A classification of built forms is presented. It is based on a study of buildings surveyed at 3350 addresses in four English towns and has been designed for use in the national Non-Domestic Building Stock (NDBS) database developed for the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions. As the prime use of the database is in energy analysis, the classification focuses on the external envelopes of buildings. (Materials of construction, servicing systems, and activities are classified separately.) Built forms are distinguished according to two main criteria: the broad “texture” of their internal subdivision; and whether they are daylit or artificially lit.

The origins, purpose, and scope of the Non-Domestic Building Stock (NDBS) database of England and Wales are described. Nondomestic buildings are defined and sources of the data used in the database are identified. The structure of the database, and the role of the classification of nondomestic buildings, are described and discussed.

No abstract

Estimates are given of the numbers and floor areas of all nondomestic premises in England and Wales, as of 1993/94. These are based on a wide range of data sources, of which the most important are commercial rating (property taxation) data collected by the Valuation Office of the Inland Revenue. Information has also been collated from a large number of publications and databases produced by commercial firms, central and local government departments, and professional and trade organisations. A new hierarchical classification of activities is employed, called here the primary classification. This has been developed out of a series of existing schemes by which the original data are themselves classified.

Energy efficiency is one of the most prominent global challenges of our era. Heritage buildings usually have a poor energy performance, not necessarily because of their intrinsic constructive features but due to their mostly dilapidated condition owed to age and previous damage, exacerbated by other factors such as the limited maintenance allowed by the restrictive legal framework and/or residents not being able to afford retrofit. On both national and international levels, energy efficiency measures are considered the key to answering the global challenge of climate change. This article aims to provide a critical discussion of the policy framework for energy retrofitting targeting built heritage in the UK and in Turkey. To this end, the development of guidance and legislation on cultural heritage, energy efficiency and climate change in both countries were thoroughly reviewed, and the retrofit incentives and constraints were determined in order to identify existing policy gaps and potential problems with implementation in the realm of energy retrofitting and climate resiliency of heritage buildings. As a result of a critical comparative analysis, the paper is concluded with suggestions on policy frames for the retrofitting of heritage buildings for improved energy efficiency.