Delivering sustainability upgrades alongside building safety remediation

Balancing safety, sustainability and value: a long-term view

There are typically six key areas that landlords and owners consider when seeking ways to future-proof their assets and get ahead of evolving market demands.

Adding floorspace. One of the key considerations is how to generate additional value, typically through adding extra floorspace or rethinking how existing space is best used to expand and diversify facilities. As lifestyle trends and home-working continue to re-shape the residential market, shared workspaces and amenity spaces will play a meaningful role in enhancing desirability.

Sustainable performance. We believe a more strategic and sequential approach to integrating sustainability performance into remediation projects will ensure greater long-term gains and protect future valuation. We need to be thinking 10 years into the future when exploring potential energy or insulation infrastructure interventions, and be taking the following into consideration:

• Maximising insulation to achieve better U-values
• Considering external wall structure, striking the balance between heating, cooling and ventilation, i.e. ensuring adequate ventilation is in place when super-insulating to avoid condensation and mould. In some cases, added insulation would extend the building envelope beyond the site boundaries
• Integrating more energy-efficient infrastructure (for future transitions), i.e. considering the phased removal of gas boilers to be able to easily accommodate air source heat pumps or district heating systems, as and when technology and access evolve

Health and well-being. Expectations around green spaces and biodiversity continue to rise, and have an impact on the perceived value of a space – whether that is personal green space or shared green space including rooftop gardens, tree planting and communal green spaces.

Green space and biodiversity are often now required at the planning stage, and are well-evidenced as having a positive impact on improved quality of life, with biophilic design linked to greater tenant engagement. Meanwhile, cycle storage provision in underused spaces (for example undercrofts or lower ground floors) continue to be highly valued in urban locations in order to foster more sustainable transport.

Conversely, failure to consider health and well-being in remediation projects is also well-documented, particularly in the area of overheating and ventilation, which can have a hugely detrimental effect on well-being, particularly for vulnerable occupants.

Safety and design quality. There are many instances where local authorities are seeing an opportunity to generally improve the design quality of existing asset, particularly at street level and on public realm aspects. This push to quality can have a positive impact in lowering maintenance costs and enhancing the asset’s market value. Early-stage assessment is critical, to ensure planning and safety consultants can align compliance with market expectations.

Circular economy and material reuse have both sustainability and cost-effective benefits. While materials marketplaces are still in their infancy, there are many options for sourcing pre-used material for interior fit-outs while salvaging elements of the facade, reducing embodied carbon.

Adaptability should be a key consideration in any interventions, to ensure alignment with future technology, regulation and market demand. This includes minimum ceiling heights that ensure the potential for adaptive reuse in future, as well as readiness for future district heating schemes with infrastructure – such as pre-installing ducting and connections – prepared for seamless future integration.

Re-cladding impacts the entire building fabric, making it essential to co-ordinate multiple interventions simultaneously. Sequencing and minimising disruption (especially to avoid large-scale decanting) are important considerations. It all comes down to planning, and early engagement of the project and design team to look further into the future of energy efficiency targets, interrogating these considerations through feasibility study to inform development appraisals.

Detailed technical knowledge of the existing asset is a fundamental step for project teams exploring any added scope beyond the re-cladding exercise, and enables careful structural assessment, understanding of site-specific constraints, potential risks and hidden costs.

A clear understanding of the long-term asset strategy, including phased transitions (from communal heating to individual air source heat pumps, for example), as well as agreeing sustainability metrics and carbon payback, will contribute towards clearer data-driven decision-making to help clients realise long-term valuation outcomes for the asset.

Daniel O’Connor, director, TFT