Sustainable Retrofit and Facilities Management

Paul Appleby

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• ISBN:
  9781135121761
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Sustainability in Architecture

Governments across the globe are setting targets for reducing their carbon emissions. For example, the UK Government has committed to an eighty per cent reduction by 2050, when twenty-eight million buildings that currently exist will still be standing; this represents a challenge to improve the energy efficiency of more than one building per minute between now and 2050! This is a problem that needs tackling worldwide and is a challenge to both the refurbishment sector of the global construction industry and to those who own and operate existing buildings.

Sustainable Retrofit and Facilities Management provides comprehensive guidance to those involved in the refurbishment and management of existing buildings on minimizing carbon emissions, water consumption and waste to landfill, along with enhancing the long term sustainability of a building. Practical guidance is provided on measures that can be used to improve the efficiency and sustainability of existing buildings, through both good management and refurbishment. Also explored is the relationship between the refurbishment of existing buildings, facility management and the wider community infrastructure. The book looks at management tools such as post occupancy evaluation, building health checks, energy management software, green building management toolkits and green leases. Illustrated throughout with case studies and examples of best practice, this is a must-have handbook for engineers, architects, developers, contractors and facility managers.

Part 1

Background

1.1

Introduction and Scope

The title of this book is Sustainable Retrofit and Facilities Management, but it could just have well have been ‘Sustainable Refurbishment and Property Management’ or even ‘Sustainable Rehabilitation and Building Management’. However, in the UK at least, the term ‘retrofit’ has largely replaced ‘refurbishment’ in the context of improving existing buildings. ‘Property management’, on the other hand, is widely applied to a residential estate, while ‘facilities management’ applies primarily to non-residential buildings. This book looks at sustainable principles and methods that can be applied to the management of existing buildings, estates and communities and when considering retrofit (or refurbishment).

Of course, many of the same challenges arise in retrofit as in the design and construction of new buildings and developments. These are dealt with in more detail in the sister book to this one: Integrated Sustainable Design of Buildings (Appleby, 2011a). This book focuses specifically on those issues that should be addressed by designers, owners and operators who want to improve the performance of existing buildings across the full range of sustainability criteria.

It has been widely reported that, in the United Kingdom at least, between 72 and 75 per cent of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built (Low-Carbon Construction Innovation and Growth Team, 2010). For example, in 2010, there were around 27 million homes, of which between 25 and 26 million will remain standing in 2050. UK Government predictions of future demand for homes indicate that around 250,000 should be built per annum, resulting in 10 million additional homes being constructed between 2010 and 2050. As it happens, only 150,000 dwellings were completed in 2010, and if this rate continued, there would be between 31 and 32 million homes in existence in 2050. Projections of the future demand for homes assume that there will be a growing population, and the Office of National Statistics estimates a population increase of 10.2 million between 2008 and 2033.¹

Similarly, the majority of non-residential buildings that are standing today will remain with us through the middle part of the twenty-first century. The Low-Carbon Construction IGT boldly states that the majority of these buildings must have their energy efficiency improved if carbon targets are to be met, corresponding to approximately one building per minute until 2050. In 2010, the average CO₂ emissions associated with a British home were 5.4 tonnes/annum, while a home built to comply with 2006 Part L Building Regulations targets creates emissions of 3.2 tonnes/annum on average and, when built to meet 2010 targets, creates 2.4 tonnes/annum. The UK Government is committed to further step reductions in carbon targets so that, by 2016, the requirement will be zero regulated emissions. This has been diluted from the previous government’s commitment to making the target truly zero carbon, taking into account all operational emissions, including all plugged-in appliances such as white goods, televisions and computers, which are not included in the list of ‘regulated’ emissions. It is important to realize the contribution of ‘unregulated’ emissions and embodied carbon to the carbon footprint of a home. On average, plug-in items constitute a further 2 to 3 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum, while embodied emissions might be around 50 tonnes, or 1 tonne/annum for a life expectancy of 50 years. Similar improvements in Building Regulations are being introduced across the European Union through the Recast EC Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EC, 2010).

In parallel with this, an ambitious programme of decarbonization of the electricity grid is planned. In Europe, there is a large variation in the carbon intensity of electricity generation, varying from around 0.09 kgCO₂/kWh in France to 1.0 kgCO₂/kWh in Poland, demonstrating the difference between reliance on nuclear and coal-fired power stations. France produces around 78 per cent of its electricity from nuclear power and Poland generates 96 per cent from coal. This might explain why in June 2011 Poland was the only EU member to veto the EU 2050 Roadmap,² which would have committed them to a massive programme of renewable energy and carbon capture and storage. The UK has produced its own 2050 Pathway Analysis³ which postulates a number of alternative pathways for achieving the 80 per cent carbon reduction required by 2050, as mandated by the 2008 Climate Change Act. These include decarbonization strategies based on some combination of renewable, nuclear power and fossil fuel with carbon capture and storage (CCS). By 2050, all existing nuclear plants would be decommissioned and it is predicted that, unless these are replaced, in excess of 500 TWh/year of electricity would be required from renewable sources and 220 from fossil fuels with CCS. However, this strategy requires a corresponding drop in the carbon emissions associated with buildings, including unregulated emissions and embodied carbon, with a greater reduction in those buildings that rely primarily on electricity to meet their energy demands.

