People with different design disciplines within Bryden Wood will work together.
Due to the many benefits offered by adaptive reuse architecture, the practice should be embraced as part of the industry’s shift towards more sustainable design.. Over the last few years, the construction industry has focused on the improvement of Building Regulations (including planned changes in Part-L in 2022 and 2025) and the adoption of more ambitious standards and carbon targets for new construction, following initiatives from LETI, RIBA and UKGBC.The impact of existing buildings, however, has been left unattended.
New initiatives, however, are highlighting the importance of adaptive reuse, which focuses on the refurbishment.of existing buildings (retrofitting) in order to help the UK meet its carbon targets.. To give a sense of the scale of the importance of adaptive reuse: according to LETI’s analysis, 80% of residential buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built; and most of the buildings currently under construction will need to be partially or totally retrofitted before 2050.. A substantial proportion of the carbon emissions from existing buildings can be reduced by adopting simple retrofit measures, which could potentially be subsidised by the government.These would include: adding thermal insulation, upgrading windows or exchanging gas boilers for electric heaters and air source heat pumps..
There are multiple benefits to promoting a national-scale retrofit of existing buildings.The advantages of adaptive reuse architecture include:.
the reduction of embodied carbon from the reuse of existing buildings.
reducing the embodied carbon emissions associated with new builds.On a more personal note, he enjoys the ability to put music on.
‘Everywhere else, I have to take my own box because they don’t have sound,’ he says, ‘so that’s quite nice.’.Maswiken also talks about the benefits of the lighting flexibility, with the ability to dim the lights or increase lumination, which he says provides options depending on the type of surgery being conducted.
‘Particularly if you’re doing laparoscopic work,’ he says, ‘you might need to dim the light a bit to give the surgeon a better view of the images, so in that way it works very well.’ He also speaks about how lucky he feels to have windows in some of the theatres.It’s quite an advantage,’ he says, ‘Because, just imagine, I’ve been in theatres all day and it helps at times, just to be able to reconnect a bit with the outside.’.
(Editor: Magnetic Bins)