Ashton, D. (2024, June 25). What is adaptive reuse (and why is it important)?

University College
of Estate Management. https://www.ucem.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/what-is-adaptive- Adaptive reuse projects can often be
reuse/
significantly cheaper for a company than having
WHAT IS ADAPTIVE REUSE? to demolish and rebuild from the ground up.
What’s more, adapting a building for a new
Adaptive reuse is the process where purpose can be faster, too. You’ll also
existing buildings are reused in a different circumvent many of the legal, regulatory and
capacity to their original purpose. Buildings that political challenges of demolition projects (as
undergo this process are usually at the end of Marks and Spencer experienced), depending on
their lifespan. Reusing them allows elements of the location of the existing building.
their appearance, design, cultural heritage and
historic significance to be maintained, while 3. OPTIMISED ENERGY CONSUMPTION
serving a new function and preventing them
It’s not just in the construction process
from being demolished in processes that
that adaptive reuse is more sustainable than
consume a significant amount of energy.
demolition and redevelopment. When
ADAPTIVE REUSE VS RETROFITTING repurposing a historic building, you also have
the opportunity to convert the building with
Adaptive reuse projects are not the same environmentally friendly heating, ventilation
as retrofitting. While both processes can offer and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that make
significant sustainability benefits, retrofitting it more energy efficient and reduce running
focuses on optimizing an existing building’s costs.
efficiency, consumption and waste generation,
without addressing the use of the building itself. 4. HELPS COMBAT URBAN SPRAWL
Reuse of buildings may involve elements of
Instead of having to seek a new
retrofitting, but it is instead focused on the
construction site further afield, adaptive reuse
repurposing of a structure for a different use.
gives builders more choice and allows them to
Both methods are increasingly popular and
choose from existing sites that help
sustainable alternatives to demolition.
reduce urban sprawl and offers them
WHY ADAPTIVE REUSE PROJECTS ARE geographical advantages.
GROWING IN POPULARITY: 4 KEY BENEFITS
THE DRAWBACKS OF ADAPTIVE REUSE
It’s been said that three-quarters of the STRATEGIES
infrastructure that will exist by 2050 has yet to
While building reuse can offer benefits over
be built – a worrying statistic when you consider
traditional demolition projects, this process isn’t
the amount of energy creating (and
without its challenges and potential obstacles.
demolishing) buildings produces. In the case of
the aforementioned M&S Oxford Street  Safety issues and hazards: Historicalo
redevelopment, campaigners claimed as much buildings that weren’t constructed to
as 40,000 tonnes of CO2 would be produced by meet modern standards and regulations
the project. can have serious issues and potential
safety hazards – with a case in point
As with retrofitting, reusing a building for
being the RAAC crisis. These can be
a new purpose is a far more sustainable
costly and difficult to address.
alternative than choosing to demolish and
redevelop the existing site. While a new building  Achieving environmental standards:
might be more energy efficient, it can take 10-
80 years to offset the amount of energy Similarly, to bring a historic building up
consumed in its construction. to modern sustainability and energy
efficiency standards can require
There are other benefits of adaptive reuse significant upgrades and enhancements
projects, including: – all of which will increase the cost of
your construction project.
1. MAINTAINING CULTURAL HERITAGE
 Legal and regulatory
One of the chief arguments against the
challenges: While increasingly favoured
M&S Oxford Street campaign was the loss of a
as an alternative to demolition, any
historic building that, while denied listed status,
building reuse will require approval from
carried cultural significance. The adaptive reuse
the relevant authorities, and you may
model allows historical buildings and cultural
find adapting your building to existing
landmarks to be maintained while they serve a
laws a challenging process.
new purpose.

2. REDUCED CONSTRUCTION COSTS

 5 TYPES OF ADAPTIVE REUSE

Here are five different adaptive reuse DECISION-MAKING DESIGN PROCESS

strategies:

1. FACADE

Facadism, or facadectomy, is a type of adaptive

reuse where a building’s facade (front part or
exterior) is preserved, while the rest, for
example its inner structure, are demolished and
modernised. While not a ‘true’ repurposing of a
building, it’s viewed by many as being better
than simply demolishing a building entirely.

