The Heritage Council, in partnership with Technological University of the Shannon, will launch a new programme to upskill building professionals in the Certificate in Energy Renovation of Traditional Buildings (Level 8). The course supports Irish government’s National Renovation Strategy to reduce energy emissions from buildings and the European Union’s Energy Wave. The course will upskill building works specifiers, local authority conservation officers and building energy performance assessors in this emerging area of practice.

Traditionally built buildings will need to be retrofitted as well as modern ones. The course will be built on ISEN 16883 ‘Conservation of cultural heritage – Guidelines for improving the energy performance of historic buildings’ and include condition reporting, building physics, how to take into account hte embodied energy in existing buildings, and the carbon emissioins potential of works, tailoring the choice of materials in specifications, effective communication with clients about energy use after renovations have been carried out.