Answering: How do you make a Melbourne heritage home all-electric without harming its character?
Estimated reading time: 9 min read
You can take a Melbourne heritage home all-electric and end up warmer, quieter and cheaper to run, provided the work is designed around the building rather than bolted onto it. Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap is steering the state off gas: new homes face an all-electric requirement from 2027, and in existing homes, a gas hot-water system that reaches the end of its life must be replaced with an electric one from 1 March 2027 (replacing gas space heating or cooking is encouraged, but not required). For a period home the good news is that electric heating suits it well — an efficient heat pump, often paired with hydronic radiators, delivers the steady, radiant warmth that high ceilings and solid masonry walls have always needed. The craft is in the detail: siting the equipment and any solar where it does not intrude on significant elevations, and remembering that external change in a Heritage Overlay generally needs a planning permit. Drawing on Barbara Yerondais’s grounding in Building Science, our approach is to electrify for genuine comfort and lower bills, while keeping the home one you can still open the windows in.
Gas has heated Melbourne’s period homes for generations, so the shift away from it can feel like one more thing being taken away. In practice, for an old, draughty, hard-to-heat house, it is an opportunity, not a loss.
The trick is to treat electrification as a design decision rather than a like-for-like swap. Done thoughtlessly, it bolts ugly boxes onto a beautiful home. Done well, it makes the home work the way it never quite did. Here is how to get the second outcome.
Key Insights
- Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap requires new homes to be all-electric from 2027, and from 1 March 2027 a gas hot-water system in an existing home must be replaced with electric at end-of-life (space heating and cooking are encouraged, not mandated).
- A heat pump, often with hydronic radiators, gives the steady radiant warmth that high-ceilinged, solid-walled heritage homes need.
- The heritage craft is siting: keep heat-pump units, hot-water systems and solar off significant elevations and out of street views — solar panels not visible from the street are generally exempt from a heritage permit.
- Victorian Energy Upgrades rebates reduce the cost of switching from gas to efficient electric heating and hot water.
| Gas appliance | Electric replacement | Heritage consideration |
|---|---|---|
| Ducted gas heating | Reverse-cycle heat pump, or hydronic via heat pump | Site the outdoor unit out of principal views; route hydronic discreetly |
| Gas hot water | Heat-pump hot-water system | Place the unit to the rear, screened; manage noise to neighbours |
| Gas cooktop | Induction cooktop | Largely internal; no heritage impact |
| Open gas fireplace | Electric or efficient alternative; retain the mantel | Conserve the significant chimneypiece and surround |
| Energy supply | Rooftop solar PV | Off principal roof planes; exempt if not visible from the street |
Keep reading for full details below.
Table of Contents
- What Victoria’s Policy Actually Requires
- Why Electric Heating Suits an Old Home
- The Heritage Craft Is in the Siting
- Comfort First, Not a Score
What Victoria’s Policy Actually Requires
Before the design, the context: the shift off gas is policy, not just preference, so it is worth knowing the direction of travel.
Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap sets the path. New homes are required to be all-electric from 2027, with no new gas connections. For existing homes — which is most heritage homes — the change is gradual: from 1 March 2027, a gas hot-water system that reaches the end of its life must be replaced with an electric equivalent, such as a heat-pump water heater or an efficient reverse-cycle system. There is no requirement to replace existing gas space heating or cooking, though the government encourages it to lower bills. A serviceable appliance generally need not be replaced mid-life, and appliances can be removed and reinstated during a renovation. Alongside the rules, the Victorian Energy Upgrades program offers rebates that reduce the cost of moving to efficient electric heating and hot water.
For an owner planning a renovation, the sensible reading is to electrify as part of the project rather than wait to be caught out by a failed gas unit later. A renovation is the natural moment to design the new electric systems in properly, while the walls are open and the budget is being set, rather than retrofitting them awkwardly afterwards.
Why Electric Heating Suits an Old Home
The pleasant surprise for many heritage owners is that modern electric heating is not a compromise for an old house; it is often a better fit than the gas it replaces.
A c.1900 home has high ceilings, solid masonry walls and generous rooms — conditions where the steady, radiant warmth of a hydronic system driven by a heat pump performs beautifully. Radiators warm the surfaces and the mass of the room rather than just blowing hot air that rises to the ceiling, which is exactly what these tall spaces need. A reverse-cycle heat pump, meanwhile, is highly efficient and provides cooling for Melbourne’s hotter summers as well as winter warmth. Either way, an efficient electric system in a well-sealed, well-insulated home costs less to run than the gas heater it replaces, and runs on an increasingly renewable grid.
The key, as ever, is sequence. There is little point oversizing a heat pump to fight a leaky house. Seal the draughts and insulate the roof and subfloor first, then size the electric system to a home that now holds its warmth. That order — fabric first, systems second — is the difference between an electrification that quietly works and one that disappoints, and it is how we approach the building science on a period home.
The Heritage Craft Is in the Siting
If the engineering of electrification is well understood, the part that needs an architect’s eye is where everything goes, because this is where a heritage home is helped or harmed.
