Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine have once again asked Darren to share his knowledge with their readers. This month the article looks at explaining retrofits and renovations, which can be found in their April edition of the publication. Here we share his thoughts on the topic, if you have any more questions about this topic get in touch with the team today.
What is the difference between a renovation and a retrofit?
When it comes to renovating or upgrading an existing building, the terms renovation and retrofitting are often used interchangeably, but they refer to two distinct approaches. These processes may overlap, but it is important to understanding the key differences.
A renovation typically refers to making good what is already there, this type of work focuses on repairing or restoring a property back to the original condition. This is often part of the scope of work when working on period properties, to restore the property back to its original condition which might have been lost over time and neglect.
Retrofitting is about making updates that improve the performance of a structure, often in terms of energy efficiency, sustainability, and modern functionality. It’s the process of enhancing the existing structure with modern technologies and systems without altering its fundamental character or appearance. For example, this might typically include replacing single glazed windows with energy efficient double or triple glazing, adding insulation to walls or the roof to improve thermal performance or switching to renewable energy systems like solar panels or an air-source heat pump.
In the UK we are fortunate to be surrounded by beautiful architectural buildings across multiple generations, in many towns and villages you can find a rich tapestry of architectural gems showcasing our living history. If you are lucky enough to own a heritage property then you might need to think a little more carefully before you undertake any renovations, extensions or alterations as you will probably need to get these approved in advance.
At Studio BAD we have in-depth experience working on listed and historic buildings, we have been fortunate to work on several interesting project schemes such as adding a contemporary extension to Holly Cottage, reimagining a Georgian townhouse in Southampton and reinstating a historic dwelling in rural Hampshire.
Through the design process we get asked many questions about working with listed buildings, so we thought we should share some of these with you. Please note that no two projects are the same, what is acceptable to one listed building is not necessarily acceptable for another and these notes are only intended as a guide.
It’s my house, why can’t I do what I want to?
Buildings are listed as they hold special architectural or historic interest, if you are lucky enough to own one of these properties you have an additional level of responsibility to preserve the building. This does not mean you cannot alter the property; you just need to have some additional permissions in place before you do to ensure the historic integrity of the building is kept intact.
Concept design for a contemporary extension to a heritage property in Whitchurch.
How do I know if my property is listed?
If you are not sure about the official status of your home you can easily check using the Historic England database, which you can find here.
When was a building listed?
The full details of a property listing are available on the Historic England site, including the date it was first listed and other information including the grade of listing, reasons for designation and a short history of the entry.
What makes a listed building?
There are three main principles when it comes to getting a building Listed: The age and rarity of the structure, the architectural or historic interest and any historical associations.
There are three main grades of listing in England:
Grade I – buildings of exceptional interest (around 2% of listed buildings)
Grade II* – buildings of particular importance and of more than special interest (around 4% of listed buildings)
Grade II – buildings of special interest, which represent an important part or our built heritage (around 95% of listed buildings)
It is worth remembering that grading can be changed where reevaluation takes place after damage or alterations, as more evidence of a building’s history or architectural quality is uncovered.
The reimagined interior of St Margaret’s Church
Can a building be delisted?
It is very rare to have the listing of a building removed, however it is occasionally possible. Historic England will consider a review of a property listing provided it is accompanied by new evidence relating to the architectural or historic interest of the building. Please note that evidence about the building’s condition, cost of maintaining it or redevelopment plans, cannot be taken into consideration for delisting.
Can I extend my listed building?
Yes of course, having a listed building does not mean that it has a preservation order on it preventing any change, it just means that any change has to be carefully considered so it does not affect the special interest of the property.
Can I have a contemporary extension on a listed building
Yes! Having a heritage building does not mean you have to be stuck in the past with the architecture of any additions to the scheme. Often conservation officers will be keen for any extension to have a different architectural language from the original, to allow the history of the building to be easily read.
See our Holly Cottage project, where we successfully added a contemporary ground floor extension to create a modern kitchen and separate family room onto the listed property.
Can I demolish a listed building?
