather, owners of listed buildings must currently apply for consent to undertake even basic efficiency improvements, often facing a postcode lottery in outcomes.

The complexity of the existing system is highlighted by only sixteen per cent of local authority officers feeling very confident making decisions on heritage retrofit, while 87 per cent of historic building owners see the planning system as a major barrier to adapting their properties.

Without reform, the report warns, historic buildings risk falling into disuse, undermining both their heritage value and the delivery of Government’s recent £15bn Warm Homes Plan.  

By contrast, enabling retrofit of heritage buildings at scale could generate around £35bn in economic output each year across the UK and support 205,000 workers.

Independent analysis also shows that retrofitting historic buildings across England and Wales could cut operational carbon emissions by up to 7.7 MtCO₂ annually — equivalent to around 30 per cent of the annual emissions reductions required to meet the UK’s Sixth Carbon Budget.

Grosvenor argues that reforming England’s planning system is the most immediate lever available to begin unlocking this potential at scale.

Published today, Retrofit or Ruin calls for the biggest reform of English heritage planning in over 35 years, shifting the system from case-by-case control to proactive enablement. Grosvenor recommends Government:

• Introduce a National Listed Building Consent Order for listed buildings, granting automatic consent for low-risk, high-benefit retrofit measures.
• Create a national model Local Development Order to streamline planning permission for energy efficiency works in conservation areas and geographies with high proportions of listed buildings.
• Launch a Heritage Capacity and Skills Programme, building on Historic England’s existing training programmes to ensure every local authority has access to qualified conservation expertise.
• Take forward proposed reforms to National Planning Policy Framework which frame retrofit as essential to the long-term sustainability of designated heritage assets.

Tor Burrows, Chief Sustainability Officer at Grosvenor, said:

“Historic buildings only survive if they can adapt. If they are cold, expensive to run and difficult to upgrade, they risk falling into disuse. Once that happens, heritage is lost.

The real issue now is speed and scale. Retrofitting historic buildings needs to happen across millions of buildings, not slowly, one application at a time. 

Whilst local authorities undoubtedly face significant resource constraints, a system that requires individual approvals for low risk, routine retrofit interventions which are almost always approved but takes months to do so is no longer protecting heritage, it is holding back climate action. 

Commenting on the Warm Homes Plan, Tor Burrows said: 

“The Warmer Homes Plan is a very welcome £15bn commitment to tackling the climate crisis. Our reforms will streamline the delivery of this investment so that the ten per cent of England’s homes currently held back by outdated rules are not excluded from the ‘rooftop revolution’. With these changes, we can ensure every home is upgraded at the pace this decade demands.”