NET ZERO 103
long way towards achieving acceptable outcomes. For example, says Davies: ‘Te Grade II* Battersea Power Station represents a case in which considerable intervention in the building was justified to save it from loss, and introduce viable new uses. Te interventions, are, however, proportionate, reflecting and enhancing the historic character of the building. While net zero was not the defined objective, considerable carbon efficiency has been achieved in the embodied
carbon retained, the thermal coherence of the rehabilitated building, and the introduction of modern servicing. In some areas, such as the vast Turbine Halls, all parties agreed that spaces could remain unheated and still provide satisfactory levels of comfort for visitors.’
Compromise was also reached by Moat
in Essex. Using an EU grant, the housing association and Energiesprong retrofitted five 1930s social homes with solar panels and
batteries, heat pumps, triple glazing, floor insulation and external cladding to reach net zero. But with funding no longer available, it refurbished a further 30 homes itself, but switching to internal insulation and postponing heat pumps and batteries until the gas boilers need replacing – still raising the EPC from D to B. ‘Te speed and scale of works required to meet net zero 2050 targets need to increase significantly, and this won’t be possible with current funding options,’ says Ben James, Moat’s sustainability manager. Not everyone is inclined to compromise, however. Carlos J. Cardoso, partner at US practice Beyer Blinder Belle, takes a harder line: ‘Historical or existing buildings should be retrofitted to become energy-efficient, otherwise they will be obsolete. Tere is no compelling reason to keep a historical or existing building non-compliant with today’s energy standards.’
Te furore over plans to demolish Marks This page
Hotel Marcel, New Haven, Connecticut
Becker + Becker converted a historically protected 1970s brutalist building by Marcel Breuer into a LEED Platinum-certified Passive House hotel that will be US’s first net-zero hotel by the end of 2025. Originally the headquarters for Armstrong Rubber Company, then Pirelli, the building spent 20 years owned by Ikea but used as a giant billboard for a neighbouring store. It was bought by Becker + Becker in 2019 and transformed into a fossil-free electricity-powered 165-room hotel. The retrofit included over 1,000 solar panels, sealing the concrete panelled walls and installing air-source heat pumps and light wells.
Original architect Marcel Breuer
Architect and developer Becker + Becker
Interior deisgn Dutch East Design
Structural engineering GNCB Consulting Engineers
& Spencer in Oxford Street has raised public awareness of embodied carbon. According to Julian de Metz, director at dMFK: ‘Compared to new-builds, existing buildings have a huge head start when it comes to achieving net zero due to the associated embodied carbon; we should conserve what we already have wherever possible.’ Weatherhead agrees: ‘Everyone wants to keep buildings that are cultural assets, but we are looking more and more at keeping all, part or some of buildings that haven’t been given that status, such as post-war, not of huge quality buildings, as they have a lot of carbon used in them.’ ‘Not all old buildings are worthy of preservation,’ says Correia, ‘however, embodied carbon considerations mean that all extant fabric should be assessed for retention whether of special historic interest or not. Whole lifecycle carbon needs to be considered as a major driver in response to the climate emergency.’ ‘Retrofitting existing buildings, historically significant or not, is the easiest path to net zero that currently exists,’ says Matt Young, US architect and educator at Amber Book. ‘Reuse of a building is an immediate 70% savings in lifetime CO2 emissions and has a greater impact in achieving net zero than any efficient heating and cooling system ever could.’ Young cites Hotel Marcel, a New England brutalist landmark, designed by Marcel Breuer for the Armstrong Rubber Company. Now converted to a sustainable hotel using 100% renewable energy, it claims an annual carbon reduction impact equivalent to creating 846 acres of forest. ‘Tis would not be the case if Hotel Marcel was a new-build, because that renewable energy would spend years offsetting the energy used during the extracting, manufacturing, delivering and installing of building materials,’ Young says. ‘Te project is an intersection of sustainability and historic preservation; it is a tangible example of what the future of our built environment will look like.’
Such developments are few and far between, however, thanks in part to planners
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