Sometimes this is possible, but you would need to have Listed Building Consent and Planning Permission in place before you were to do this. The conservation office assigned to you would make a decision on a case by case basis, taking into account the condition of the building, its function and other issues.
Is Listed Building Consent the same as Planning Permission?
No, these are separate permissions. Depending on the work you are looking to undertake it will determine if you need one or both in place before you start any work. The best place to start is either by speaking with your local authority Conservation Officer, or if you are working with a professional Architectural practice, they should be able to help advise you about what is needed for your specific project.
Listed Building Consent is the legal permission you need to have in place to alter your listed building, it is worth remembering that it is a criminal offense to alter your building without this in place first. The case officer will help to oversee the project and ensure that any alterations are in keeping with the original character of the building.
Planning Permission is needed for the majority of work done to the exterior of any property (some alterations fall under Permitted Development, but it is best to check with your Local Authority before you start) so this might also need to be in place if, for example, you were looking build a kitchen extension onto your Listed home.
Concept idea for a contemporary extension to a New Forest cottage.
Do I need planning permission when working on a Listed Building
Not always, planning permission is only needed for making alterations to the exterior of your home. You will not need planning permission for regular maintenance, or to change items such as the internal staircase or the fireplace, but you might still need to get Listed Building Consent for both of these examples.
How do I get permission for altering a Listed Building
When working with a Listed Building it is always best to engage with an experienced architect who has previously worked on Listed Buildings, with a proven track record in securing planning for similar projects to your own.
Once you know what alterations you are looking to do it is best to apply for Planning Permission and Listed Building Consent at the same time. For both of these you will need to prepare detailing drawings and documents that show the current state and the proposed changes.
Are listed buildings exempt from Energy Performance Certification (EPC)
Most properties need an EPC when you build, sell or rent them, but there are a few exceptions when this certification is not needed including if the property is listed, you can find more information here.
What is the Local Heritage Asset Register? (The Local List)
The Local Heritage Asset Register is a register of local heritage assets that may not quite meet the strict requirements for national listing, but that still make a significant contribution to the historic environment of their specific locality or district. To make any alternations to a locally listed property you might find there are some restrictions in place that you need to adhere to, an experienced architect or your local planning department will be able to help you understand what these might be.
The contemporary extension on Holly Cottage.
Can listed building consent be granted retrospectively
In short, yes it can be but it is always strongly recommended to get your permissions in place before you start any work, as it is a criminal offence to undertake unauthorised work to a listed building.
What is listed building curtilage
Curtilage listed, or listed by association, is a term used to describe buildings with the grounds (or curtilage) of a listed property which is also subjected to the listed building itself and will need to apply for listed building consent before any work is undertaken. These structures can often include boundary walls, outbuildings, farm buildings, coach houses or workers cottages which are located in the grounds of the principal listed building or was ancillary to the principal listed building at the time of listing.
We hope those FAQ’s have helped you get a better understanding of how to work on a listed building, as restrictions and regulations are always changing, we would recommend you speak to an architect (especially us!) or your local planners before starting any work. From our experience working on a listed property does not rule out interesting architecture, it just means you have to be more mindful in what you are trying to achieve, your material choices and materials used, often resulting in a more interesting design solution.
Get in touch with us to discuss your heritage project, or for more general information you can find out more at Historic England.
Last week we won unanimous approval at planning committee for a replacement dwelling in Burley, right at the heart of the New Forest National Park. This was a brilliant win for our client and for our design, it also got us thinking about the process of achieving permission when your property is located within a UK National Park.
If you are looking to build a new property, make a significant change to a building (like an extension) or make a change of use (for example from agricultural barn to residential house) you will probably need planning permission before you start any construction on site. If you are luck enough to live within a National Park this can sometimes add another layer of complexity to be taken into account.
How to get planning in a National Park
To account for the sensitively of each National Park, they all have their own planning policy document and rather than submitting planning to your local authority (as you would with a standard planning application) you have to submit the planning to the individual National Park Authority.
If your design proposal is relatively straightforward then planning might not be too difficult to achieve, however an experienced architect who understands the local planning policy document can really push your design and maximise the potential of the site.
