High ceilings in old houses

[Thierry Van Roy]

In my market, there is a lot of inventory of historical manors from the 17th century and up (example). These ask for a lot of renovations in order to increase their lifespan, but it is manageable...

Except for one thing that has left me mesmerized: ceilings. I don't know if it was simply the fashion or whether our ancestors were 10ft tall, but it eats away the heating.

Despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to find a solution to this. Experts told me all they could do is apply like a dozen different insulation methods like special wooden floor heating. But then the owner would have to take a 90% haircut in order for me to meet my numbers.

Does anyone here know what to do with this wasted volume? Any innovation or trick I'm missing? Something has to give because, save for heating suddenly becoming dirt cheap, there isn't much that can make these buildings profitable.