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Finbar Charleson / ACAN
Reuse existing buildings: Pursuing a strategy of retrofit, refurbishment, extension, and reuse over demolition and new build.
Source: Architects Climate Action Network Calls for Regulation of Embodied Carbon
Tag Archives: building reuse
Retrofits versus building new: we need whole of industry change | The Fifth Estate
More than 20 million tonnes (or megatonnes, MT) of waste was generated in 2017 from the construction and demolition industry – more than a third of Australia’s waste production. And nearly all of it is sent to landfill.
Source: Retrofits versus building new: we need whole of industry change | The Fifth Estate
Tulane researchers receive grant to repurpose abandoned “separate but equal” schools in Louisiana | News | Archinect
View of the gymnasium at the old Sabine High School in Many, Louisiana, one of several facilities that could be impacted by the study.Photo courtesy of Laura Blokker.
The schools, built as part a last-ditch attempt to establish “separate but equal” educational facilities in the state, were abandoned as racial integration began to take hold in 1970, and have sat empty for many years.
Remembering America’s lost buildings – CNN Style
“One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat,” architectural historian Vincent Scully Jr. lamented.
Demolished, abandoned buildings repurposed through program helping struggling communities
The idea works like this: before an abandoned building is torn down, crews salvage all the materials they can get from it – like wood – and keep it out of landfills. At the same time, they give the people who live in those neighborhoods the job of doing that. “It gives you a new sense of your community,” said Baltimore native Kobe Bland, who works at Brick and Board. “You start to view your community a little different because you see the potential of what could be.” What started out as the “Baltimore Wood
Source: Demolished, abandoned buildings repurposed through program helping struggling communities
WorldGBC to focus on embodied carbon across construction industry
WorldGBC will highlight the need for the sustainable production, design, build, use, deconstruction and reuse of buildings and their materials Buildings and construction together account for 36% of global final energy use and 39% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions when upstream power generation is included.
Source: WorldGBC to focus on embodied carbon across construction industry
Recycling building parts into new ones will save us overbuilding – UniSA professor | Adelaide Now
“If we can make use of and adapt existing building and infrastructure stock, we save new carbon and resources,” Dr Ness says.
Dr Ness says he was spurred on to write the book about overbuilding when, in 2015, the Adelaide City Council and State Government together claimed that emissions had declined even though city office stock had grown substantially.
Source: Recycling building parts into new ones will save us overbuilding – UniSA professor | Adelaide Now
Good bones are a good place to start for net zero carbon MacKimmie Complex in Calgary | TreeHugger
© DIALOG
Souleles also notes that “the bones of the building are really, really good.” You don’t often hear this; there is always an excuse, such as the floor plate isn’t efficient or the ceilings are too low. However, as embodied carbon gets recognized as an issue, these excuses don’t stand up to scrutiny – because, as we keep saying, the greenest building is the one already standing.
Source: Good bones are a good place to start for net zero carbon MacKimmie Complex in Calgary | TreeHugger
Alexander Symes lists Up-Cycle House in Blackheath – realestate.com.au
The Up-Cycle House in Blackheath.
The Blue Mountains house restoration was driven by the concept that rather than demolishing an old home that has “reached the end of its life cycle”, it could be “up-cycled”.
Source: Alexander Symes lists Up-Cycle House in Blackheath – realestate.com.au
Sustainable Design – What Does it Really Mean?
The embodied energy of the existing building, a term expressing the cost of resources in both human labour and materials consumed during the building’s construction and use, is squandered when the building is allowed to decay or be demolished.