CHAPTER 2: Literature Review
2.5 Adaptive Reuse
Figure 19: Adaptive Reuse of building remains in a new design. (www.archdaily.com)
“Adaptive Re-Use” is defined by the Department of Environment and Heritage (2004) of the Commonwealth of Australia as “a process that changes a disused or ineffective item into a new item that can be used for a different purpose”, and has since become an integral strategy to improve the financial, social and environmental performance of the built environment (DEH, 2004: p3). In architecture it denotes “the process of building conversion so as to accommodate new functional requirements” (Eyuce &
Eyuce, 2010: p419). The concept was first introduced by architect Raynor Warner in 1978 where he described it as “a truth become tolerable”, and elaborated that “We are so quick to adapt to changed circumstances that we may not recognize how much has changed” (Warner, 1978: p. vii). Williams (1983) stated that the adaptive reuse concept is “a demonstration of the simple fact that buildings left behind by changing economic and social forces could be rehabilitated for contemporary
33 | P a g e functions”, and the concept has since been developed by various authors and professionals in varying capacities over the decades, specifically due to the increasing influence of climate change. Climate change has become an ever increasing topic of concern globally over the past few decades and has prompted the urgency to reduce carbon emissions and motivated towards the planning of low carbon cities. The construction of new buildings, which take up vacant, natural land as a start, consume significant amounts of raw materials and energy and generates high carbon emissions. Buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the global energy use and contribute one third of global greenhouse gas emissions (Yung &
Chan, 2011: p352). Therefore, it stands to reason that, due to the global expansion of urban environments as discussed previously in this chapter, focussing efforts to reduce carbon emissions within the built environment is an important requirement towards achieving global sustainability targets. As discussed previously, the concept of sustainability as defined by the Brundtland Commission in 1987 stated that
“Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” - (WCED, 1987: p41). Furthermore, there are three key target areas, a “triple bottom line”, which needs to be simultaneously met in order to truly achieve the objective of sustainable development:
1. Environmental protection 2. Economic development 3. Social wellbeing
In addition to these three there exists a fourth, lessor known aspect of sustainable development that is slowly gaining prominence in the form of governance, where it proposes that good political support can help facilitate the successful implementation of the three core sustainability objectives (DEAT, 2012: p19). Thus, the concept of adaptive reuse needs to be able to contribute to all areas of sustainability.
34 | P a g e In order to determine the contribution adaptive reuse makes towards urban sustainability goals there needs to be a thorough understanding of the benefits adaptive reuse offers. First and foremost, by adapting existing building stock for new and/or additional purposes as opposed to building from new, the lifespan of the existing building can be increased significantly, as well as having lower material, transport and energy consumption and producing less pollution in comparison to demolishing and building new, which in turn makes a significant contribution towards environmental sustainability (Bullen & Love, 2011b: p33). In addition, current research promotes an integration of green environmental design into the adaptive reuse of buildings, which would further enhance the environmental benefit of the building (Yung & Chan, 2012: p352). It should be noted that to adapt and reuse a building can sometimes be a costly process, particularly listed heritage buildings, in order to get them to comply with local government by-laws however, there is a growing perception that it is cheaper to convert old buildings than to demolish and rebuild (Bullen & Love, 2010: p216). In parallel with increasing the lifespan, by adapting and reusing an existing building creates the opportunity to reuse and reinvigorate the existing embodied energy of the building, particularly for structures that hold significant heritage values to local communities. A sense of belonging to a certain place and a sense of place are identified as the key motivational factors behind the desire for the preservation and reuse of buildings as they help us maintain a connection to our roots, reinforce our sense of cultural identity and make the built environment more liveable. Thus, the reuse of socially significant buildings can help facilitate the endurance of social life which contributes towards the cultural significance of a place by enhancing cultural diversity and a solidification of cultural traditions and forms (Yung & Chan, 2012: p356). This then indicates that existing buildings hold potential to create social inclusiveness and cohesion through the reuse of the existing connection between people and place, and that this aspect of adaptive reuse can successfully achieve the social aspect of sustainability. Lastly, and
35 | P a g e in order for the adaptive reuse of buildings to be a truly sustainable process, they need to contribute towards economic sustainability. While capital investment is one of multiple criteria that are used to examine adaptive reuse decision making, that is the construction cost from the developer’s/building owner’s perspective, there are other economic factors at play beyond construction and maintenance costs that influence the decision to reuse or demolish (Bullen & Love, 2011a: p32). New builds are generally marketed at a higher rental value and thus the adaptive reuse of older properties offers an opportunity to enable occupiers at the lower end of the rental market in areas where they would normally only have the choice of new builds that are not as affordable (Bullen & Love, 2011b: p37). In addition and as previously mentioned, adaptive reuse extends the functional lifespan of existing buildings and maintains their economic viability, which in turn provides income generation for both the owner and the tenants for longer periods, providing opportunity for new and/or additional usages with the same building and, by incorporating green design elements with the adaptive reuse strategy improves the operational efficiency of a building with lower carbon emissions and improved cost efficiencies (Yung & Chan, 2012: p353).