Across Europe, there are national schemes, extant or proposed, that have been designed to address the energy efficiency of existing buildings. Historically in the UK there have been grants available through energy companies or the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), such as the Warm Front scheme for those on income-related benefits or who live in homes that are poorly insulated or that have inadequate heating. In late 2012 the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) replaced these schemes, while the Green Deal was established to provide loans to individual households for energy efficiency measures that meet the so-called ‘Golden Rule’ – i.e. that the annual saving in energy bills is equal to or greater than the annual repayment cost within a specified pay-back period or the lifetime of the product.

However, the picture is complicated by the proliferation of sub-standard and empty dwellings across the UK. The Decent Homes Programme, introduced in the UK in 2000, aimed to refurbish all social sector homes to a minimum standard between 2000 and 2010. By 2008, the percentage of council housing that had reached the government’s decency standard was 69 per cent. This compared with 49 per cent of private rented and 65 per cent of owner-occupied, although housing association social housing had reached 77 per cent.⁴

In parallel with the Decent Homes Programme, the New Deal for Communities scheme, run by the Department of Communities & Local Government (DCLG) Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, was launched in 1998 and provided funding to improve 39 deprived neighbourhoods in England. One of the early projects in Newcastle upon Tyne’s West End has resulted in an impressive 21 per cent fall in recorded crime between 2000 and 2010.

Between 30 and 35 per cent of households in Britain cannot be considered decent homes by currently accepted standards. The collateral damage from this is not only socio-economic but runs into billions of pounds per year, much of which is a burden on the taxpayer. Although there has been a steady improvement in social housing, the private sector has always been more difficult to reach. Although the Green Deal and ECO are intended to pay for energy efficiency improvements, for those homes that remain below the decency threshold, this can be compared with applying greenwash to a wall with rising damp.

Of course, poor housing is not a problem that is restricted to the UK. Globally it has been estimated by the UN that some 1.6 billion people live in sub-standard accommodation, out of a world population approaching 7 billion; with some 1.5 billion not having access to electricity (International Energy Agency, 2009). In the United States, following the sub-prime mortgage disaster, the number of people reported to be suffering from housing problems is around 94 million, or one third of the population.

The churn rate for buildings in the USA is significantly greater than for the UK and much of Europe. A UNEP report on green buildings finance states that ‘at least half [of current buildings in the USA] will still be standing by 2050’.⁵

Of the homes that are standing today, a significant number remain empty. In England, for example, more than 740,000 homes were empty in 2010 (3.4 per cent of the total stock), of which some 300,000 had been empty for more than 6 months. In the USA, the number of empty homes has reached epidemic proportions, the figure having reached 11.4 per cent of the total stock by March 2011, corresponding to around 15 million homes.

The Obama Administration launched its ‘Recovery through Retrofit’ initiative in 2009, which ‘lays the groundwork for a self-sustaining and robust home energy efficiency industry’.⁶ It is supported by federally insured low-interest ‘PowerSaver’ loans from private lenders, which can be paid back over a term of up to 20 years. All work carried out with this money must comply with the Federal Housing Agency Home Energy Efficient Improvement Standards.⁷

Of course, sustainable retrofit and facilities management are not only about energy efficiency and carbon management, and this book tackles the full range of issues that must be addressed if our existing building stock is to be made more sustainable.

With much of the world experiencing severe economic turndown while facing potential environmental catastrophe, the relationship between sustainability, economics and poverty has been brought into focus. Strategies for the management and refurbishment of existing buildings play a significant role in the transition to a green economy. During 2011 strategies were set out for this transition by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the European Union and the UK Government. UNEP defines a green economy as ‘one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities’. The EU and UK Government focus on sustainable development with economic growth.

Overview of the Book

The following chapters provide the tools for developing a strategy for sustainable retrofit (used here interchangeably with the term refurbishment) and facility (or property) management. Chapter 1.2 expands on the above by examining the history of relevant policies and legislation worldwide relating to retrofit and facilities management, as well as those aspects of transport and infrastructure that impact on existing buildings. Chapter 1.3 reviews tools designed for assessing the environmental impact of the retrofit process and for existing buildings.

Part 2 looks at a range of strategies for maximizing the sustainability of retrofitting existing buildings, managing existing buildings and deciding on whether to retrofit or demolish an existing building. Part 3 looks at specific elements of retrofitting, such as the building fabric, building services, air quality, indoor environment, water, waste, materials, ecology and transport; and Part 4 sets out the principles of sustainable facility and property management. The strategies, examples and case histories are applicable to residential and commercial building types.

1.2

Policy and Legislation

It is not intended here to provide a comprehensive overview of policy and legislation relating to sustainable design and development. For this, it is suggested the reader goes to Chapter 1.2 of the sister book to this one: Integrated Sustainable Design of Buildings (Appleby, 2011a). Instead it is intended to explore policies and legislation worldwide that relate to both sustainable retrofit and facilities management, including those aspects of transport and infrastructure that impact on existing bui...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• List of boxes
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• Part 1 Background
• Part 2 Strategy
• Part 3 Sustainable Retrofit
• Part 4 Sustainable Facilities Management
• Bibliography
• Index