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Part 1
Introduction to Building Refurbishment
This opening part will provide an introduction to the refurbishment of buildings, detailing the scope of what is meant by the subject. It will provide a definition of refurbishment covering different types, but will not cover the reasons why an organisation may choose to refurbish their building, assuming that this decision has already been taken.
The churn rate of buildings is less than 2 per cent in many countries, with economic downturns focusing attention on maximising the use of existing buildings. This, in turn, has increased the rate of refurbishing various buildings, but operating at varying levels from a ârefreshâ through to a more fundamental upgrade.
Sustainability will be introduced as an umbrella term with a series of key issues under this umbrella that affect the refurbishment of buildings. This will be reviewed against the 14 themes of sustainability, which are used and referenced throughout this book.
This book has been written to enable a number of the technical aspects to be read in conjunction with the sector-specific examples and will provide the structure and linkage, together with an overview as to the direction that sustainable refurbishment is taking with regard to regulatory, reputational and financial aspects.
Developers often face the dilemma of whether to refurbish or redevelop. If sustainable construction is to be widely adopted as a practice, developers need to be convinced that it is commercially viable, including both capital costs and whole-life costs. Refurbishment is perceived to be the more sustainable option, but this is not always the case.
Buildings should have second and third uses. Many buildings since the1960s are incapable of being changed, which limits their potential both as an asset and also to develop a cohesive community landscape.
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1
What is Building Refurbishment?
The traditional building cycle sees the built asset typically designed to last sixty years and undergoing a variety of changes prior to being demolished and a new facility commonly arising in its place. There are many buildings which have stood for much longer than sixty years and, in some cases, their external aspects are protected as listed buildings; however, they are often changed internally to reflect the modern-day demands of the working environment and the market. Likewise, there is an increasing trend for assets to be sweated over a relatively short lifetime of twenty or thirty years to maximise returns.
In all these scenarios, there is an element of building refurbishment that will take place. As can be seen from these examples, however, the scale, type and level of detail of the refurbishment are hugely variable.
Chapter Learning Guide
This chapter will provide an overview of building refurbishment, its growth globally and the challenge in trying to define its role to meet the changing business requirements.
- Definitions of building refurbishment;
- Size of market and global differences;
- Occupant satisfaction providing the link between productivity and well-being that can be influenced;
- Growth and changes affecting refurbishment;
- The future refurbishment and where the industry is going.
Key messages include:
- There is an increase in the level and scale of refurbishment taking place across a range of buildings;
- Building refurbishment is a standard approach to revitalising facilities to extend their life.
1.1 Introduction
The refurbishment of buildings is a long-standing practice dating back centuries as parts of stately homes, castles and churches have been extended and remodelled to reflect the wealth and architectural style of the owners at the time.
Whilst this aspect of the building lifecycle has been around for many centuries, it has not gained recognition in the recent past whilst failing to capture the imagination. With the recent growth in buildings and new construction, the refurbishment of the older stock has taken a back seat. Alongside this, there have been a loss of knowledge and inherent understanding of how to refurbish buildings in a sustainable manner across the various organisations involved in the built environment. This has resulted in many of the lessons needing to be relearnt.
There is an implicit recognition that many of the interventions we are now making through âretro-fittingâ are âexperimentalâ. This is because the performance of innovative technologies, or new combinations of tried technologies, can be predicted only with limited confidence. The need to monitor eventual performance, especially under occupation, is paramount if we are serious about providing effective refurbishment. Evaluating building performance needs to be holistic and stretch beyond the narrow concerns of the building as a machine, to embrace a more organic (realistic) view of the built environment as the platform on which people live their diverse lives. This sentiment is discussed further in Chapter 3.
This book does not look at the decision whether or not to refurbish an asset, but is based upon the premise that the refurbishment decision-making process has concluded. Such decisions are complex, but might include the following areas:
- What does the financial modelling support?
- Which option delivers the best increase in lettable area?
- What does the local market require?
- Does the developerâs portfolio favour a particular option?
- Can the existing building be refurbished to a competitive level of quality?
- Is there an end-user preference for a particular option?
- Is there more than a marginal difference in new-build construction cost versus refurbishment cost?
Refurbishment is a large and ever-present element of construction workload, and one that becomes more important in a downturn. The challenge is to extract value out of tired commercial buildings through targeted investment. Refurbishment work is, by its very nature, diverse, ranging from redecoration to total reconstruction based upon a retained structure. What all refurbishment projects share in common is a greater risk profile than the equivalent new-build project and, therefore, risk allocation is critical.
1.2 Definitions of Refurbishment
It is surprisingly difficult to find definitions of building refurbishment in the publications of the various professional bodies looking after this area, which may explain the additional lack of information on the subject.
Websterâs New World College Dictionary1 provides the following definition:
transitive verb
to brighten, freshen, or polish up again; renovate
Etymology: re- + furbish
Synonyms: awakening, face-lift, facelifting, rebirth, recharging, recommencement, refilling, reformation, regeneration, rejuvenation, renovation, reopening, replenishment, restoration, resumption, resurrection, revampment, revitalization, revival
The US Green Building Council provides the following definition in terms of major and minor refurbishments which will dictate the type of assessment methodology to be applied2 (see Section 2.2 for more details):
â⌠a major renovation involves elements of HVAC renovation, significant envelope modifications and major internal rehabilitation.â
Likewise, the BRE provides the following for its assessment methodology approach3:
â⌠a major refurbishment project is a project that results in the provision, extension or alteration of thermal elements and/or building services and fittings.
- Thermal elements include walls, roofs and floors.
- Fittings include windows (incl. rooflights), entrance doors.
- Building services include lighting, heating and mechanical ventilation/coolingâ
In both cases with BRE and USGBC, changes to buildings that do not affect the thermal performance or significant envelope changes are considered to be minor and part of the operational management of the building.
However, this is a simplistic approach whereby changes to a building that can affect the asset value are not captured under the criteria of a refurbishment categorised by the BRE or LEED. Typical areas include cosmetic changes to common areas such as the reception or lift lobbies involving decorating. Such ârefreshâ examples have an effect in making the building more attractive to tenants and improving the occupantsâ conditions. Whilst consisting of fairly small changes, the ârefreshâ market does represent a significant part of the refurbishment market.
An alternative approach of reviewing refurbishments within a building looks at the scale of the changes being made: from a light touch through to a fundamental alteration taking the building back to its shell. This kind of approach will cover and include a whole range of upgrades, refurbishments and retro-fits made to a building regardless of the scale and size of the change being made. The main basis of this is that all of these areas can be classed as refurbishments and there will be scope to improve the level of sustainability within these changes.
The British Council for Offices (BCO) considers four options that represent degrees of intervention into existing buildings4. These reflect many concerns raised as to how much, or how little, should be done to create a product of value that achieves the developerâs objectives. The BCO approach concerns the extent of the redevelopment, the value this will achieve in the long run, the necessary levels of both internal and external improvement and how to avoid spending more than necessary to maximise return on in...
