Building on the Past: understanding contested heritage futures through a study of renovation and retrofit of historic buildings

建筑随着各种社会进程而变化，并通过使用、居住和工作的人们的不同实践和理解而出现。随着时间的推移，建筑获得了一系列的意义，作为过去的真实体现，包括附加在原始织物上的价值，时代特征，以及磨损和风化材料的铜绿。这种理解与文化、社会和经济价值相关联，为保护和照顾旧建筑的重要性提供了支持。然而，这些想法有可能与日益强调的节能改造相冲突，这需要对建筑环境进行彻底的转变，以应对对气候变化的担忧。具体来说，包括安装微型发电技术、隔热、新窗户和采用“智能”技术在内的一系列措施都有可能改善旧建筑的能源性能，但也会损害现有结构的历史价值。该项目考察了关于遗产保护的理念，一套关于连续性和传统价值的信念，如何与对一系列历史建筑进行环境驱动型改变的需求相关。该项目旨在通过对一系列参与改造和改造的建筑专业人士和客户的态度、价值观和信仰的研究，了解文化意义和社会动态，从而构建遗产和能源未来。该项目采用了多种方法，包括采访和与案例研究建筑相关的持续详细观察，结合对更广泛的话语和文化理解的分析，为专业人士和客户提供信息。这些发现将有助于理解如何管理历史价值和能源效率之间的冲突，并将用于在一个重要但研究不足的领域制定政策和实践。

Buildings change in response to various social processes and emerge through the different practices and understandings of people who use, inhabit and work on them. Over time structures acquire a range of meanings as authentic embodiments of the past, including values attached to original fabric, period features, and the patina of worn and weathered materials. Such understandings are associated with cultural, social and economic values that lend support to the importance of conserving and caring for old buildings. However these ideas have the potential to conflict with an increasing emphasis on energy-efficient renovation, entailing a radical transformation of the built environment in response to fears about climate change. Concretely, a range of measures including the installation of micro-generation technologies, insulation, new windows and the adoption of 'smart' technologies, all have the potential to improve the energy performance of older buildings, but also to compromise the historic value of existing structures.This project examines how ideas about heritage conservation, a set of beliefs about the value of continuity and tradition, exist in relation to ideas about the need for environmentally motivated changes to a range of historic buildings. The project aims to understand the cultural meanings and social dynamics through which heritage and energy futures are constructed, through a study of the attitudes, values and beliefs of a range of building professionals and clients involved in renovation and retrofit. The project uses a mixture of methods, including interviewing and sustained detailed observation in relation to case-study buildings, combined with analysis of the broader discourses and cultural understandings that inform the positions of the professionals and clients involved. The findings will help understand how perceived conflicts between historic value and energy efficiency can be managed and will be used to shape policy and practice in an important but under-researched area.