Successful planning approval
In the instances where the project is slightly more daring, working with an experienced architect can really pay off to help you see your designs come to life. To have the knowledge of articulating design to third parties, can help to enable planners to fully understand the concept behind your project. Often it is a collaborative effort to get tricky planning approvals, a good architect should have a network of specialist and trusted collaborators such as Planning Consultants, Energy Consultants, Landscape Designers and Structural Engineers to name a few. By working together, the expert team can demonstrate how the design preserves the unique, natural beauty of the National Park.
The concept of National Parks is relatively new, with the government only having established National Parks in 1949 with a purpose to conserve, enhance their natural beauty and provide recreation opportunities for the public. There are now ten National Parks across England, and we are fortunate to be located between the New Forest and the South Downs National Park, both situated on the south coast where our studio is located.
If you have a project you would like to discuss, get in touch with our team today.
We are thrilled to have been awarded planning for three quite different projects over the last few weeks – a re-imagination of a community church, a low energy house renovation and a town house reconfiguration. To get planning is such a positive milestone in the design process, it definitely is something we like to celebrate.
At St Lukes Church in Portsmouth, Hampshire, our design will enhance the engagement of the church building with the local community, making the space more welcoming and restful for visitors. Our scheme has been specifically designed to embrace a phased build, so the work is achievable in stages as the church is able to raise funds.
In Brixham, Devon, we have been granted our second planning approval, this time for Courtyard House, a traditional townhouse that needed some work to rationalise the layout and maximise the coastal views. The design focuses on reworking the internal space, to draw in natural daylight and help make the tall, thin house feel more spacious, a key design feature is the introduction of an internal courtyard to bring landscaping into the home whilst making sense of the steep site.
Our final approval to celebrate is for Cedarwood, a low energy home in Twyford, Hampshire set within the South Downs National Park. The project will reconfigure the existing home, making the space more suitable for the needs of the growing family. The design also concentrates on upgrading the sustainability of the home, to create a low energy dwelling, work includes increased insulation throughout, replacement glazing and a new roof. An external colonnade is to be added to the south side, to help mitigate overheating during the warmer summer months, which also creates a covered outdoor space that extends the time the clients can use the garden.
We are looking forward to sharing further updates of these three projects as they progress onsite soon.
This post, written by Amanda Moore in collaboration with Studio BAD Architects, explores reasons to work towards a frugal architecture. Four design case study projects will follow, in separate posts, covering a variety of sectors in order to interrogate the credibility of a rebalance between the amount of construction and end user ‘benefit’.
It has been long-established in human society that growth is innately linked to progress. It may be a natural urge within us to grow and produce.
Rising GDP is linked to growth and political success. However, it is also being linked to rising environmental impact in terms of increased materials and energy needed to produce and use goods. Should we scrap using GDP as a measure of success in favour of a happiness index, (www.world happiness.report), if we really feel the need to rank ourselves against other countries?
De-growth is an economic theory born in the 1970s which looks at the merits of shrinking economies and saving the earth’s resources. There is good reason to fear de-growth, being able to pay for public services through taxation for example. Should we reduce production and growth and hence our working hours? Or, can we have the same amount of a greener-growth?
If we need financial growth to pay for services, can there be a reduction in some less beneficial sectors such as carbon-intensive food production including meats, cheap fashion and other cheap products and new-build construction? Could we see an increase in other sectors such as skills and education, leisure, health, public transport and other services which are less carbon-intensive by nature and may provide more satisfaction and enjoyment to end-users.
In architecture, should there be a post-growth movement? Architects Declare notes a pledge to ‘Upgrade existing buildings for extended use as a more carbon efficient alternative to demolition and new build whenever there is a viable choice’. This architecture wouldn’t serve to start with maximising building on a site for profit, but look to re-use existing buildings and sites for maximum gain and enjoyment to end users. Should this idea be part of the RIBA and ARB’s ethics codes?
