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

University College of Estate

Management. [Link] 2. REDUCED CONSTRUCTION COSTS

WHAT IS ADAPTIVE REUSE? Adaptive reuse projects can often be

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

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