| Summary: | <p>This paper explores how cultural meanings attached by home owners to traditional listed or non-listed buildings conflict with their need for thermal comfort. The paper further examines how this tension influences residents’ renovation decisions regarding cultural features of a house. System dynamics are used in the paper for the analysis of in-depth, semi-structured interviews carried out with fifteen households located at the Local Borough of Waltham Forest in London. The paper concludes with a dynamic hypothesis of how home owners’ priorities change over time. It is shown that residents tend to appreciate the cultural value of original features at the time of purchasing an old building. However, as they settle into their new places, it becomes evidently more important for them to provide comfort for their everyday life, including thermal comfort and reduction in energy bills. The priority is again shifted towards cultural values and heritage preservation when the wider surrounding market puts a high economic value on cultural features of a house.</p>
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