Perth Road Retrofit

The University of Dundee’s building at 1-3 Perth Road is Grade B listed, formed of 2 linked 19th Century villas. The University are seeking to refurbish the building, and so would like to know the potential for reducing energy use and carbon emissions as they do so. ECD were appointed to establish whether the building might feasibly meet the EnerPHit standard, and what lesser levels of retrofit might be appropriate and how close each option would bring the building to net zero carbon emissions.

An initial building survey was combined with a desktop study by our in-house conservation architect to provide an outline statement of significance for the building, which informed our proposals and discussions with the University. We created an energy model of the building in the Passivhaus Planning Package which allowed us to understand which elements of the building were currently losing most heat. Reviewing this alongside the hierarchy of importance of elements of the building allowed us to suggest appropriate retrofit measures, balancing energy use reductions and the preservation of the building’s features. We were able to improve our modelling as an airtightness test of the building and some opening up works added certainty to our initial assumptions.
We modelled a series of fabric and services interventions, presenting both the heat demand and carbon reduction outcomes to the client, alongside simple explanations of the measures, to enable the client to understand the impact of each.

The proposals were costed, with the cost of necessary maintenance works separated out, to give a cost per kilogram of carbon saved, demonstrating the value of the proposals.

We were able to show that really significant carbon reduction would be possible, in spite of the building’s listed status. Indeed there are opportunities for a retrofit to protect the building in the long term, improve user comfort and better showcase the building’s original features.