Buildings
Our buildings are part of the landscape.
We conserve their historic beauty and invest in reducing their environmental impact.
Adapting heritage buildings for energy efficiency and modern-day needs is a significant challenge. Our renovation programme always includes renewable heating, thermal insulation, and habitat creation.
Wildlife is designed into our buildings wherever possible. Nest boxes, platforms and access gaps are built into restorations and new structures to support bats and bird species ranging from swifts, swallows and barn owls to house martins, starlings and small garden birds. Specialist nesting bricks are also used, and buildings around the estate support white stork nests, built by volunteers in 2022.
Reducing our climate impact
We have achieved a 75% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from buildings and operations since we started measuring in 2018. Our goal is to eliminate these emissions by 2030.
Heat pumps
We have converted ten buildings so far to run on heat pumps, including historic listed buildings. Our early conversions gave mixed results, but our confidence in this technology has grown as technical understanding and skills have improved.
The majority of our heat pumps are ground-source, using loops or boreholes. We also have air-source heat pumps, and a water-source system that makes use of a historic weir and 'energy blade' heat collectors.
Woodchip biomass boiler
Several buildings in our main complex are heated from a central, 200kw biomass boiler. The woodchip is produced from our own sustainably managed coppices, cut on a 20-year rotation.
An overhaul of the boiler and distribution network in 2022 delivered a significant drop in fossil gas used for backup.
Insulation
Every renovation or new-build project at Wadhurst Park includes an ambitious thermal insulation target. We use a range of materials appropriate to the building, from wood-fibre to mineral wool and expanded PU foam.
Solar generation
We have ~300kw of installed photovoltaic generation on agricultural buildings. This reduces our electricity import and provides surplus to the National Grid. Our expansion of solar generation has been limited by the local electricity network, but several UK Power Networks transformer upgrades in 2026 have unlocked potential for us to do more.