Achieving a sustainable urban environment: working with existing buildings

Achieving the goal of sustainable development continues to be one of the major global challenges of our era. To date the vast majority of work has focused on improving the sustainability of the design and construction phases of the building life cycle. Whilst the outputs from this work are beginning to have an effect on the sustainability of new buildings, because of the legacy of the existing building stock, it is unlikely that it will produce a sustainable urban environment in the short to medium term. In reality only a small percentage of the worlds built environment is replaced each year, over the next 20 years much of the built environment will comprise that which already exists or is in the planning stage. If the built environment is to address the changing needs of society in a more sustainable manner, then the construction industry will have to work largely with buildings that already exist. Thus the challenge facing built environment professionals working at the post construction phase of the building life cycle is to find ways of improving the sustainable performance of existing built facilities. This paper will examine these challenges and will outline a major new research initiative underway in the UK to address the issues pertinent to achieving a sustainable urban environment through the maintenance and refurbishment of the existing building stock.