TLC Press has launched a new book by Cliff Blundell entitled “Sustainable Legacy” (Traditional Welsh Buildings and the Environment). It highlights the issues facing the one third of Wales’ current housing stock, which is of historic solid walled construction.
The fact that the vast majority of those 497,000 buildings are suffering unnecessary accelerated decay caused by the use of inappropriate modern materials, and their casual relegation to a completely false designation of “under-performance” in energy conservation is examined in Sustainable Legacy and the aesthetic of historic context given close scrutiny.
Cliff Blundell comments, “There is a simple and fundamental difference in the function of cavity and solid walls and it is essential that this fact becomes mainstream information. The widespread misunderstanding of that difference creates the circumstances that cause solid walls to malfunction, making the majority of older homes difficult to heat and contributing unnecessarily to increased levels of CO2 pollution.”
Cliff continues, “The Welsh Government’s declared determination to create facilities to educate and train craftspeople to address this alarming state of affairs was highlighted by John Griffiths AM, Minister for Culture, in an article written for the Western Mail in May 2013, stressing the vital part that the historic built environment plays in the future prosperity of Wales, stating that “this is hugely important for a nation where 34% of the housing stock is traditionally built and whose character we do not want to lose.”
Cliff Blundell recently met with the Minister to discuss these concerning issues and presented him with a copy of “Sustainable Legacy”.
In the foreword to Sustainable Legacy, Thomas Lloyd OBE FSA, former Chair of the Historic Buildings Council for Wales and author of “The Lost Houses of Wales”, comments, “This book is not a manual of fussy affectation for those who enjoy being old fashioned. It is a book of revelation. It comes to you from the building site, not the ivory tower.”
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