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Seven Welsh castles and mansions to be 'greened' |
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25 Apr 2010, 9:16 PM
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Work has begun on the largest ever green makeover of historic buildings in the UK, as the National Trust in Wales moves to 'green' a total of seven mansions and castles in a bid to cut fossil fuel use and energy consumption by 50 percent. 18th Century Plas Newydd on Anglesey is first to get a green makeover with help from insulation firm Rockwool. Staff and volunteers at historic Plas Newydd House, the location for Rex Whistler’s masterpiece mural, will line up and form a human chain to pass almost 486 rolls of insulation from the delivery vehicle and up to the roof space of the mansion.
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It’s estimated that the house will produce 30,000kg less carbon after the roof insulation is in place. In total Plas Newydd will use 2,000 m2 of fleecy insulation roll, enough to cover half a professional football pitch or an area equivalent to 90 Routemaster double decker buses parked end to end.
“It’s a first for the Trust to insulate a building like this, using so many colleagues. It’s not only a great team building exercise, but better for the environment too” explained Jane Richardson, Property Manager of Plas Newydd. “Apart from the vehicle delivering the insulation, the rest of the work is being done by man – not machine – power; saving the Trust money as well as energy.”
Keith Jones, Environmental Practices Advisor for the National Trust in Wales, said; "We chose Rockwool because we needed a material that was recyclable and provided both thermal insulation and fire resistance. We looked at natural insulation, such as sheep's wool, but this currently does not provide the level of fire protection we needed for certain historic buildings."
The installation of the product at Trust properties across Wales is crucial in ensuring that the buildings achieve the highest levels of energy efficiency – reducing the consumption of electricity, oil and gas, without compromising the historical integrity of the properties.
Andrew Champ, Business Development Director at Rockwool commented: “It is vital that the National Trust Wales’ highly listed and precious building stock maintains its historical integrity and also achieves high environmental standards. Our insulation products provide a range of suitable solutions - offering a high-grade, sustainable insulation that significantly reduces carbon footprint and boosts energy efficiency, without disturbing the building’s delicate fabric.”
“The structure of many historic buildings means that energy efficient improvements are necessary to ensure carbon emissions are minimised. Installing and maintaining insulation is a great way to do this and will also improve the thermal, acoustic and fire protection properties of a building at the same time.”
When all seven Welsh National Trust mansions and castles have been insulated over the next couple of months, the Trust is estimated to be reducing its carbon emissions by 74,000kg through this simple action, the equivalent of the emissions from an average car travelling ten times round the world.
Further energy-saving work taking place at National Trust sites across Wales includes renewable energy projects funded by energy provider npower, which has stumped up funds to support projects such as the installation of biomass boilers - the 20th of which was recently put in place at Craflwyn in Snowdonia - and the largest solar system in Wales at Stackpole in Pembrokeshire.
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