Making existing buildings better performing

Reuse over Rebuild
Reportedly 80% of the buildings that we will use in 2050 have already been built. Unfortunately, the UK’s existing housing stock is recognised as one of the poorest in Europe. 

The most impactful way of reducing carbon emissions is to upgrade our existing building stock to be more energy and thermally efficient. Yet retrofitting is still ‘the elephant in the room’ when it comes to achieving net zero carbon, despite its vast benefits to the local economy, living conditions, health and wellbeing, and by reducing fuel poverty. There is some progress being made in some areas, but nowhere near enough quantity, or quickly enough.

Perhaps it’s the notion that it is just too difficult or messy, or that impressive architectural results can’t be achieved, when in fact they can. Or maybe it’s the cost. Yet the long-term operating costs of not adapting a building is becoming higher than the capital cost of improving it.

While the government has released several funding streams for retrofitting domestic and public buildings, Councils need significantly more to achieve the scale of retrofits required to meet net zero targets, and private individuals need much more encouragement to upgrade their own properties where possible. We are seeing more pressure on developers and landlords already, who are realising they’re going to be left with building assets that no one wants to buy or rent if they don’t act soon and quickly.

Measuring Carbon

We need to get used to measuring carbon as part of the process of designing a building. Previously we have been preoccupied by cost, quality, and programme – the golden triangle, all still equally important, but now we need to consider and quantify carbon from the start of a project too – has this become the golden square?

Evolving our Building Regulations
According to the LGA survey, Councils want the Government to introduce more policies and investments that help address net zero efforts as part of its National Adaptation Programme (NAP).

Along with the need for retrofit funding, I believe the government can increasingly use the levers of the Planning and Building Regulation systems to ensure that any improved standards used for new or existing adapted buildings and developments are embedded into Approval conditions to ensure that they are delivered and not removed at a later stage due to value engineering (cost reduction). There’s increasing appeal amongst industry professionals for new Building Regulations to assess whole life carbon, which means all embodied carbon of a building proposal, including all of the CO2 emitted in producing materials, transport and construction, as well as operational carbon during the building’s life, is considered at design and construction stages—not just the short-term embodied carbon of its construction alone.

National construction bodies that have emerged since the Climate Emergency declarations, both independent and collaborative, are also sharing their thoughts on what improved building standards should be sought. The RIBA’s 2030 Climate Challenge, for example, suggests incremental improvements to building standards to make the changes more palatable and achievable—a pragmatic approach, but it is 2023 already and more urgency and quantity of projects being delivered to these standards is required.

Generating Clean Electricity and Living
The frightening rise in energy costs last year put the need for clean energy sharply into focus. Micro and local ways of generating our own electricity, within or around our buildings, is one path to self-sufficiency. Pushing for higher levels of thermal efficiency, say through Passivhaus or other improved building performance targets, can also help our housing stock become less dependent on the National Grid. 

A recent example is Gwynfaen, an ultra-low carbon housing development designed by Stride Treglown. Each of the 144 homes optimise renewable energy through PV arrays, solar energy storage, high levels of air tightness, heat recovery systems, and a landscape designed to nudge residents towards a healthier lifestyle. Once complete, energy costs for each home are predicted to be just £33 per month. The project’s post-occupancy evaluations will also help to inform the Welsh Government’s decarbonisation strategies, guiding more Local Authorities to achieve high quality, sustainable and low carbon housing. 

We are increasingly working on more and more projects like this for different building types as our clients are ‘waking up’ to the need to produce better performing, low carbon and energy efficient buildings that are healthier for their occupants and the planet. Generally, people that I speak to seem more keen to understand what they can do to achieve this and the nuances of change within the decisions of building instruction, design and construction that can be made to realise this – this includes everyone: building commissioners, consultants and builders and their subbies. Sometimes it is a subtle change and other times more strategic changes may be required from an early stage of a project’s development. Education and understanding are imperative in achieving this – sustainable low carbon solutions cannot be ‘bolted on’ at a late stage in a project delivery, they need to be embedded in a brief right from the very start of a project. This is why initiatives like Future Plymouth 2030 are so important and have been so well received as people genuinely want to understand more on how to achieve better, healthier and ethical buildings and homes.

Sarah Lee is senior associate architect at Stride Treglown, current RIBA South West chair and founder of Future Plymouth 2030