An approach to sustainable refurbishment of existing building

The climate change challenge in built environment is complex as on one side there is a pressure to reduce carbon emissions from energy consumption, on the other side energy consumption trends are moving upwards and performance of the existing housing stock is degrading. As the majority of the existing housing stock will still be standing in 2050 there is need to address its energy consumption if CO2 targets are to be met. This challenge forms the basis refurbishment, offers a huge potential to improve the performance of existing housing to the meet climate change and sustainability. Although the technical approaches to low carbon refurbishment are well known; deep retrofit uptake is currently very low. Through a review of literature, review of theoretical areas under which social landlord operate this paper will explore possible reasons for the low uptake and present a theoretical model of the key decision points that influence the refurbishment process in social housing in UK. The paper will identify the importance of economic and social drivers alongside technical solutions in designing effective refurbishment interventions. The paper will present the model in the form of a decision tree which will help built environmental professionals better understand the refurbishment process and develop effective business models that contribute towards sustainability by reduced energy consumption, improved thermal comfort. The study will help closing the performance gap by balancing the adaptation and mitigation measuring impacts.