Histroical Buildings being Refurbished to Incorporate Modern Standards
The process of bringing back to life old buildings is taking place across London, whether it is upgrading a commercial space or creating a whole new purpose for a building. Redevelopments provide many advantages, which demolition and new builds cannot provide, from financially being cheaper to reducing the buildings embodied carbon.
Sustainability and reducing a building’s carbon emissions are of high importance throughout London’s retrofit builds. Old buildings notoriously use a lot of energy, which has meant many owners are looking at redevelopments to ensure the incorporation of net zero goals whilst meeting the Government’s new carbon standards.
New builds, although advertised to be all efficient, they can take tens of years to negate the embodied carbon from the construction of a building's fabrications, with materials such as concrete emitting large amounts of carbon. The choice for clients to therefore retrofit a build, saves a significant amount of embodied carbon for the build, through the reuse and minimisation of waste of the building structure.
As England's capital, many of London’s buildings are historically and culturally valuable; it is critical that they be preserved for future generations as they constitute a visual reflection of our country’s history. Several are subsequently listed buildings, meaning that a rebuild or demolition would be harder to obtain approval for, due to the building’s architectural or historical significance. Therefore, buildings must adapt to meet the modern-day demands and needs of tenants – from indoor air quality to a reliable phone signal throughout the building. For commercial upgrades, tenant comfort levels become a priority for selling these new spaces to customers, whilst adhering to a set of conservation principles set out in the UK.
Alongside preserving these historical buildings, a redevelopment can often be financially beneficial to the owner too. Long term, the overall running will be cheaper due to reduced energy usage. The installation of modern technology; through Lloret installing Energy Management Systems and Converged Network Systems, allows for clients to monitor energy usage in real-time – informing energy management decisions.
Lloret has installed building management systems into listed buildings, these for example alongside our smart sensor technology optimise the building services plant and HVAC systems. The renovation of buildings allows for the installation of SMART technology to be utilised, prioritising user comfort levels whilst minimising energy consumption – future proofing buildings. We expect to see more retrofit enquiries, as we edge closer to 2030 and the sustainability goals set for London’s zero carbon pathway. This includes buildings requiring a minimum Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of B.
To avoid damaging the building’s fabrications retrofits must adhere to a set of conservation principles set out in the UK. We are able to adapt our fittings and Wi-Fi points, where necessary to keep the original build intact – this was seen throughout our work on the listed building, Victoria House.
We are seeing an increase in retrofits and transformations taking place in existing buildings throughout London as a result of the impending sustainability goals. New skills and techniques are often required to avoid damaging the building’s fabrications and unique characteristics. Furthermore, the redevelopments taking place are necessary to meet the increase in demand for office and multi-use spaces in London, as employers attempt to attract their staff back into the offices after COVID-19.