PROJECT REPORT: RESIDENTIAL RETROFIT & REFURBISHMENT 39
thresholds were also upgraded. A lax approach to the original building’s construction raised issues for designers and for contractors on site. The concrete slabs vary in tolerance from floor to floor, sometimes by as much as 60 mm, which informed the installation of cradle and batten floors in flats to create a level surface. Brickwork is not straight or plumb, making it difficult to fit new square windows into unsquare holes. Removing more of the existing fabric could have made the scheme easier to build and simplified a lot of details, says Saleh. However, it would have had an impact on upfront embodied carbon, which delivered a 61% saving on the equivalent good practice new build. An assessment of post-retrofit whole life embodied carbon revealed a 55% saving over new build.
Cleaner operation Turning to operational performance, EPCs for the apartments are generally around C, confirms Saleh, but as a retrofit of a leaky concrete tower block, arguably the 87% improvement in operational carbon over the original scheme is the more important figure to consider.
ADF SEPTEMBER 2024
This was enabled mainly through fabric performance upgrades and degassing the building’s heating. The original scheme was connected to a district heating network run on dirty waste heat source, this was stripped out to make way for an all-electric system of panel radiators. Careful analysis identified all the key thermal improvements needed to reduce heat loads and make the electric system viable.
Renewable energy generation does not feature in Phase 2, however plans are in place to retrofit solar photovoltaics to the building, as well as to phases four and five of the regeneration, which Mikhail Riches has been retained to work on. Sunlight will certainly enhance the subtle palette of turquoises and greens painted on the building’s balcony walls and inspired by the nearby Peak District. The 12 new colours match the front doors to require extensive testing and discussion with heritage experts to finalise. “People have different opinions on colour, making it one the biggest decisions. It took perhaps five years to agree on the approach,” says Saleh. Historic England underlined the need to be able to ‘read’ the existing brick bands in the facade, which comprised a terracotta
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READING THE EXISTING BRICK The architects chose a palette of ‘cool’ colours including turquoises and greens for the facade, while allowing the existing brick bands to still be ‘read’
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