Refurbishment and rebuild
Land Design Planning Contracting Construction End of life
The refurbishment/rebuild stage will occur at some point in the lifespan of buildings. As with the original construction stage, thought should be given throughout the design and contracting stages as to how the later refurbishment of any project can be undertaken.
Sustainable refurbishment or rebuild can greatly extend the life of an asset (rate of depreciation) and can improve the attractiveness to tenants, thereby reducing rent gaps and/or attracting greater rents. Similarly, sustainable refurbishments can lead to greater capital returns upon sale of the building.
Typically:
- refurbishment is often carried out under a time pressured environment; and
- both refurbishment and rebuild produce costs and disruption to the operation of the occupier business organisation.
For these reasons speed as well as cost is often the driving factor which can make it difficult to embed sustainability considerations.
Refurbishment often entails the production of large volumes of waste by necessity and those involved should produce an appropriate strategy for dealing with reclaimed plant, furniture and materials. For the same reasons identified in the Construction and use stage, significant savings can be made through waste management plans and sourcing recycled or reclaimed materials for rebuilds.
Accessing recyclable and reclaimable materials is linked to building design. The connection between the two stages is primarily twofold: firstly, specification of materials at the building design stage largely determines when, and to what extent, a building requires refurbishment or rebuild. Secondly, design determines accessibility to material components: if design negates strategic access to recyclable/reusable material then those materials either represent lost value, or will incur demolition costs required in order to access them. The significance of design to demolition is explained in further detail in the End of life content pages of the Construction sector module.
The case study of Defra’s major refurbishment to Nobel House, highlights the role of clients and consultants, who had differing levels of sustainability knowledge, in specifying recycled content to achieve a sustainable building. A ‘Materials Matrix’ helped the project team assess materials options against a number of sustainability criteria, including: economic value of the material, whole life costs and disposal options, to name but a few. In result, 70% recycling of strip-out and construction waste has been achieved, in addition to the use of mainstream products with high recycled content. This case study illustrates the benefits of adopting a holistic approach to materials selection.
Key considerations
- How can sustainability be taken into account at this stage?
- Owner and occupier consultation
- What about building regulation L2B?
Refurbishment and rebuild FAQs
1. How can sustainability be taken into account at this stage?
While refurbishing existing properties and undertaking enhancement works are generally considered the most sustainable option compared to demolition and new build, the way the work is carried out can undermine the sustainability targets set for the work.
- The Building Research Establishment (BRE) provides developers, investors, portfolio managers, surveyors and designers with background information on key issues that need to be taken into account in considering whether to refurbish or redevelop.
- Any large scale refurbishment should be approached in much the same way as the Contracting and Construction and use stages as the same principles apply.
- There should be an overall refurbishment strategy in place which enables a planning/design phase and buy-in from all stakeholders which will help to prevent scope creep.
- If whole life costing methodology has been utilised at the outset of the building, replacing materials prior to the end of their useful life should be questioned.
- Materials for refurbishments or rebuilds should, where possible, be sourced from the existing structure. WRAP defines a product that is actively reused (e.g. is removed and replaced or is moved to another location rather than simply left in-situ) is credited at 100% reused content by value. The material value of reused materials is either the purchase price, or if materials are not purchased (e.g. are reused onsite) is taken as the value of an equivalent new product if procured on the open market.
The designers of a refurbishment should consider sustainability in the final product. The same principles for consideration apply to an existing building as for a new build; however, existing buildings can present opportunities for innovative designs and approaches to the reuse of materials and the structure. Depending on the degree of refurbishment required, consultation should occur with different stakeholders.
Careful consideration must be given to any baseline requirements made for recycled or reused content in refurbishments or rebuilds (e.g. 30% of the value of materials from recycled/reclaimed resources). These requirements will likely influence refurbishment or rebuild design based on the recycled/reclaimed content inherent within different material options. WRAP provides detailed information in its document, ‘Setting a Requirement for Recycled Content in Building Projects’.
