Adapting successfully for climate change is the great challenge of our age. For local authorities (LAs) and all registered providers (RPs) overseeing existing housing stock at scale, the task of improving comfort, and supporting net zero targets to reduce emissions by 78% by 2035, can be loaded with complexity. Amidst a shifting policy landscape, Karakusevic Carson Architects, XCO2 and Editional Studio have come together to share our experience and expertise in the field of retrofit and offer practical guidance for rising to the challenge.
With collective experience of 40+ years working in the sector, we recognise the pressures that housing departments are facing. We know limited resources impact the ability to upgrade and to make capital investments, and we have heard first-hand of the pressures on budgets for tackling everyday building safety, repairs and maintenance. But we also know that adopting piecemeal approaches will not be enough to reach target reductions and that inaction will, in the long term, adversely affect both our climate resilience and the health prospects of residents.
We believe that retrofit is the greatest priority for the 21st century city and an opportunity to ensure the UK’s housing stock is fit for the next 100+ years. To ensure it can be realised many practice and supply norms need to evolve rapidly and to do so we must be as radical as those in previous centuries, who defied critics to establish the welfare state and public housing. Net zero is a chance to enhance our built environment and it can be a great economic catalyst, ushering in a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ with new skilled jobs in the construction and clean technology industries, and ensuring local investment.
Together we have worked on 50+ projects in the social sector and designed for a wide range of communities and needs that have included tackling large estates, small-scale interventions, partial redevelopment, entire block renewal and domestic upgrade pilots. We know good housing can make a fundamental difference to our towns and cities and how people can live better and healthier lives.
This publication offers practical ideas and recommendations for how to deliver affordable and resilient models for retrofitting public and affordable housing. Orientated around a range of simple case studies and common building and construction types, it is intended to be accessible and useful for anyone working in housing today and considering options for refurbishment, responding to climate change, tackling fuel poverty and bettering living environments.
If you would like to read more about it, please see the SAMPLE PDF with Timeline or if you are interested in the full publication, please send an email to press@karakusevic-carson.com