Re-use

Prior to the industrial revolution, buildings were adapted for different uses over their lifespan. It has only been in more recent times that we have designed and built buildings with a specific use.

 An example of this method of designing for adaptation is a 19^th century hat factory, built in Denton, Manchester, UK. When built it was done so with architectural features that meant that, should the factory have to close, the building could be converted into terraced housing.

 This approach to building changed during the industrial revolution when, instead of converting buildings for a change of use, it became common to demolish and rebuild buildings with a specific use.

 The last 15 to 20 years, however, has seen a surge in popularity of the conservation and conversion of redundant industrial and commercial buildings in the Western World.

 Due to advances in industry and commerce, a number of redundant buildings, which are suited to reuse, have emerged following demands by users for more comfortable environments for work and leisure purposes.

 Despite perhaps being victims of neglect, many of these buildings were built using traditional construction methods and so are soundly built and secure in terms of their structure. This acts in their favour when considering their re use and provides an ideal ground for their renovation.

Economic advantages of Rehabilitation

 One of the advantages of the rehabilitation of existing buildings over redevelopment of a site is time saving. Unless the building demands extensive structural alterations, then the building work should be significantly less than that of a new build project.

 Another time saving measure is evident prior to the construction phase; when proposing a rehabilitation project, the pre contract design and official permissions phases are normally quicker than for a new development.

 This time saving often results in the project taking half to three quarters of the time otherwise spend on demolition and building a new construction. This also grants economic advantages including:

 1. The cost of financing the project and the effect of inflation on building costs is reduced due to a shorter development period.

 2. The client is able to make profit from the building at an earlier date as they are able to acquire the building more quickly

 A thorough survey must be carried out of any building being considered for rehabilitation. This will give confirmation of the quality of its structure and construction and therefore outline how suitable it is for reuse.

Environmental Advantages

 When a building fit for rehabilitation is situated close to other buildings of architectural merit, then this results in increased appeal and value of the building. This is on the provision that the rehabilitation work maintains and enhances the character and architectural integrity.

 Social Advantages

 In the UK during the 1960s and 1970s, the policy of “comprehensive redevelopment” resulted in communities which had been long established were now separated.

From this process, lessons have been learned on the sociological advantages gained in maintaining established communities by rehabilitating housing instead of demolishing and rebuilding.

 Use of existing infrastructure

In terms of rehabilitation of obsolete housing by private developers, public authorities and the voluntary sector ,cost savings can be achieved by the re use of both the dwellings and of the existing infrastructure.

 Controlling laws and codes

In the UK, planning permission is not required when carrying out works for maintenance, improvement or alteration of a building which affects only the Interior and which does not materially affect the external appearance of a building.

Scales of Rehabilitation

 The scale of building rehabilitation ranges from interior redecoration to a near total reconstruction. In recent years there has been increasing activity in “retrofit”-where new services and fittings have been installed in existing commercial buildings.

 Housing Rehabilitation

 In England in 1981, of the country’s 18.1 million dwellings, 1.1 million were discovered to be unfit for human habitation. Further to this, at least 2 million lacked one or more of the 5 basic amenities such as a fixed bath or shower or unshared use of an indoor water closet. It was also discovered that just over 1 million dwellings required repairs at a cost of more than £7000 to bring them up to satisfactory condition. The cost estimated to solve these problems and to ensure the housing stock was up to the minimum officially defined standards was in excess of £30 million.

 Susceptibility to change of use by constructional form

Modern buildings are often built in a way which incorporates a strong structural “skeleton” over which a lightweight “skin” is applied to exclude the weather. This often makes them far more ready for conversion than a building with a more traditional structure where a range of internal elements are working together to prevent the building collapsing.

The future role of building rehabilitation and re use

As a return to the way buildings were built prior to the industrial revolution, the increase in pace of technological change means that new purpose-built structures will become obsolete. With today’s raised awareness of environmental issues, it may be seen as unreasonable to restrict the form of the building so that it would be difficult to adapt it for reuse once the current use had expired.

A recent example of this return to the past ways of building can be found by the Boeing Aircraft Company in the USA which has built office accommodation which can be easily converted into aircraft manufacturing space and which also has the potential to be adapted for other uses.

With increased pressure on conservation and a careful use of resources, it seems logical to look at existing buildings as a resource; in terms of energy consumed in their creation and operation, they are very expensive items-in order to not waste this energy they should be conserved, their use adapted to a new use, this may occur more than once during their lifespan. If this is achieved then we may witness a revival of the way we built prior to the industrial revolution, whilst achieving a sparing use of materials, optimum use of available skills and in built adaptability.

Re-use of Modern Buildings

In recent times there has been a significant increase in the interest in the preservation of Twentieth Century Buildings. A number of factors can be identified as to why this is so, these include:

-          Increase in media attention on architecture and the environment.

-          The passing of time and the re-assessment of once familiar buildings which can now be seen as historic

-          Growing awareness of buildings whose uses are now obsolete

 It seems that architectural taste may be now reaching the Modern Movement. Where as, in the past, Victorian and Edwardian buildings were regaining popularity, it seems the latest concern is to preserve modern buildings.

 British Scene

The British National Character, often seen as Inventive and Nostalgic is said to play a signigficant role in our ambivalence towards modern architecture, amplified by the royal aversion to modernity.

The modern movement arrived late in Britain, with nothing significant being built before the early 1930s

Modern Buildings before World War 2 in Europe were majority private houses whereas in Europe Modernism had been adopted by public authorities, resulting in large scale municipal or industrial programmes.

Post World War Two the amount of building work and the rate at which it was being built resulted in the use of untried materials and techniques with less than generous budgets; the result of this is now problems in evaluation and classification.