2. INTEGRATION

In an integration, a new structure is built around

the existing building, allowing the original
structure to be maintained while enclosed in a Adaptive Reuse Decision-Making Model Source: Bullen and Love,
new site. The historical building will still be 2011
modernised during this process in order to
There is great pressure on practitioners
preserve it, and it may still be used for its
to weigh the unique circumstances that come
original purpose.
with each adaptive reuse project (Misirlisoy &
3. RENOVATION Günçe, 2016). The decision-making process
varies between groups of stakeholders in finding
Renovation is a form of adaptation that seeks to a balance between pros and cons. Every
modernise and replace elements of historical decision in the process, from site selection (or
buildings that are in poor condition whilst reversely—new use selection) to construction,
maintaining their core structure and could prove to be challenging. Bullen and Love’s
appearance. A great example of this is (2011) study determined the most influencing
the Schuurkensstraat in Ghent, Belgium – a factors that affect decision-making as (1)
house dating from the late 19th century that, Capital Investment and other financing options
while optimised with modern enhancements, hinge on a project’s commercial viability. In the
retains its original appearance. long run, this is defined by profit and return on
4. INFRASTRUCTURE investment (Bullen and Love, 2011). The
feasibility of an adaptive reuse project is
Historical buildings aren’t the only candidates governed by a balance of stakeholders’
for modernisation and repurposing – adaptive requirements, socio-economic trends, investors’
reuse interventions can also be applied to motivation, and projections for capital and
infrastructure, from bridges and viaducts to operational expenditure. (2) Asset condition,
hangars and even grain silos. whether latent or evident, are the crucial
physical factors that determine a structure’s
5. HERITAGE suitability for new use. Location versus target
CONSERVATION/PRESERVATION market, transport access, spatial configuration
In perhaps the most comprehensive form of (or reconfiguration thereof), structural integrity,
adaptive reuse, built heritage conservation etc. determine a building’s usefulness (Bullen &
involves maintaining a building’s materials, Love, 2011). (3) Regulation pertains mostly to
facade, integrity and structure while making legislation, building code compliance, and
minimal renovations in order to modernise it. political support that enable efficient project
implementation. As Bullen and Love (2011)
_______________________________________________ reveal, stakeholders prefer policies to acquire a
flexible and supportive stance for adaptive
reuse, rather than as a regulatory mandate.

________________________________________________
Critical Success Factors (CSF) Framework for Adaptive Reuse of
Heritage Buildings. Main emergency CSF in BLUE, sub-themes in
GREY, and “tools” in GREEN. Source: Dyson, Matthews, and Love,
2016
ARCHITECTS’ METHODOLOGY IN ADAPTIVE
REUSE OF HERITAGE BUILDINGS
Fatemeh Hedieh Arfa, Wido Quist, Barbara Lubelli, Hielkje Zijlstra TU
Delft, The Netherlands

Adaptive reuse (AR) of heritage buildings is

common practice in The Netherlands and is
becoming more and more common at the
International level. While AR projects are
generally considered positive actions towards
preserving the qualities of heritage buildings,
not all projects have similar (positive) impact. To
propose a methodology for dealing with the AR
of heritage buildings aiming for positive impact,
the AR process has been studied. After a
comprehensive systematic literature review, a
theoretical model representing the steps of the
AR process has been sketched (fi g.1). This
model depicts the ideal steps of architects in
dealing with heritage buildings. To check
whether these steps are actually followed, two
effective AR projects, winners of the NRP golden
phoenix prize, were studied namely ‘LocHal’ in
Tilburg (fi g.2) and ‘Energiehuis’ in Dordrecht (fi
g.3). During the research, the cases were
visited, the published literature on the cases
was reviewed, and architects and other
stakeholders involved were interviewed. The
interviews were based on the steps of the
theoretical model but the model was not shown
to the architects till the end of the interview.
Finally feedback was asked from the architects
if the model represented their actual steps and
where they diverged. The analysis of the
collected data confi rmed that architects
followed the steps reported in fi gure 1.
However, the process was reported to be not
linear, as suggested in the model, but to include
several loops between some of the steps,
mainly between steps 1, 2 , 3, 4, 5, and 6 (fi
g.4). Next to refi ning of the AR model,
investigation of the case studies led to the
identifi cation of tools and methods used by
architects, which have possibly positively infl
uenced the effectiveness (positive impact) of
the fi nal result. Both case studies distinguished
themselves, according to the NRP jury reports,
because of their high ‘social value creation’.
Involving end-users, other producers, and
original users in different steps of the AR
process has been identifi ed as the main
method used by the architects contributing to
this positive impact.