HOW TO GO GREEN
Buying a country house increasingly comes with a desire for sustainable living Words by Paul Miles
“MANY MORE PEOPLE who live in country houses are striving to live more sustainably,” says Crispin Holborow at Savills Private Office. And, increasingly, clients turn to Savills natural capital services or Country House teams for advice on everything from improving biodiversity in their grounds to heating those historic houses in the most carbon-neutral way possible. “They usually come to us wellinformed,” says Holborow. “They know what they want to do, but they’re asking us, ‘How do we do it?’” This trend is true of many people who upped-sticks during the pandemic, and whose desire to do right by their rural surroundings is wrapped up in their search for a quieter pace of life or a view over fields from their home office. Holborow has also witnessed a change in attitudes among clients who have lived in the country all their lives. One example of this sea change is the walled garden – a staple of the domestic economy of the country house until the inter-war period, after which they were largely neglected. “The walls would usually be maintained,” he says, “because they were listed, but inside they’d be used as a football pitch at best, or perhaps for the chickens, while everyone bought their vegetables at the supermarket. Now most of the ones I see have raised beds again, as people are more aware of the health and ecological benefits of producing their own food. Keeping bees is another thing you see a lot of, which is good for biodiversity and also the health benefits of consuming locally produced honey.” However, if gardens and grounds can be transformed relatively easily, the country house itself can be a harder nut to crack, with “one of the biggest challenges being how to get homes off fossil fuels”, according to Chris Cummings, director of Savills Earth. What is possible varies considerably. If you’re building from scratch, you can strive to achieve that acme of eco-friendly living: the Passivhaus standard. But if you’re living in a listed stately home, it’s about the art of the possible – from moving away from that oil-powered boiler to ground-source heating or, an example Holborow cites, “having sedum roofs on the outbuildings, which might not be listed”. THE PERFECT NEW-BUILD?
The international Passivhaus standard is the fastest growing and most rigorous voluntary standard for energy efficiency. A home built to Passivhaus standard is so well designed and constructed that barely any “active heating” is needed, typically just one electric radiator in 34
PORT FOLIO BY SAVI LLS 2022
