Niall Crosson, group technical director at Ecological Building Systems, draws on 25 years’ industry experience to make the case for “Building Better” and explains why self-builders and renovators have just as much to gain from traditional building wisdom as architects and conservation specialists.
“If you’re planning a self-build or taking on a renovation, it is tempting to think newer is always better. But long before Building Regulations, performance targets or embodied carbon metrics existed, buildings were designed around a simpler logic: work with the climate, use what’s available locally and build to last.
Traditional construction, using materials like stone, brick, timber and lime wasn’t accidental. It represented generations of understanding about how materials behave, how moisture moves and how a building interacts with its environment. If you are taking on an older property, or even designing a new one, that knowledge hasn’t become obsolete – it has just been overlooked.
Why your walls need to breathe
Older buildings manage heat and moisture very differently to modern construction and understanding this is one of the most important things a self-builder or renovator can learn early on. Solid masonry walls, with lime mortars and renders are inherently breathable – they absorb and release moisture as conditions change, buffering against condensation and damp rather than trapping it.
This matters because it is where many renovation projects go wrong. With an older property, the temptation is to ‘modernise’ it: cement render over breathable masonry, use impermeable coatings or insulation boards that block moisture movement. Airtightness upgrades carried out without proper ventilation cause the same problem. None of these are minor cosmetic choices – they can lead to mould, timber decay and long-term damage that is far more costly to fix than to avoid in the first place.
Conservation architect Fergal McGirl, RIAI Grade 1, puts it plainly: “The area of retrofit of historic buildings is a challenging one that requires careful technical and heritage assessment of the structure’s characteristics to ensure appropriate approaches are followed. Getting comprehensive advice and risk assessment at specification stage, along with on-site support during construction stage, is key in maintaining quality control.”
For a self-builder, that means getting the right advice before you start, not after something’s gone wrong.
The hidden cost of starting from scratch
It is worth weighing up retention versus rebuild before assuming demolition is the easier route. As Carl Elefante, former president of the American Institute of Architects, observed, ‘the greenest building is the one that already exists.’ That’s not just a pleasant sentiment – it’s increasingly a practical and financial one too.
An existing building already carries significant embodied carbon from its original construction. Keep it and you keep that investment. Demolish it and you not only lose it but take on the embodied carbon of building something entirely new. Refurbishment, by contrast, can cut embodied carbon by 50–75% compared to a demolition-and-rebuild approach, which is a figure well worth bearing in mind if part of your motivation is sustainability or if you are working to a tight budget where reuse simply makes financial sense too.
Getting the build right
Thermally upgrading a traditional building is absolutely achievable, but it needs a joined-up approach rather than a single fix. Insulation choice, ventilation strategy, junction detailing and the breathability of finishes all need to work together – get one wrong and you risk undermining the rest.
Traditional lime plasterer Graham Mills, who has over two decades of experience working on historic fabric, makes an important point for anyone hiring tradespeople: “Industry advisors and suppliers should not be afraid to say no where a building is not ready or suitable. This is where integrity speaks volumes.” If a supplier or builder is reluctant to go ahead with something that isn’t right for the building, that’s worth paying attention to.
The pressure to hit energy performance targets can nudge self-builders towards products designed for modern, airtight new-builds, which simply aren’t compatible with older, breathable structures. Choosing breathable insulation systems, vapour-open boards and lime-based finishes is the right call, even if it sometimes costs a little more upfront or takes more convincing of a contractor used to standard methods.
Why your choice of builder matters
UK contractor David Benn of DMB Building Ltd describes how his own approach changed through hands-on experience with traditional buildings: “Like most builders, I started out using the usual fixes. Damp? Inject it. Cold wall? Board it. I didn’t really understand how traditional buildings behave or how easy it is to make things worse with the wrong materials. The real shift for me has been the mindset. Building Better isn’t about throwing products at a problem – it is about understanding the building first and choosing materials that respect it.”
This is one of the most practical takeaways for any self-builder: experience with traditional construction is a specialist skill, that not every builder has. When you’re choosing who to work with, ask directly about their experience with breathable systems and sympathetic renovation of older buildings if this is relevant, as it pays to do so in the long run.
Building for the long term
Across the UK and Ireland, millions of traditional buildings are still lived in and used every day. Whether you are renovating one of them or building something new that draws on the same principles, the decisions you make at design and construction stage will shape how well that building performs for decades to come.
Building Better isn’t about replicating the past for its own sake. It is about respecting what traditional buildings got right and combining that understanding with the materials and knowledge available today, to create a home that’s comfortable, healthy and efficient without losing its character.
For self-builders and renovators, getting good advice early, choosing compatible materials and working with professionals experienced in building sustainably can make all the difference to the long-term success of a project.”