Babangida, I; Olubodun, F and Kangwa, J (2012) Building refurbishment: Holistic evaluation of barriers and opportunities. In: Smith, S D (ed.) Proceedings of 28th Annual ARCOM Conference, 3-5 September 2012, Edinburgh, UK.
Abstract
With the significant reduction in the number of construction projects due to the economic meltdown in the last three years, which is feared, may continue well into this second decade, the refurbishment of old and existing buildings may be perceived as a strategic avenue through which property owners could secure value for money. It is common knowledge that aged buildings are constantly growing in number with a concomitant growing pressure to maintain their utilitarian values in the face of changing technology, legislation and sustainability issues. Indeed, the majority of buildings in the UK pre-date the emergence of the modern concepts of sustainable development. Wholesale demolition of these buildings can be quite unhealthy from an environmental protection perspective as it causes heavy pollution as well as placing more demand upon depleting resources. Nevertheless, the demand for sustainable, energy efficient buildings from both regulators and occupiers is increasing despite the recession. However, is the inclination to refurbish rather than demolition and new-build becoming stronger? This paper explores the barriers and opportunities for building refurbishment schemes as an economically motivated activity through which the performance and value of a property can be enhanced. It is based on comprehensive literature review as part of on-going doctoral research programme on risk structure in building refurbishment schemes. It concluded that refurbishment is substantially cheaper than demolition and new-build and that a refurbished building can be as functionally efficient as new-build.
| Item Type: | Conference Paper (Paper) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | existing buildings; refurbishment schemes; sustainable development |
| Index terms: | construction project, energy-efficient building, pollution, programme, value-for-money, sustainable development, placing, emergence, building refurbishment, face, recession, regulator, legislation, becoming, literature review, environmental protection, property owner |
| Subjects: | environmental health, legal systems, production management, health safety and environment, asset management, economic analysis, systems engineering, concrete and cementitious materials, data analysis and analytics, project controls, sustainable design, environmental engineering, philosophical process, evaluation, sociology, psychology |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Construction Materials, Stakeholder Management, Sustainability, Engineering Principles, Organizational Design, Health and Safety, Project Management, Legal Issues, Value Management, Business Strategy, Time Control |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here