Historic Churches 2022

4 BCD SPECIAL REPORT ON HISTORIC CHURCHES 29TH ANNUAL EDITION CHURCHES IN UKRAINE Ancient but surprisingly effective Victorian heating pipes in a church in Bruton, Somerset DEVELOPMENTS IN NET ZERO HEATING Historic England has been carrying out a study looking into the low and zero carbon heating options for several rural churches (and two schools) in the Cotswolds which use oil for heating. Analysis of the practical, environmental and cost considerations associated with the various options will be presented on Historic England’s website soon, but in a paper presented to the ‘Future of Heating in Historic Buildings’ conference, Dan McNaughton explained that there is no single solution for all churches. Issues include the size and form of the church and whether it is used daily or just for one Sunday service. Generally, where an existing hot water radiator system works well, the best solution may be a biomass boiler such as a wood pellet system because these produce hot water at the required temperature. The study estimated annual fuel costs to be significantly lower than oil. The main drawback is the need for regular attendance for fuelling and maintenance, which is not always ideal where congregations are small and elderly, and any initial enthusiasm can wane. Dry, secure space also needs to be found for storing the fuel. However, the fuel is completely renewable, installation costs One of the many interesting findings is that in one typical Victorian parish church the greatest source of heat loss was not through the roof or its walls: almost half its heat loss was through air infiltration (43%). The roof came second (30%), then walls (16%), while windows contributed comparatively little (just 8%). are relatively low and the boilers have a life-expectancy of around 20 years. Ground source heat pump options are generally ruled out by churchyard archaeology, so the most likely option for a typical church is air-source. This heats water to a much lower temperature than can be used in a conventional radiator system, so a new distribution system is required, making this the most expensive option to install. The annual running costs were also found to be comparable with oil, but with much of the electricity used to drive the heat pumps coming from renewables, the annual carbon emissions are a third of the oil-fired boiler. Electric boilers and local electric heating proved to be the most expensive options in terms of annual running costs, at almost three times the price of oil (that’s before the current hike in fuel prices). However, installation costs are low and local electric heaters could be used very economically to boost local temperatures around the users, as discussed in Matt Fulford’s article on page 6. The report also looks at the use of solar (PV) panels either to offset the running cost of a heat pump or in large arrays, to generate electricity for direct heating. As the war in Ukraine continues, UNESCO’s latest progress report has confirmed damage to 70 religious sites as of 27 June 2022. Historic religious buildings across the country are listed in the report, which include a number of 19th century churches in the Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv and Donetsk regions. Also damaged in an airstrike on 12th March was the historic Holy Dormition Sviatohirsk Lavra, an Orthodox monastery in the Donetsk region. The blast hit a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets River, 50 meters from the building, where over 500 people were sheltering at the time. According to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church the majority of the monastery’s windows were broken. Verifying the damage to cultural sites is assessed by analysing satellite imagery, undertaken with the assistance of UNESCO’s partner, United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). The work is part of a series of measures taken within the framework of UNESCO’s mandate, including the use of the ‘Blue Shield’ emblem of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. UNESCO is in contact with Ukrainian authorities to mark cultural sites and monuments with the emblem in order to avoid deliberate or accidental damage. UNESCO’s Blue Shield emblem on a building in Lviv, indicating its historic and cultural significance and promoting its protection by all sides in the conflict (Photo: Alexandre Larcan, UNESCO) The monastery of Sviatohirsk Lavra in the Donetsk region which was damaged during a Russian airstrike on a nearby bridge (Photo: Sergiy Martsynyuk) The 1954 Hague Convention was drawn up after the widespread destruction of cultural property in the second world war. It is the most widely recognised international treaty exclusively dedicated to the protection of cultural heritage in armed conflict, providing a regime during fighting. This includes ‘refraining from any use of the property and its immediate surroundings for purposes likely to expose it to destruction or damage, and refraining from any act of hostility directed against such property.’ The measures also include sanctions for breach of the Convention.