How to get the most out of existing buildings

Audrey McIver and Nello Petrioli discuss the importance of reusing existing buildings, the key challenges, how structural engineers can drive change and the importance of pre-development audits to identify value adding strategies from the beginning.

United Kingdom | 29 August 2024
Reading Time : 4 minutes

Why is it important to preserve existing buildings?

Existing buildings are a tremendous opportunity to create value, by revitalising them and making them fit for 21st century living and working.

Reusing and adapting existing structures and buildings can also cut down on material waste and decrease the demand for new resources. This not only reduces embodied carbon compared to demolishing and building new, but also mitigates the biodiversity loss and ecological damage associated with raw material extraction and processing.

What are the challenges when retaining an existing building?

It is acknowledged that the upgrade process will have some complexities.

Lack of existing building archive information, existing floor-to-ceiling heights, internal layouts and access – often cited as key barriers to building retention – are surmountable challenges that can be mitigated through cross-discipline collaboration and thoughtful design.

Author

Audrey McIver

Director, Building Structures

United Kingdom

Nello Petrioli

Director

United Kingdom

During my Masters in Interdisciplinary Design, I focused on the barriers to adaptability and how we, as designers, can avoid making the mistakes of the past. Clients will support adaptability, but decisions need to be fully informed by evidence. If we want to make sure our buildings can be adapted in the future, we need to support systems that record the information about the building in a clear and unambiguous way.

Audrey McIver Director and London Structures Design Team Leader

Audrey McIver Director and London Structures Design Team Leader

Developers are also increasingly having to balance the environmental need for retrofitting outdated buildings with the social need for more and better spaces to work and live.

In the interest of avoiding future stranded assets, it is therefore critical that design teams take a balanced approach to ensure building retention is considered alongside the building’s functionality, the ability to meet EPC B by 2030 for commercial assets for example, and wider public benefits.

You only have to look at projects like Canada’s Centre Block rehabilitation and the transformation and extension of a 1970s block into the Kensington Building and the deep retrofit of our own London office to see how we are overcoming these challenges and unlocking a building’s potential.

Above images show the expansion of The Kensington Building where 60% of the existing building was reused. As part of the optimisation plan, some of the structure was removed (in red) to allow for the expansion of the building (in blue) which created larger more effective retail and office space.

What can we do to drive change?

It’s important to maintain an open mindset to reuse. When seeing an existing building, built environment professionals should embrace the opportunities to reimagine and reinvigorate a space that no longer serves its purpose.

At The Kensington Building, our multidisciplinary engineering has helped transform a tired and bleak four-storey 1970s block into a six-storey mixed-use building providing next-generation office space with better connectivity to High Street Kensington Underground Station. The building’s reuse created a unique space you don’t get with new build and was able to celebrate the heritage of the asset.

Nello Petrioli Director

Nello Petrioli Director

A positive culture is critical to overcoming challenges and unlocking the true potential of existing assets. Design consultants have a responsibility to investigate options for retention as well as new build options to ensure the advice posed to clients provides a well-rounded view of development potential.

Advocating for high-quality buildings

We need to challenge the idea that adaptive reuse of buildings leads to lower quality spaces compared to building new.

Regardless of whether a project is looking to reuse an existing building or not, designers should advocate for high-quality, adaptable buildings. This includes:

Considering future building use based on locality and building use trends to reduce likelihood of assets being stranded;
Designing spaces to allow for greater flexibility – Including: slab soft spots, standardised grids, zoned services, plug’n’play connections, and demountable partitions;
Ensuring building information, including a plan on adaptability and disassembly, is well documented and passed onto the building manager – to facilitate future reconfiguration, change of use, or element reclamation.

Championing Pre-development audits

The aim of pre-development audits is to look for opportunities to maximise reuse of the existing building in line with the Circular Economy Hierarchy.

Through desk studies, site surveys, and detailed appraisals of the existing asset, undertaking pre-development audits at brief-setting stages can support Clients and Design Teams in understanding the existing building, recognising its appropriateness for development, and highlighting key constraints to upgrades so they can be addressed from the offset.

Pre-development audits are powerful tools in identifying the full potential of existing buildings from a multi-disciplinary viewpoint. This collaborative approach at early stages allows strategic decision making to be informed by the many aspects - from servicing strategy to whole life carbon – that impact the viability of each option and the longevity of the proposed works.

Are you ready for the next step?

Contact our experts to discuss pre-development audits.

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