THE REFURBISHMENT OF OFFICE BUILDINGS

The Refurbishment Of Office Buildings

The Refurbishment Of Office Buildings

Introduction

In order to help meet Government's carbon reduction targets, the UK as a whole must address its inefficient office building stock. The scale of the challenge, to refurbish up to 2 million existing office buildings and achieve at least an 80 per cent cut in carbon emissions by 20501, is somewhat daunting, and clearly cannot be done by a business as usual approach. (Pinder 2003:218-229) Much of the existing office building stock can be characterized as having poor energy performance. Many office buildings have poor fabric, inefficient plant, poor controls and low levels of occupant energy awareness. Overheating is common, leading to increased cooling demand. Improved controls and the appropriate use of thermal mass, glazing, shading and ventilation are important to mitigate overheating. (Ball 2002: 93-110) This paper discusses the refurbishment of office buildings Can be justified in the current financial climate or not.

It also discusses;

of what relevance would the refurbishment bring to the area or community

would it chnage the purpose of the surrounding

how it would help the economy

is it by creating jobs or helping produce more capital, helping reduce wasteful energy.

Discussion

Refurbishment of such office buildings represents an opportunity because making cost effective energy performance improvements could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 - 23Mt per year while also benefiting energy security and competitiveness. (Ball 2002: 93-110)

There is already a missed opportunity for cost effective emission reductions that could have led to the retention and growth of employment in the construction industry. In as far as the climate change impacts of office buildings are being addressed at this time, the focus largely remains on the performance of new office buildings and the decarbonisation of office buildings energy supply.

There are several reasons for low levels of energy performance and the slow progress with making improvements. There are also several drivers for better energy performance. Unfortunately, the barriers currently outweigh the drivers in most instances, and this will not change unless a specific effort is made to accelerate refurbishment of office buildings. (Pinder 2003:218-229)

Caleb believes that the following needs to happen to achieve a step-change in refurbishment:- (Cook 1997:62)

Better application of the Trias Energetica (Energy hierarchy ) framework in policy & practice - where the first focus is on 'designing out' the need for energy use in buildings as part of their refurbishments

A scaled-up Refurbishment programme with third party funding guaranteed by Government & paid back from savings - possibly along the lines of Salix Finance, as currently offered to public sector organizations.

A commitment to concentrate on implementing readily available tried-and tested solutions, in preference to newer, more risky technologies (e.g. urban wind power)

A commitment to place a high priority on the energy security & employment potential of buildings and to maximize these via thermal refurbishment measures Specifically, Caleb proposes that there should be up-front capital funding for beneficiaries willing to commit to achieving EPC/DEC Rating 'C' based on implementing Energy Performance Report ...