Anyone adding an extension to a building, be it their own home, a hotel or company premises, may be doing a lot more than just making the building nicer; they may be helping to save the environment.
This is because architects and engineers have got together to declare that modifying or extending existing buildings is far better for the environment than tearing down an existing structure and starting again.
A campaign by the Architects Journal, backed by 14 former Stirling Prize winners, has called for retrofitting of buildings to be used as an alternative to pulling them down.
Addressing the House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (EAC), it has called for incentives for property owners to upgrade old buildings, improve their environmental performance and upgrade them for modern use, as demolition releases a lot of embedded carbon.
Stating that 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions come from construction and buildings, the journal’s No Place Left Behind Report stated: “Constructing a new-build, two-bedroom house uses up the equivalent of 80 tonnes of CO2, while refurbishment uses eight tonnes.”
Referring to the level of emissions building new structures produces, managing editor of the publication Will Hurst said: “This staggering fact has only been properly grasped in the construction industry relatively recently. We’ve got to stop mindlessly pulling buildings down.”
He called for changes to VAT to make repair and renovation as cheap as new building.
According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, 35 per cent of the lifetime carbon emissions from an office building and 51 per cent from a residential building are emitted before they even start to be used for their intended purposes, chiefly at the construction stage.
The campaign is backed up by data from other bodies, with Alex Green from the British Property Federation saying the VAT levels is often the decisive factor in reserving or demolishing a building.
Chair of the EAC Philip Dunne MP said he agreed with calls for existing buildings to be re-used more, telling BBC News: “Prioritising retrofitting can offer huge benefits.”
A great way of enhancing and refitting Victorian buildings could include adding features like Victorian Conservatories.
This can not only emphasise the architectural style of the building, but add extra space, providing an alternative to the idea of demolishing one building to put a bigger one in its place, with all the embedded carbon release this involves.