Within the various large practices I’ve worked for,projects mainly focused on maximising the amount of building on a site in order for the client to afford the construction costs and make a profit, particularly if expensive demolition and foundations were involved. Production to afford production. More construction is seen as the only ‘viable’ choice by many developers.
Architects may start with a smaller budget project and then encourage their client to go for a much larger one. This in part ensures a steady stream of fees, a bird in the hand is better than a hundred competitions in the bush. Charging based on a percentage of construction value rather than man-hours used can encourage architects to push clients to go for more construction. Taking on bigger and bigger-costed projects with the greater indemnity insurance and staffing requirements that can entail can then result in practices having to continually power up and up like a pyramid scheme, working to keep a bloating practice afloat.
More time should be spent on the feasibility stages of built environment projects to determine the actual needs of the local community and do the building work actually required, then determining the lowest embodied and operational carbon options. This feasibility service by architects should always be paid for by clients, not given by architects in the hope of winning/creating a lucrativeand prestigious project to work on at the end.
A friend who isn’t an architect once asked me, ‘haven’t architects built all the buildings?’ which seemed like a naive comment at the time. In actuality, there ARE a lot of buildings, and refurbishment and reuse could have been employed on most of the large projects I have worked on in practice before starting work as a freelancer, bar railway infrastructure projects.
Nowadays, most of the projects I work on are light-touch public space projects, installing artworks and outdoor furniture to activate underused spaces. Many are refurbishments, particularly for church buildings which require adjustments for custodians to carry out community-serving activities. Refurbishment has been forced onto many Christian churches who are trapped within their large, beautiful, historic listed buildings which are difficult to heat in the UK winters. Light-touch approaches over demolition are the only viable ones such as partitioning parts of the building which can be more efficiently heated, or using buildings seasonally. Going in with large and expensive technology such as air source heat pumps may also not be the best solution for older, less airtight and insulated building stock and may not solve the carbon problem when there is no wind or sun to run them in winter. At Studio BAD we work as a network of disciplines including design, building physics, building services, planning, costing and delivery/material sourcing from the outset to evaluate and test the best options in terms of cost, community benefit and environmental impact.
Materials should also be specified in relation to the lifespan of the building or it’s intended use, ie; is carbon-intensive concrete required for a new building or refurbishment which may only be used for 10 years, is a client willing to use materials which are less carbon-intensive but require more maintenance? Do buildings have to be made of the most robust/static and maintenance-free materials to retain their financial value to a client?
So, what are architects offering clients and the community and what could they offer with frugality being given priority in their design processes? Can they still add value? Can this value be credibly measured by social and community impact? If it is still financial value to the landowner, should architects be paid in relation to how much money they actually save the client rather than spend in terms of the amount of building work which needs to be done?
THE AGE OF DEEP RETROFIT AND REIMAGINED EXISTING BUILDINGS
I was asked to predict the a key trend for 2023, by Homebuilding & Renovating Magazine. The one trend I can see being high on all those self-build enthusiasts list this year, is deep retrofit of existing buildings.
We are already seeing this in the self-build industry, where homeowners and those investing in new properties and projects are looking to invest in the fabric of their buildings so that they can save energy in the long term. This is in response to the challenging times we face, with energy costs, rising inflation and how this impacts on construction costs.
So this may include new triple glazed windows, insulating the fabric of a building first, existing walls, roof and floor. It makes sense to put investment into the existing envelope of the building first, before investing in the interiors such as kitchens, bathrooms, lighting and decoration. There is a move to upgrade building fabric now, so that money can be saved and put aside for further improvements on buildings.
We are working with many clients on existing buildings and a phased approach or meanwhile delivery is becoming more prevalent where funds are prioritised to invest on upgrading elements, prior to delivery of perhaps new elements and extensions. In some cases, extensions may be built up to a shell level, so insulated and weather tight, until funds become available to complete and install finishes.
I think we will see a continuing trend for client’s and architects, being smart, taking these moves in order that the continuing pressure on budgets energy, material costs and interest rates, will simple mean that this has come out of a necessity, to have a clear strategy of how you plan your self-build refurbishment, sourcing and prioritised affordable materials, in an age where materials are constantly increasing.
