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Adaptive reuse
Adaptive reuse of heritage of heritage
buildings buildings
Peter A. Bullen and Peter E.D. Love
Department of Construction Management, School of the Built Environment,
Curtin University, Perth, Australia
411
Abstract
Purpose – There is growing acceptance that heritage buildings are an important element of
Australia’s social capital and that heritage conservation provides economic, cultural and social
benefits to urban communities. The decision whether to reuse a building entails a complex set of
considerations including location, heritage, architectural assets, and market trends. The role of
building conservation has changed from preservation to being part of a broader strategy for urban
regeneration and sustainability. A growing body of opinion supports the view that adaptive reuse is a
powerful strategy for handling this change. Urban development and subsequent redevelopment has
a significant impact on the environment and the purpose of this paper is to investigate how the
conservation of heritage buildings may contribute to a more sustainable urban environment.
Design/methodology/approach – This paper examines the views and experiences of architects,
developers and building managers who have been involved with the adaptive reuse of heritage
buildings. In total, 60 semi-structured interviews were drawn from this stakeholder group to
investigate their current understanding of the sustainability issues associated with the adaptive reuse
of heritage buildings.
Findings – The subsequent data show that despite many positive outcomes in terms of sustainability,
the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings is considered to create many problems; not the least of which
is whether heritage buildings are icons that should be conserved or whether they are in fact eyesores
and unviable for adaptive reuse.
Originality/value – The contribution of heritage buildings to the three tenets of sustainability has
not previously been explored comprehensively and as a result there is a conflict of interest between the
preservation of heritage values and progression of the sustainable urban design agenda.
Keywords Australia, Heritage, Building conservation, Urban regeneration, Sustainability,
Adaptive reuse
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Heritage buildings form an integral part of Australia’s social capital. There is growing
acceptance within Australia that conserving heritage buildings provides significant
economic, cultural and social benefits (Bullen and Love, 2010). According to the
Department of Environment and Heritage (DEH, 2004) heritage buildings provide a
valuable glimpse of the past and lend character to communities and therefore should
be conserved for future generations. The integration of historic conservation with
environmental concerns has become an innate feature of an agenda to support
sustainability (Stubbs, 2004; Bullen and Love, 2010). As part of a wider revitalisation
strategy to promote sustainability within the built environment, many buildings of
cultural and historical significance are being adapted and reused rather than being
subjected to demolition (Ball, 1999; DEH, 2004; Wilkinson and Reed, 2008; Wilkinson
et al., 2009; Bullen and Love, 2009).
To date there has been limited research that has examined the economic benefits of Structural Survey
Vol. 29 No. 5, 2011
heritage buildings (Bullen and Love, 2010). As a result, the retention of heritage pp. 411-421
buildings are often viewed as being “investment sinkholes” with issues associated with r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0263-080X
social and environment sustainability being ignored. In Western Australia, for DOI 10.1108/02630801111182439
SS example, the City of Perth (2011) has been advocating that significant financial savings
29,5 and returns can be made from the adaptive reuse of historic buildings in an attempt to
preserve the past for the future.
Adaptive reuse may help communities, governments and developers in the quest to
reduce the environmental, social and economic costs of continued urban development
and expansion (Ball, 1999; Wilkinson and Reed, 2008; Bullen and Love, 2009). Adaptive
412 reuse can transform heritage buildings into accessible and useable places as well as
provide the added benefit of regenerating an area in a sustainable manner. Many cities
have begun to realise that reusing heritage buildings is an important part of any
regeneration programme (Ball, 1999). Yet, many building owners and developers still
regard the reuse of heritage buildings as being an unviable option as planning and
building regulations may restrict their functioning (Bullen and Love, 2010). In
addressing this issue, the Property Council of Australia (2005) has advocated that
heritage regulations should require the retention of only the best and most useful
features of an historic building. This paper examines practitioners’ views and
experiences associated with adaptive reuse of heritage buildings within the context of
urban regeneration, conservation and sustainability.
Research methodology
The decision-making processes that owners and practitioners are confronted with
when considering adaptive reuse and issues pertaining to sustainability are diverse.
An interpretative research approach was therefore adopted as it can capture
information about the beliefs, actions and experiences of stakeholders involved in the
decision-making process surrounding adaptive reuse. Moreover, in considering the
viability of adaptive reuse, it is necessary to consider the “context” of the building in
terms of its impact on social and natural environments as well as those of an economic
nature.
Data collection
Interviews were chosen as the primary data collection mechanism as they an effective
tool for learning about matters that cannot be directly observed (Taylor and Bogdan,
1998). Interviews were used to understand the views and experiences associated with
adaptive reuse, which allowed a channel for “context” to be captured (Kvale, 1996). The
interview guide is the most widely used format for qualitative interviewing and was
SS adopted for this research (Patton, 1990). In this approach, the interviewer has an
29,5 outline of topics or issues to be covered, but is free to vary the wording and order of the
questions to some extent. The general themes that the interviewer focused on were:
. effectiveness of adaptive reuse of heritage buildings as a strategy to achieve
sustainability;
414
. attributes that make a heritage building suitable or unsuitable for adaptive
reuse;
. impact of various factors on the decision to reuse heritage buildings; and
. the barriers and opportunities surrounding adaptive reuse of heritage buildings.
A total of 60 semi-structured interviews were conducted over a four-month period
with a stakeholder group comprising such as architects, developers and building
managers. Interviewees were chosen for their ability to contribute towards this
study through both tacit and explicit knowledge of adaptive reuse. Individual
representatives from firms from the metropolitan area of Perth were selected
using the technique of stratified random sampling and invited to participate in the
research.
