MAINTENANCE, REFURBISHMENT & REGENERATION
The importance of retrofitting historical buildings in the UK’s journey to Net Zero
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As we edge closer to global Net Zero deadlines, retrofitting and refurbishing is more critical than ever. A fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions come from buildings, with historic buildings being some of the most difficult structures to tackle. However, there are challenges to making pre-existing and heritage buildings compliant, sustainable, and efficient. John Miles, business development director at building control approved inspector, Assent explains
ccording to a recent report by The National Trust, Peabody, Historic England, The Crown Estate and Grosvenor, to support the UK economy to achieve
Net Zero, there needs to be significant growth in the low carbon economy. And workers in the construction industry will play a vital role in this transition to a green economy. As a result, there needs to be a substantial increase in the construction industry’s headcount, with the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) estimating that 350,000 additional workers will be required in the late 2020s to achieve net zero in the built environment. Growth at this scale will require new talent as well as retraining people already in the sector. However, since the start of 2021, issues relating to the pandemic and Brexit have resulted in sector skills shortages and labour supply, further compounded by an ageing workforce. When looking specifically at the skills gap in the historic building retrofit sector, analysis by Capital Economics found that an additional 105,000 full time workers would be needed to retrofit historic buildings each year through to 2050. This is in addition to the 100,000 already working in professions associated with the retrofit of historic properties. Without these workers, the industry and the UK risk creating a backlog of projects and missing net zero targets as well as losing cultural heritage if buildings remain uncompliant and uninhabitable. Clearly the industry is facing a huge skills shortage, especially in the retrofit space. So what is the answer?
Programme of special skills training
Retrofitting historic buildings requires specialised knowledge and skills; if we are to fill the skills gap in the retrofit sector, then it’s vital that the public and private sectors unite. A National Retrofit Strategy was
recommended in the Heritage and Carbon report , and I think this would be a significant step forward in terms of delivering consistent, standardised training for both new talent to the sector and for upskilling those already working in associated professions. It’s vital that those with specific sector skills contribute to the development of robust training programmes, that will deliver a long-term talent pipeline that is equipped to help deliver on the UK’s retrofit and green economy requirements.
Harnessing the power of apprentices
Attracting and nurturing young talent presents a huge opportunity for retrofit; apprentices are a great asset to the industry and to the future of construction in the UK. However, currently they are highly under utilised – data from the London Progression Collaboration in July 2022 revealed that £3.3bn of unused Apprenticeship Levy was returned to The Treasury between May 2019 – July 2022. Dialogue must continue between industry and Government to find and implement more flexible ways of accessing the apprenticeship levy and rediverting unspent funds into training in high demand skills areas, such as retrofit.
Importance of whole life cycle environmental impact
Retrofitting modern services and equipment into old buildings is complex, and as such, not necessarily cheaper than starting again with a new building. However, we need to look more broadly, and beyond the building as it stands. A huge amount of energy went into creating that building, so in terms of energy and embodied carbon footprint, it is always better to work with what you have got rather than start again.
So while cost of delivering retrofit is
higher, the whole life cycle, efficiency and environmental impact of doing so is much more beneficial in the long-term. We worked on a project with the University of Manchester which was at the extreme end of retrofit. The only element left was the concrete frame of the original building. We used that to demonstrate disembodied carbon in the building that could be reused. It wasn’t the cheaper option, but it did enable us to preserve and extend the life cycle of the building for much greater positive environmental impact.
Incentivising retrofit schemes
There needs to be more Government incentive to encourage people to think about the environmental impact over cost, and wider recognition of the value in what we already have around us. This can come from the tools we use to assess schemes, such as BREEAM, to showcasing the benefits of the retrofit approach.
So rather than digging 100 tonnes of clay to make bricks, and the associated energy required to fire those bricks, the cement and sand extraction, make use of the existing buildings we already have, which have those elements incorporated into them. We work on lots of retrofit projects around the country that are great examples of reusing rather than rebuilding. Hanover House in
14 BUILDING SERVICES & ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEER JUNE 2023
Manchester is one such example, which also won an RICS award for bringing a largely derelict building back into use. This project saw the building redeveloped as office space and is now occupied by a range of businesses including Amazon and WeWork. Some of the retrofit involved reinstating the fire damaged roof with better insulation; repurposing existing materials including the wooden flooring; and restoring the ceramic staircase tiles. Another project we’ve worked on recently
is the repurposing and conversion of an old office building in Bradford into 140 apartments. This involved utilising modern methods of construction for a roof top extension, and installing electric vehicle chargers in the car park, to improve the environmental performance of the building. The end result was energy efficient, modern living accommodation located within a Grade II listed office building.
From farm buildings to housing associations, retrofit is everywhere
Retrofit covers such a broad aspect and range of projects and as such, presents huge opportunities for the UK. For example, converting old mills into buildings or farm buildings into dwellings. We are working with Housing Associations to add insulation into the homes they manage; and we are seeing more use of technologies such as air source heat pumps and solar PV, all of which are contributing towards delivery of a strong retrofit output.
Early engagement with building control providers vital
Given the complexities of retrofitting historical buildings, and the specialised skills and knowledge required to deliver these projects effectively, it’s important developers engage early with an approved building control provider. Experienced providers in this space know and understand retrofit and the obstacles needed to overcome in order to meet regulations and requirements. Contacting a provider to ask if they can review a project a month before you are due on site is certainly not ideal – their insights and knowledge are needed as early as possible. If we are to hit our Net Zero targets, then
retrofit must form an integral role. We do not build enough new or replace enough inefficient buildings at the pace required to meet these targets alone. But in order to harness the benefits of retrofitting, then urgent attention must be drawn to the skills challenges the sector faces as well as raising awareness and adoption of retrofit based on the positive environmental impact it has.
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