The same document provides information on recycled content by value of a building. The document illustrates:
- recycled content by value is a function of the material value of a component, the quantity used and the percentage of the component by mass that is derived from recycled content; and
- by summing the recycled content by value of all the components in a building and dividing this by the total material value of all the components in the building, it is possible to estimate the total percentage of recycled content by value for the building.
Refurbishments and rebuilds must comply with relevant regulations for sustainability - more details can be found in point 3, below.
Even for smaller renovations or refurbishments, the environmental impact of the potential waste products produced by refurbishments may still be significant. With 98% of the building work that occurs in the UK associated with an existing building, refurbishment makes a major contribution to the environmental footprint of the industry.
Local charities and national reclamation websites (such as www.salvo.co.uk, www.wrap.org.uk; and www.wastebook.org) are viable routes for reusing waste products for alternative uses rather than disposal. Examples include:
- Using chipboard desk tops for floorboards and other domestic applications; and
- The reuse of metal and timber studs in other parts of the same building.
The InterfaceFLOR case study, ‘Closing the materials loop’ provides an example of the company’s approach to “Closing the Loop” in its products that reduces, reuses, and recycles where possible.
A list of questions to be raised regarding sustainability at the Refurbishment and Rebuild stage is provided.
2. Owner and Occupier Consultation
The degree of refurbishment and period between refurbishment varies greatly and is dependant on the building type of use and form of ownership and occupier needs.
The building owner or occupier should be made aware of the often conflicting parameters that surround a refurbishment and a balance should be achieved to maximise sustainable behaviours. For example, those involved in programmes of regular large scale refurbishment such as retailers are key to changing perceptions of how refurbishment should be carried out in a sustainable manner.
Departments within local government should be consulted. Planning and building control departments will be able to provide guidance to identify opportunities to refurbish more sustainability and can help point out the ways improvements through refurbishment and rebuild can be made. The City of Westminster provides an example of guidance for consultation with the local authority at the refurbishment stage.
3. What Building Regulations relate to refurbishment and rebuild?
The Secure and Sustainable Buildings Act 2004 extended the scope of the Building Regulations to cover the use of recycled and re-used materials. Specific to refurbishment, the 2007 revisions to Part L of the Building Regulations set maximum carbon dioxide emissions for whole buildings. The regulations will apply both to the construction of new buildings and renovation of existing buildings (with a total surface area over 1,000m²).
L2B is for refurbishments in buildings with over 1000m2 of useful floor area and lays out the following:
- Section 1: The type of work to a building when a ‘consequential improvement’ (energy efficiency improvement) to the rest of the building is triggered and the criteria for how feasible the consequential improvement has to be;
- Section 2: Guidance on the efficiency measures that should be brought to bear when large extensions, small extensions, where conservatories are added, when there is a material change of use or alteration or when controlled or fixed services (lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation) are upgraded or expanded; and
- Section 3: Guidance on dealing with ‘thermal elements’ (walls, roofs and floors) and taking reasonable steps to limit heat gains and losses.
Further explanation of the 2006 Building Regulation revisions, including Part L revision L2B, which relates to refurbishment, can be found on the Carbon Trust website, the Planning Portal website.
Are there key considerations we haven’t included? If so, please let us know.
Refurbishment and rebuild FAQs
The following are a set of questions you should be asking yourself at this stage of the construction process.
- What information is needed to make the decision to refurbish sustainable?
Are the lifecycle impacts of refurbishment options understood?
What stakeholders are involved in refurbishment?
What would be the economic implications of each option? - Is refurbishment the right choice?
Does the original building design catered for either changes in use or additional floors/extensions?
What is the flexible capacity inherent within the existing building to adapt to a change in use or to conform to modern standards?
What is the minimum amount of work required to reconfigure or adapt the building to perform a different function?
Can the building be reconfigured or adapted to perform for a different function? - Can materials that could be recycled/reuse be accessed without unnecessary disruption/demolition of other material components?
- Will the building require significant work to meet current or potential future regulatory requirements?
How might future regulation affect the rate of obsolescence of existing buildings?
Has the long term situation been tested in any assessment of the building use and condition for the future?