Retrofit architecture in Royal Greenwich: upgrading the borough's period homes
Royal Greenwich has one of the highest concentrations of Victorian and Edwardian domestic architecture in London. The long streets of Charlton, Plumstead and Woolwich, the terraced villas of Blackheath and the dense rows of Eltham and New Eltham represent an enormous stock of solid, well-built homes that could, with the right investment, perform far better than they currently do.
Retrofit in a heritage borough like Greenwich requires a particular kind of care. The buildings are not just homes, they are part of a wider historic environment that has been protected for good reason. The challenge is to improve their performance without compromising what makes them valuable and special.
Energy performance in listed and conservation area properties
Listed buildings in Greenwich require listed building consent for many changes, including internal insulation works that affect historic fabric. The approach needs to be carefully designed to minimise harm to significant historic features while achieving meaningful performance improvements.
In conservation areas, the external appearance of the building must often be preserved. That generally means internal insulation rather than external, and either secondary glazing or like for like replacement windows if on the primary street facing facade. Both of these approaches can achieve excellent results when properly specified. Secondary glazing can be highly effective and can be more straightforward than replacing original sash windows.
Breathable construction in Greenwich's older buildings
The most important technical principle in retrofitting Greenwich's Victorian buildings is breathability. These buildings were designed to manage moisture by allowing it to move through the fabric. Sealing them with impermeable materials, cement render, rigid foam insulation, silicone sealants, traps moisture and can cause serious damage over time.
New Makers Bureau specifies breathable materials as a matter of course in retrofit projects on older buildings: wood fibre or hemp insulation, lime plaster, lime mortar, natural paint systems. These materials are sympathetic to the existing fabric and perform well over the long term.
What deep retrofit looks like in a Royal Greenwich terrace
A thorough retrofit of a Victorian terrace in Greenwich typically involves: internal wall insulation to the main elevations using breathable boards, insulation below the ground floor boards, loft insulation or an insulated roof if there is a conversion planned, secondary glazing or replacing the original sash windows, draught-proofing and cold bridge elimination throughout, and an improved ventilation strategy to maintain air quality as airtightness improves.
The result is a home that is significantly warmer in winter, quieter throughout the year, cheaper to heat and better for the climate. The visual character of the building is unchanged. In most cases the works are permitted development, requiring no planning consent at all.
Retrofit Architecture in London: Everything You Need to Know