Content analysis was used as the primary analysis technique of the collected data.
In its simplest form this technique is the extraction and categorisation of information
from documents. Inferences from the data can only be drawn from the relationship with
what the data appear to have with their institutional, societal and cultural contexts
(Krippendorf, 1980). The text derived from the interviews was analysed using QSR
NVivo 9.0, which enabled the development of themes and additional data sources and
journal notes to be incorporated into the analysis. Using NVivo enabled the researchers
to develop an organic approach to coding as it enabled triggers or categories of
interest in the text to be coded and used to keep track of emerging and developing
ideas (Kvale, 1996). These codings can be modified, integrated or migrated as the
analysis progresses and the generation of reports, using Boolean search, facilitates the
recognition of conflicts and contradictions. This process enabled the key themes
needed to be considered during the adaptive reuse or demolition decision-making
process to be identified.
Stakeholder views
Orientation of building
Social sustainability
Environmental sustainability
Economic sustainability
Meeting SD benchmarks
Heritage significance
Cultural significance
Figure 1.
0%
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50
60
70
80
90
0
10
%
%
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%
%
%
0%
10
20
30
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50
60
70
80
90
10
Barriers to implementing
adaptive reuse Proportion of respondents identifying each
factor as a barrier
Factors considered during adaptive Adaptive reuse
reuse decisions
of heritage
Ability to aesthetically fit streetscape
Availability of materials to match existing
buildings
Benefits of reuse vs redevelopment
Community value of existing buildings
Compliance with building codes 417
Creative value compared to redevelopment
Demand for building after adaptive reuse
Heritage council guidelines
Impact on visual amenity
Increasing urban density
Market opportunity due to location
Opportunity for technical innovation
Orientation of building
Planning approval process
Public awareness of adaptive reuse
Viability of recycling existing materials
0%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
%
0%
Figure 3.
10
20
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60
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80
90
10
Benefits of implementing
Proportion of respondents identifying adaptive reuse
each factor as a benefit
Many barriers to adaptive reuse pertain to cost, as a perception existed that it was
more economical to demolish and construct a new building than to reuse. Compliance
with building codes (59 per cent) was deemed to be problematic as they were too rigid
and did not encourage technical innovation to be developed. Adaptive reuse was
perceived to be cost effective by 47 per cent of interviews in most cases but the
availability and price of materials to match existing elements/fixtures/fittings was an
issue of concern. It was perceived that retaining older buildings rather than building
more new ones would create a more aesthetical environment for the community
(58 per cent).
While older commercial buildings often do not support passive environmental
techniques, it was perceived that existing buildings do provide opportunity to test
many new innovative technologies and develop diverse solutions to enhance
sustainability (65 per cent). The location of existing buildings was seen to be a critical
component of market opportunity, but opinion was fairly evenly divided with 54 per cent
seeing it as a barrier and 46 per cent seeing it as an opportunity for adaptive reuse.
%
0%
10
20
30
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50
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sustainability objectives
Proportion of respondents identifying affect as negative
%
0%
reuse on sustainability
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objectives
Proportion of respondents identifying affect as positive
Conclusion
The concept of adaptive reuse of heritage buildings as a component of sustainability
was strongly supported by respondents, but doubts remain about viability, particularly
of economic issues. To a large extent, sustainability of local communities depends on
the sense of place and value they place in their local community. Heritage invests local
communities with a powerful reason to look after their local environment and lead
more sustainable lifestyles as they have a powerful connection to their physical
environment through visual amenity and the intrigue and uniqueness offered by
heritage buildings and streetscapes. People feel a stronger sense of connection with
their local surroundings through heritage, which is quite different to the mentality
associated with new building stock, in that it can be, replicated anywhere and therefore
lends no specific connection to the local environment. Heritage buildings are cultural
icons and their preservation impacts on community well-being, sense of place and
therefore social sustainability. Due to the importance of these factors, it is preferable to
reuse heritage buildings rather than replace them regardless of bad plot ratios and lack
of efficiency. Old buildings can be a visual amenity that provides a sense of connection
with local surroundings through heritage.
The contribution of heritage buildings to the three tenets of sustainability has not
been explored comprehensively and as a result there is a conflict of interest between
the preservation of heritage values and progression of the sustainable urban design
agenda. In some cases it appears that the heritage requirements attached to buildings
may obstruct the use of new materials or techniques needed for adaptive reuse.
Any assessment that considers the reuse of heritage buildings should also
incorporate criteria that ensure the adaptive reuse will not affect heritage values of the
building. Despite presenting many positive outcomes in terms of sustainability, the
adaptive reuse of heritage buildings creates many problems. These tend to concentrate
around the technical difficulties that working on heritage buildings will generate.
Many of the materials and components used in heritage buildings are no longer readily
available and may have to be manufactured to special order. Even if the materials are
obtained there is no guarantee that suitably qualified craftsmen will be available
locally or even nationally. These problems will impact on the economic viability of
carrying out an adaptive reuse project and may prove totally impractical for
developers as an investment. In many cases, the only way that a heritage building will
SS present a viable opportunity as an adaptive refuse project will be if incentives
29,5 are available for developers. The ability to make heritage buildings attractive to
developers as viable reuse projects relies heavily on the introduction of legislation that
reduces building code and planning requirements and offers substantial financial
incentives in the form of tax concessions. The research has highlighted several broad
questions concerning the decision process for the adaptive reuse of heritage buildings
420 not the least of which is whether heritage buildings are icons that should be conserved
or whether they in fact eventually become eyesores that are liabilities.
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Corresponding author
Peter A. Bullen can be contacted at: p.bullen@curtin.edu.au