Watch the AT Schüco webinar exploring ways of encouraging retrofit and reuse projects in the UK, and how a progressive framework for using existing buildings can benefit architects.
How can architects work with clients to prioritise retrofit and re-use? How do we navigate the legislative landscape? And what are the implications for the way projects are designed and procured? These questions and more were explored in this AT Schüco webinar. Chaired by AT Editor Isabel Allen, the speakers comprised Estelle Dehon KC at Cornerstone Barristers, Greg Shannon, Director of LTS Architects, David Morley of David Morley Architects, Elizabeth Hopkirk of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, and Mark Latham of Urban Splash.
Speakers from left to right: Elizabeth Hopkirk, Greg Shannon, Estelle Dehon, David Morley, and Mark Latham
The first speaker, Greg Shannon, outlined his proposals for a new RIBA Stage Minus 1, arguing that clients often commission construction projects without undertaking a thorough audit of alternative options. Focussing on the higher education sector, he cited an example of a client who, having initially pursued plans for additional space, managed to quadruple the number of MA students it could accommodate by a raft of organisational changes, including eliminating almost all holiday periods and dictating that students alternate between two weeks of home study and two weeks in college.
Graph showing operational and embodied carbon trajectories for buildings (image courtesy of the London Energy Transformation Initiative)
Public law barrister Estelle Dehon KC offered a comprehensive overview of the planning and legislative landscape, summarising recent cases where embodied carbon has been cited as a key reason for refusing planning consent. She also touched on the commercial argument for low embodied carbon projects, pointing to the green premium commanded by environmentally-friendly office buildings and explaining that even buildings that achieving a BREEAM rating of Excellent are no longer considered sufficiently ambitious for many clients.
Requirements and limits on application of Part Z whole life carbon
Dahon predicted that Part Z (‘or something like it’), a proposed amendment to UK Building Regulations ensuring that embodied carbon is assessed on all projects as part of a comprehensive whole life carbon assessment, will be implemented within the next couple of years, and possibly sooner if we see a switch to a Labour government.
Velvet Mill is the second phase in the regeneration of Lister Mills in Bradford. David Morley Architects converted the Grade II listed mills into 190 apartments and 600-square-metres of flexible community and commercial space (ph: Historic England)
Finally, Elizabeth Hopkirk of SAVE Britain’s Heritage, David Morley of David Morley Architects and Mark Latham of Urban Splash presented a case study on Lister Mills, the conversion of a vast industrial silk mill in Bradford. The project preserved and upgraded the historic fabric, and added additional residential units in the form of two-storey rooftop pods.
Penthouse pods provide additional accommodation on the rooftop of Velvet Mill (cgi: David Morley Architects)
Five years on from its completion, in 2018, Morley presented compelling evidence that the project has been a triumph in terms of both sustainability and regeneration, and had an enormous effect on the local community’s morale. Client Mark Latham gave a frank insight into the difficulty of making this kind of project stack up commercially and outlined the grant funding that made the project possible.
Overall, the clear message was that the sector is becoming increasingly inventive in its efforts to work with existing buildings, and that policy and planning law are pushing as well as reflecting the focus on retrofit first – but that viability remains a challenge. A lively Q&A session threw up a suggestion that architects should calculate fees based on money (and by implication construction and associated) saved rather than money spent, and a discussion around the need for an overhaul of the current VAT regime and public sector spending priorities in order to overcome the cost uplift often associated with retrofit.
Source: Architecture Today