Sharing Ideas AJ Retrofit Live
Orlando shares what his take-aways from the first AJ Retrofit Live conference.
We live in the ‘oldest and coldest’ housing in Europe, which according to according to a recent BRE report is costing the already strained NHS £1.4 bn in annual treatment bills.
This was one of many striking headlines from the AJ’s inaugural Retrofit Live conference last week, which hosted a raft of speakers across different sectors focusing on the reuse of existing buildings. But how can we bring all sectors along on our journey to Net Zero by 2050?
(spoiler: this can’t be done on a home by home basis)
A windowless, air con fed conference centre in Bishopgate was perhaps not the most likely setting for a call to arms for sustainability within the built environment sector, but the launch of the Architects Journal’s Retrofit Live event bringing architects, educators, developers, clients, lawmakers and manufacturers under one (admittedly refurbished) roof raised crucial conversations around the rapidly growing retrofit sector and its role in tackling the climate crisis.
The opening speakers broached the scale of the question which was a recurring theme throughout the day, namely how do we retrofit our homes, workplaces and wider built environment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050? For the housing sector alone this would require refurbishing some 27 million homes by this time, or as one speaker put it approximately 200 homes per attendee. Architect Indy Johar believes this scale has been completely underestimated, and alongside other speakers he stressed that we should be thinking about retrofit on the macro scale of neighbourhoods and streets rather than focussing solely on pilot projects for external wall insulation and solar panels.
Developer Basil Demroutis noted in a session on ‘The Commercial Case for retrofit’ that increasing value is being placed by tenants on occupying characterful spaces, which speak of the past use of the buildings and create spaces that are inviting and inspiring.
It is this joy of the layering of history that was highlighted in two of the most memorable talks from architects Cassion Castle and Niall McLaughlin who provided a tour de force of retrofit examples throughout history, highlighting the enduring cultural importance of reimagining existing buildings.
One particular point this highlighted was the underappreciated role of building stewards in ensuring the private rental and commercial sector doesn’t fall behind. There is often a perceived lack of direct gain for building owners in these sectors when compared to owner occupiers and local authorities, both of whom reap the financial benefits of retrofitting.
Although private landlords may not always be footing the fuel bill, the benefits of retrofitting to deal with underlying performance issues and lower long term maintenance costs are undeniable, which when combined with the incentive of increasing the attraction of their assets to potential tenants makes upgrading just as worthwhile. The use of post occupancy evaluation in RIBA Stage 7 to analyse the building’s performance in use is critical to gauge the impact of these measures, both for clients and architects, to ensure new technologies are being used and maintained effectively.
It is only when policy makers, corporate operators and creative individuals come together that we can address and solve big issues.
The AJ’s Retrofit Live conference did just that.
Bringing a wide group of inspirational practitioners to the table, which is vital to drive the transformational changes needed to creatively reimagine our built environment for the next age.
