Replica palace could achieve right-royal energy savings
Building an energy-efficient replica of Buckingham Palace to would reduce carbon-dioxide emissions by 43% to 533 t a year — according to a technical assessment carried out by Faithful+Gould. The new palace would cost £320 million.
Mathew Fenner, project manager with F+G, explained, ‘As we were dealing with one of the UK’s most important national monuments, the preservation of its heritage characteristics was the most important consideration. However, the idea was also to create a technically superior building, and that meant using innovative design solutions and costs in a solid project-management plan.
The replica building would have a traditional appearance externally but incorporate substantial levels of insulation in walls, floor and loft space to cut heat loss by up to 90% compared to an uninsulated building and pay for itself within two years.
The existing 760 traditional windows would be replaced with replica double-glazed units to halve heat loss. Other measures proposed include solar PV panels, heat-recovery systems and ground-source heat pumps.
The assessment of the current Buckingham Palace was undertaken as part of a review of famous UK monuments by the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Building, Construction Manager.
