Purcell Chairman, Elizabeth Smith, recently addressed an audience of Historic House owners on the topic of protecting historic properties from the threats of climate change, especially the impact of increased rainfall and flooding events.
With our changing climate, historic houses are increasingly being affected by significant weather events.
The impact of these storms is not only in the cost of repairs to the physical damage caused, but also the financial impact of cancelling events due to the risks that come with high winds and flooding. Two examples that show the impact historic properties face from the threat of climate change include Avebury Manor, a Grade I-listed National Trust property, which was forced to close after it was badly damaged in 2024 following storms and widespread flooding. At Levens Hall, in Cumbria, repeated flooding events have affected the Grade I-listed house, including one in 2015 that resulted in an estimated £100,000 of flood damage.
Purcell’s experience is built on many projects where we have adapted historic buildings, both by improving their energy efficiency and increasing their resilience to storms and floods.
Our approach is always to start with a thorough assessment of the defects and risks – an evidence-led approach which looks at the building holistically, to achieve a truly sustainable solution rather than offering a ‘quick fix’.
Roofs and rainwater disposal systems are especially vulnerable and we see increased instances of these elements being overwhelmed by intense rainfall. We are often called upon to calculate the capacity of roofs, rainwater gutters and downpipes and to advise on how their capacity can be increased with sensitivity to the historic character of the listed building.
An example is Brodsworth Hall, a Victorian mansion house in Yorkshire in the care of English Heritage. It has a complex roof form consisting of multiple pitched roofs with valleys between, all set behind parapet walls. The house was suffering from water ingress in various places due to heavy rainfall. By measuring the capacity of each part of the roof we could predict the risk of each downpipe overflowing. Other factors such as the adequacy of falls to flat roofs and gutters and the effectiveness of leadwork detailing were also considered. The outcome was a comprehensive set of changes to the detailing of the roof, including reroofing, introduction of new larger downpipes and improved access for maintenance.
Oxburgh Hall
At Oxburgh Hall, our original brief in 2016 was to repair a single collapsed dormer window following high winds. However, upon the installation of emergency scaffolding to investigate the issue, further defects within the building were discovered. An inspection of the roof structure revealed faults across all roof structures and chimneys. These preliminary investigations revealed the extent of the works required to secure the building’s future, leading to a £6m project that included repairs to the roof, windows and chimneys.
At the North Wing at St Bartholemew’s Hospital in London, we led a major project to restore the Grade I-listed North Wing completed by Sir James Gibbs in 1737. The scheme included reroofing and we took opportunity to redesign the lead gutters and redesign the rainwater systems for long-term climate resilience.
Improving the energy performance of historic houses goes hand-in-hand with increasing their resilience to climate change. Purcell’s in-house sustainability team supports our architects in finding the most efficient and effective measures to minimise carbon use and to find ways to incorporate renewables with sensitivity towards historic buildings and places. We advocate a ‘whole building’ approach, starting with an understanding of existing energy use and prioritising low-impact measures such as draft proofing, insulation and better heating controls.
The Old Duchy Palace in Cornwall was the UK’s first medieval building to achieve BREEAM Excellent rating and the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich has also achieved BREEAM Excellent. We have also secured planning permission and listed building consent to install photovoltaic panels on several listed buildings including Wilkins Hall in Cambridge and the Wallace Collection in London.
St Barts, London
At Ledston Hall in Yorkshire we secured listed building consent to replace many of the inefficient windows with double-glazed metal casements, the first time this has been agreed by Historic England for a Grade I-listed Building. This was only accepted on the basis of a detailed analysis of the heritage value of each window, their energy performance and suitability for repair.
Indeed, careful analysis, creative thinking and a flexible approach are all necessary to cope with the extreme weather which is widely acknowledged as the single biggest threat to historic houses.
Ledston Hall
