Environmentally, retrofit makes sense and for designers there is so much opportunity

Weston Adventure Playground. Macintosh says: ‘Internally there is a mezzanine level with a bench running all the way along the main space, where the children who were less rumbustious or more reflective could retreat and do their homework in a more secluded area.’

Source: Joe Low

Done judiciously and sensitively, retrofit is one of the biggest contributions the construction sector can make to help reduce embodied carbon, writes Emily Booth

The picture of a child hurtling through the air, hair flying, on a zip wire at Finch Macintosh’s Weston Adventure Playground encapsulates the pure joy that a wonderful experience of a place can bring – plus the freedom that we probably all wish we had more of right now. Kate Macintosh, winner of this year’s Jane Drew Prize, has always put community at the heart of her work and embraced issues of environmental and social sustainability.

It’s shocking to think that a few years ago her sheltered housing scheme, renamed Macintosh Court in her honour, at Leigham Court Road in Lambeth was at risk of demolition. It was saved in 2015, granted Grade II-listed protection following a residents’ campaign and recommendation by Historic England. (Since then it has been the subject of an insensitive refurbishment, but that’s another story.)

Not all buildings can be listed, of course, and not all buildings at risk of demolition can galvanise such energised support to keep them standing. Yet knocking buildings down to build new is hard to justify in a climate crisis. Demolishing buildings should be a last resort, not the first choice. Our Retrofit of the Year – Yorkton Workshops, a collaboration between Cassion Castle Architects and design consultancy Pearson Lloyd – is a glorious example of the recovery of two dilapidated buildings. ‘Anyone else would have pulled it down,’ said our judges. Thank goodness Castle and Pearson Lloyd didn’t.

A groundswell of opinion is now supporting retrofit and refurbishment. Done judiciously and sensitively, retrofit is one of the biggest positive contributions the construction sector can make to help reduce embodied carbon.

The AJ’s RetroFirst campaign – with its call for tax, policy and procurement changes – is playing a substantial part in driving forward the retrofit agenda. Its proposals are echoed in a new report from the Commons Environmental Audit Committee, which calls for regulations to cover embodied carbon in construction and asks chancellor Rishi Sunak to use his budget this week to ‘correct the disparity’ between the zero rate of VAT on new-build construction and the full rate charged on retrofitting.

Meanwhile, the Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) has launched its own campaign to demand the UK government urgently regulates carbon emissions caused by the construction of new buildings and infrastructure, calling the size of the UK construction industry’s carbon footprint a ‘national scandal’. The Green Party is calling for VAT on refurbishment to be slashed in a new Parliamentary petition. The new London Plan is pioneering in its regulation of embodied carbon in proposed buildings. They are welcome moves and the chorus of voices is becoming impossible to ignore.

From an environmental perspective, retrofit makes sense. And from a design perspective, there is so much opportunity. In the pages of our special Retrofit issue of the AJ you’ll find many examples of innovative projects to inspire you. And we’re delighted that you’ll be able to hear from Kate Macintosh – as well as Lesley Lokko, recipient of the Ada Louise Huxtable Prize – as part of the W Awards celebrations next week. Book your place at w-awards.architectural-review.com/attend. We look forward to welcoming you.