So the scrapping of the #insulation scheme is probably the most baffling of all of the roll-backs that #Rishi Sunak announced yesterday - at least when seen from Scandinavia - British houses are legendary for their leakiness.
@Ruth_Mottram maybe the thinking is that UK house insulation (or rather, lack thereof) is a national symbol that must be preserved at all costs just like the monarchy, or red buses.
@Ruth_Mottram@jaztrophysicist
Well, you’re going to laugh (or probably cry) but in Islington it is actually illegal to better insulate your house. (Not joking, the council officially forbids you to insulate houses, including invisible, inside the wall stuff. It’s PURE MADNESS.
@jaztrophysicist@Ruth_Mottram The why is “conservation rules” and the how is that you need to get authorisations for any structural changes in conservation areas. But again, we are talking about inside the wall insulation, which keeps the house exactly the same/makes it better. You can’t make this up.
(Of course, some people them just do it and don’t tell anyone, which in this case, I applaud)
@rikefranke@jaztrophysicist@Ruth_Mottram As an Islington resident, I believe that that only applies to conservation areas. But it would be worth hearing @CarolineRussell 's view on this as she is a councillor from the borough.
@sellathechemist@jaztrophysicist@CarolineRussell@Ruth_Mottram
🤷♀️ Haven’t done in-depth research on this and don’t know how much of Islington is conservation area but know of several cases (I’ve seen the papers, this isn’t hear say) where the council explicitly said “no insulation allowed, including invisible one” .
You might consider books. It's perfectly legal in I think all but grade 1 to fit wall mounted bookcases all around the problem exterior walls and then wedge them full of old unwanted charity shop books to the point there are almost no air gaps.
@rikefranke@sellathechemist@jaztrophysicist@CarolineRussell@Ruth_Mottram
Having done some Grade II & II*, the weakness of listed / conservation work = discretion of the council planning officer.
Majority are great, a minority tradeoff x with their pet love of y, & a tiny minority are batshit wrong.
Hatred of insulation = not understanding how wall permeability & historic damp-proofing actually works.
@rikefranke@jaztrophysicist@Ruth_Mottram@CarolineRussell But Historic England aka English Heritage don't make things easier. I know of someone converting a big ancient house in Dorset who was forbidden from putting in a heat pump by Historic England because it was "inappropriate". Instead the owner was conned into putting in a huge underground LNG tank on the grounds that it was "hydrogen ready". Note that the house is not on mains gas.
I don't think it's actually illegal in Brent, but the process of applying for planning permission to fit external wall insulation was so complicated that we simply gave up.
This was for the back of an undistinguished terrace house, not visible from the street and not in a conservation area.
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