£12m Holborn Mansions' renovation project gets underway with Braunton Mansions
06/02/2008
Braunton Mansions have become the first of five Victorian mansion blocks in central London to be renovated as part of SPH Housing’s £12 million refurbishment and modernisation project.
The beautiful and historic block on Roseberry Avenue, Islington, reopened to its social housing tenants on Thursday 24 January with a state-of-the-art energy efficiency system to rival the capital’s newest developments.
As well as solar panel heating for hot water, wind turbine generated electricity, and low energy light bulbs throughout, the revamped homes are also installed with the latest thermal insulation technologies which promise to reduce annual carbon emissions dramatically.
As a result of these green measures, the SAP rating (the government measure for energy efficiency) per flat has almost doubled from 26 to 49, placing it well above average for existing homes in England.
Four other Holborn mansions – Bideford, Barnstaple, Dulverton and Dawlish – are also on course to be transformed over the next two years into highly sustainable eco-buildings for social housing tenants – a far cry from their beginnings as nineteenth century apartments for white-collar workers.
The ambitious and costly project will take the blocks way beyond the government’s Decent Homes standard to a Decent Homes ‘Plus’, but by investing heavily in sustainable improvements now, SPH expects to save money in the long run and anticipates no further major works to the buildings for at least 25 years.
Residents from Braunton – some of whom have lived there for over 40 years – returned from their temporary accommodations to find not only new facilities, including the installation of a broadband / IRS link in every flat and greatly improved sound insulation, but also familiar sights in original terrazzo tiles and marble and ornamental stonework which were painstakingly preserved in the renovation process to retain the unique period character of the flats.
With a total of 84 flats to modernise, SPH Director of Housing, Kate Farley, is confident for the future. She said: “The success of this project shows that it is possible to make historic buildings environmentally sustainable without destroying their unique character.”