Heat pumps, hot-water units and air-conditioning condensers are functional objects, and on a significant facade or a visible roof they can do real damage to the character you are paying to protect. The work is to place them where they serve the house without being seen from the street or intruding on a significant elevation — to the rear, screened, with noise to neighbours managed. Rooftop solar follows the same logic, with a helpful twist: panels belong on subordinate, non-principal roof planes, out of the key views — and in a Heritage Overlay, solar panels that are not visible from the street (other than a lane) or a public park are generally exempt from a planning permit, so careful siting can remove the approval step altogether. Even the humble fireplace deserves thought; where a gas unit is removed, the significant mantel and chimneypiece should be conserved, not stripped.
None of this is difficult once it is designed rather than left to a contractor on the day. It is precisely the kind of detail that separates a heritage-sympathetic electrification from a well-meaning one that quietly diminishes the home. Across 59 heritage approvals, getting the siting of services right has been a routine but important part of keeping a renovation true to the building.
Comfort First, Not a Score
There is a philosophy underneath all of this that is worth stating plainly, because it shapes the decisions.
Electrification is a means, not an end. The point is not to chase a rating or to seal the house into a tightly controlled machine, but to make a heritage home genuinely comfortable, healthier and cheaper to run, while keeping it alive to its surroundings. We design for warmth in winter, ease in summer, and a home you can still open up on a mild evening — comfort and quality of life first, with the energy performance following from good decisions rather than driving them. Building sustainably matters, and electrification is a sensible part of it; but a home that performs on a spreadsheet and feels lifeless to live in has missed the point.
That is the balance we work to: a period home that meets the direction Victoria is heading, costs less to run, and remains, above all, a lovely place to live. For a closer look at how we fold electrification into a heritage renovation from the start, visit our process page.
Closing
Taking a heritage home all-electric is not a threat to its character; handled with care, it is one of the best things you can do for it. Plan it as part of a renovation, get the fabric right before the systems, choose heating that suits an old home, and site the equipment so it is neither seen nor heard. Do that, and you end up with a period home that is warmer, cheaper to run, ready for where Victoria is heading — and still unmistakably itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Will I be forced to remove the gas from my heritage home?
A: Not immediately. Victoria’s policy requires new homes to be all-electric from 2027 and, for existing homes, a gas hot-water system to be replaced with an electric equivalent at the end of its life from 1 March 2027 (with gas space heating and cooking encouraged but not required to change). A serviceable appliance generally need not be replaced mid-life, and gas appliances can be removed and reinstated during a renovation. The practical move is to plan electrification into your next project rather than wait.
Q: What is the best electric heating for a period home?
A: For high-ceilinged, solid-walled homes, hydronic radiators driven by a heat pump give excellent steady, radiant warmth, while a reverse-cycle heat pump is highly efficient and adds summer cooling. The right choice depends on your home and how you live in it. Whichever you choose, seal and insulate the fabric first so the system can be sized correctly and run cheaply.
Q: Do solar panels and heat pumps need a heritage permit?
A: Often, yes for visible equipment, but not always for solar. In a Heritage Overlay, solar panels that are not visible from the street (other than a lane) or a public park are generally exempt from a planning permit, so siting them on a rear or concealed roof plane can avoid one altogether. Heat pumps, hot-water units and other visible external equipment are works that can still need a permit, so they are best placed out of significant views. Designing their location early is what keeps the approval and the character intact.
Q: Will going all-electric make my heritage home feel less comfortable?
A: Done well, the opposite. An efficient electric system in a well-sealed, well-insulated period home is usually warmer and more even than the gas it replaces, and cheaper to run. We design for comfort and quality of life rather than a rating, keeping the home one you can open the windows in. Electrification should make the house nicer to live in, not turn it into a sealed machine.
Want to Learn More?
With more than 35 years and a Building Science foundation, BY Projects Architecture designs electrification into heritage homes so they are warmer, cheaper to run and still themselves. The technology is the easy part; the care is in the detail.
Citations
- “Victoria’s Gas Substitution Roadmap” — Victorian Government (Energy). Sets out the policy moving Victoria off gas, including the all-electric requirement for new homes and the replacement of gas hot-water systems in existing homes with electric at end-of-life. https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/renewable-energy/victorias-gas-substitution-roadmap
- “Save with an all-electric home” — Victorian Government (Energy). Confirms the comfort and running-cost case for replacing gas appliances with efficient electric alternatives such as heat pumps and reverse-cycle systems. https://www.energy.vic.gov.au/households/save-with-all-electric-home
- “Solar panel guidelines” — Heritage Victoria. Confirms that solar panels and external equipment on a heritage place should be sited to avoid significant elevations and key views; in a Heritage Overlay, panels not visible from the street are generally exempt from a planning permit. https://www.heritage.vic.gov.au/permits-and-approvals
These are the official Victorian sources behind an all-electric heritage home: the Gas Substitution Roadmap for the policy, the all-electric home guidance for the comfort and cost case, and Heritage Victoria for siting equipment and solar.
With 35-plus years and a grounding in Building Science, our work is to fold electrification into a heritage renovation so the home is warmer, cheaper to run and ready for the future, while staying a place built for living, not just for a rating.
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