Baker is an independent consultant and technical expert on energy efficient refurbishment and the development of LT software. It moves from principles of sustainable refurbishment to specific design and engineering guidance. The handbook of sustainable refurbishment : non-domestic buildings.
It moves from principles of sustainable refurbishment to specific design and engineering. The refurbishment of existing buildings is a crucial yet often neglected subject within sustainable architecture; attent. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading The Handbook of Sustainable Refurbishment: Non-Domestic Buildings.
Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders. A Technical Design Guide. Cambridge Architectural Research. Burton, S. Energy Efficient Office Refurbishment. Energy Research Group et al Eds. Principles and Practice of Sustainable Architectural Design. Architect's Handbook of Practice Management. Legislation on the environment continues to evolve; see Chapter 3 for further guidance. A retro-fit offers many benefits: cutting electricity and heating bills, increasing the resale value of homes, slashing.
According to the Emirates Green Building Council, a non-governmental organization that promotes sustainability in the built environment, retrofitting to improve energy efficiency and reduce operational cost has been widely adopted with almost 8, buildings in the UAE. The decision to retrofit as part of wider refurbishment is largely driven by the positioning of buildings and their operational assets within their respective lifecycles.
This presents an opportunity to introduce more efficient equipment, either through upgrading, redesigning, or simply the removal of obsolete assets. In terms of asset obsolescence and life expectancy, typically the building structure and frame will outlast the fittings, fixtures and equipment many times over.
Structural elements will often have a design life of years, whereas major equipment will require replacing every years. It will therefore be possible to refurbish a building numerous times before the structure deteriorates to a point when it is no longer functional, forcing the need to rebuild. As the stock in the UAE matures, the potential for refurbishment increases. There have already been many high-profile refurbishments, such as the Jumeirah Beach Hotel and the Atlantis Hotel in Dubai.
There are also other instances where refurbishment is considered separately from the asset lifecycle, such as the changing needs of the building user, change of regulations or other very specific measures that depend on the type of building. Examples could be an office building that conducts refurbishment of air conditioning systems as part of a renewed focus on employee occupational health, or an airport having to conduct periodic terminal refurbishment to adapt to changing aircraft designs and security requirements.
Most major airports in the world are currently in the process of a significant refurbishment project or have just completed one, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports being no exception. Changing technology can also influence both the timing and nature of a refurbishment, as the changing expectations of building users are met by the introduction of various smart technology solutions that make otherwise functional systems seem obsolete before the end of their operational life expectancy.
The full impact of the coronavirus pandemic on future working behaviours and the use of both office and residential space will not be seen for years to come, but it will no doubt provide further influence on decisions to refurbish buildings to provide the type of space demanded by occupiers. The location of the building can have a significant impact on the decision to refurbish.
Access within developed sites in high density locations may increase the costs of demolition and new build further, particularly when proximity to other buildings and their current use is considered. Although not common in the UAE, terraced buildings have been a good example of such restrictions where it is difficult to take one building or unit out of its situational context, making demolition complicated.
Likewise, low density locations that are far from urban centers can also have complications for new build projects due to the distances involved in material transportation and access to labour supply. Refurbishments are an effective way to renew existing infrastructure with minimal disruption.
A decision to refurbish or rebuild is not limited to projects that have been in use. It is also undertaken for projects that have been in existence for some time, but not actually completed. Many projects in various stages of completion that have stalled, usually for financial reasons, exist in the UAE. Sometimes these are completed after a considerable pause in the construction program, however, sometimes there is a decision to make due to the time elapsed, market conditions and viability of the original concept.
For the same reasons as a completed building that reaches a certain point in its lifecycle, a partly completed building will face examination of the costs to complete, either with the original design or adapted to meet new requirements.
Depending on the extent of these adaptations, it could be more cost effective to demolish and start again as we have seen recently at Mina Plaza in Abu Dhabi, which found itself in the middle of a larger masterplan design for which the buildings were no longer needed.
Refurbishment remains an attractive alternative to building new from a cost and sustainability perspective, but for refurbishment to be effective it must be undertaken by an informed property owner or occupier, with consideration given to current asset condition, costs of disposal and lifecycle costs.
In a maturing property market, the UAE has the potential for a significant rise in the number of refurbishment projects. Construction activity accounts for up to 50 per cent of building and construction emissions, and up to 25 per cent of total building lifecycle costs.
The relatively high environmental impact at the construction stage compared to the overall lifecycle cost of the building means that more must be done to engage developers in sustainable building practices, such as compliance with legislation and incentives to implement green building initiatives. As public awareness of the climate change emergency and perceptions of how we consume energy change, there is pressure from expectations at the point of use that developers and owners cannot ignore.
Refurbishment is already recognised as a significant way to reduce carbon operational emissions in the UAE. The Dubai Supreme Council of Energy has a target to cut energy demand by 30 per cent by , and sees refurbishment as a key contributor to achieving this.
Less widely known is the additional associated impact of reducing embodied carbon through choosing to refurbish rather than build new. Embodied emissions can be further reduced through adopting sustainable practices during the construction stage, from sourcing low carbon materials to using low emission construction vehicles. The impact of building new from a financial and environmental perspective is considerable.
As the property market matures, refurbishment offers a viable alternative that can help significantly reduce both operational costs and carbon emissions. Our Work. Download Fact Sheet. World Abu Dhabi. Money Talks The business case for refurbishment is easy to make.
Typical building lifecycle cost profile.
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