Resilient Building Retrofits: Combating the Climate Crisis

This radical book aims to inject new insight and urgency into the discourse on the retrofitting of commercial and residential buildings in the face of the climate emergency. It is about the why, how and who should take the lead in revolutionising buildings in the face of serious climate and social change.

Buildings contribute very significantly to the output of carbon, particularly in developed countries where the stock is old, but it is neither feasible nor desirable to demolish them all and start again! If existing buildings cannot in be replaced in the short-term by new zero carbon stock, retrofitting and adaptation of the existing building stock is critical and urgent. This book explains why and how the improvement of buildings requires a complex, holistic approach that brings all stakeholders together with respect and understanding. Yet to do this against a limited time frame is challenging. The book analyses what must be done, explores how it could be achieved and sets out a manifesto for action by all those engaged: from policy makers, to educationalists, designers, constructors, investors, funders and occupiers.

By bringing together authors from across the built environment disciplines, the book stimulates debate within policy, practice and education circles which must lead to action if we are to avoid catastrophe. This is a unique addition to the literature on the sustainability of existing buildings and their retrofitting for the benefit of all.

Sarah Sayce was Professor of Sustainable Real Estate at Henley Business School, University of Reading, and Visiting Professor the Royal Agricultural University, UK. For many years she headed the School of Surveying and Planning at Kingston University, UK. She recently worked on two EU funded projects in the field of energy efficiency and property values and is the co-author of Developing Property Sustainably, and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Real Estate, both published by Routledge.

Sara Wilkinson is a Professor in the School of Built Environment at the University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Her research focuses on sustainability and adaptation in the built environment, user satisfaction, retrofit of green roofs and conceptual understanding of sustainability. Sara is on the editorial board of five international refereed journals and is the co-author of Developing Property Sustainably, and co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable Real Estate, both published by Routledge.

Gill Armstrong is a chartered architectural technologist and a UK registered architect. Gill is a post-doctoral researcher at University Technology Sydney. Her research crosses architecture, surveying, and planning disciplines and focuses on building regulation, and sustainable design and management of existing buildings. Gill has also published on built environment pedagogies & crisis narratives in education, having taught university built environment programs in Australia & the UK.

Samantha Organ is a chartered surveyor leading nationally on sustainability for the built estate for Europe’s largest conservation charity, the National Trust. She is the MSc Programme Leader and Senior Lecturer in Building Surveying at the University of the West of England, Bristol. Her research focuses primarily on sustainability in the built environment. Sam has written numerous publications for a range of audiences and is a reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed academic journals. She won the RICS Matrics Young Building Surveyor of the Year in 2020.