History

Bringing a 19th Century vision of Net Zero to life

Warksburn Old Church combines comfort and luxury with cutting edge smart energy technologies. By an extraordinary twist of history, its original construction was funded by the very first engineer on Earth to articulate the concept of renewable generation and storage of electricity.  That eminent Victorian was Sir George Barclay Bruce, who became President of the Institution of Civil Engineers in the late 1880s.

We have written a short article on his 1887s vision of a renewable energy future, and how Warksburn Old Church turned it into reality nearly one-and-a-half centuries later. The PDF is available here. 

The portrait of Sir George on this page is reproduced by kind permission of Westminster College Cambridge. There’s an extraordinary detail in the painting which links Sir George directly to Warksburn Old Church, as Alan explains in this short video.

TV documentary about Warksburn Old Church

An in-depth documentary film about Warksburn Old Church was shot during the rebuilding and renovation programme in 2023-24. It shows how Warksburn Old Church was created – transforming an empty, decaying, draughty and damp Victorian building into the first church-to-home conversion in the world to achieve the ultra-demanding Passivhaus standard for energy efficiency, insulation, and airtightness.

The TV show requires a Discovery+ account to stream.  If you have an account, it will start automatically.  If not, just sign up for a free account.  You do not need to sign up for any premium package to watch the programme.

The link works for viewers in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Viewers in other territories may have to search on the Discovery platform for Series 2, Episode 3 of ‘Derelict Rescue’. The programme may not be available in all territories.