Preserving the Past, Powering the Future: Smart Remote Monitoring at Mount Edgcumbe
By skentel Group Limited and Plymouth City Council
How do you decarbonise a Grade II listed house filled with precious tapestries and porcelain? Mount Edgcumbe needed comprehensive environmental data to inform heating decisions without risking precious artifacts. Remote monitoring provides the insights needed.
30mn interval
readings
Seasonal data
insights
Early issue
detection
Mount Edgcumbe House and Country Park is a Grade II listed house built between 1547 and 1550, and set within a Grade I listed country park covering 865 acres of the Rame Peninsula in Cornwall.
Jointly owned by Plymouth City Council and Cornwall County Council, this heritage asset welcomes approximately 250,000 visitors annually and houses notable works of art including precious tapestries, paintings, furniture, and porcelain collected over centuries.
The challenge
As stewards of this high-priority heritage asset, the Plymouth and Cornwall councils face the challenge of balancing environmental sustainability with preservation of the historic building fabric and precious artifacts. With funding from the South West Net Zero Hub (hosted by the West of England Combined Authority), Plymouth City Council embarked upon a decarbonisation options appraisal.
This required comprehensive data capture and analysis to be undertaken, assessing energy needs and recording temperature and humidity levels across all rooms.
The solution
Working in partnership with skentel, the team implemented remote monitoring solutions enabled by LoRaWAN (Long Range Wide Area Network), a wireless communication technology designed for connecting sensors across wide areas with minimal power consumption.
This resulted in:
- Environmental Monitoring – Sensors installed across all rooms to continuously track temperature and humidity levels, to inform heating system options appraisal
- UV Protection Testing – UV sensors monitoring light levels to ensure artefact preservation.Electrical management systems: Real-time energy consumption tracking across the entire site and individual assets
Results
This comprehensive monitoring approach is helping Mount Edgcumbe advance Climate Emergency goals while safeguarding the estate for future generations.
While seasonal data collection continues, the automated system has already delivered significant benefits:
- Automated monitoring with continuous data capture at 30-minute intervals
- Early identification of potential issues through data variations, including early detection of water leaks through moisture monitoring
“Decarbonising a heritage site like Mount Edgcumbe House presents a unique challenge. We are constantly balancing the need to preserve the building’s historic character with our sustainability goals. With thick stone walls, numerous rooms, and complex heating demands, making informed decisions requires robust, continuous data, not just snapshots.
skentel’s automated monitoring system has enabled a reliable source of information for our team. It’s given us reliable, real-time insights into how the building performs, helping us in our evidence-based planning“.
Jo Byrne
Net Zero Delivery Officer, Plymouth City Council
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