The question of how to bring historic buildings up to modern energy efficiency standards is a tough one - especially in conservation areas (of which Portsmouth has 30+) where heat pumps hanging on the side of buildings is probably not a desirable outcome but where something has to be done.

Local councils, all of ours included, have been turning a blind eye to this issue - presumably in the hope that someone else will solve this particular problem. When we saw a document called 'Energy Efficiency & Historic Buildings' produced by Historic England we were overjoyed that someone had finally faced up to the issue.

Sadly, this document is not that - we enclose it below, it is a good explanation of what heat pumps are and how they are used and many of the amusing illustrations are superb, but it is the document they should have produced 10 years ago - not the one we need now as people look to move away from gas boilers and need real and specific guidance.