How buildings learn: Adaptation of low grade commercial buildings for sustainability in Melbourne

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to study the adaptation of low grade commercial buildings for sustainability in Melbourne. Informed adaptation of existing stock is imperative because the challenge of attaining sustainable development in the 21st century will be won or lost in urban areas. Local authorities promote adaptation to reduce building related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The City of Melbourne aims to retrofit 1,200 central business district (CBD) properties before 2020 as part of their carbon-neutral city strategy. Australian cities date from the early 1800s to the present day and the concepts of adaptation and evolution of buildings and suburbs is not as well-developed or entrenched as in other continents. As such, there is a pressing need for greater knowledge and awareness of what happens to buildings over time.

Design/methodology/approach

This research examines all building adaptation from 1998 to 2008 within the Melbourne CBD. This paper concentrates on the question: what is the pattern of adaptation within low grade office buildings over time? Using the Melbourne CBD as a case study, the research analysed all commercial building adaptations in Melbourne. Here a range of office building types are selected and profiled to discover what happened to them during the period and to ascertain what may be learned as a result to inform future adaptation strategies and policies.

Findings

Adaptation of existing buildings is vital to deliver the emission reductions required to transition to carbon-neutral urban settlements. In the short-term, it is opportune to capitalise on existing behaviour patterns in respect of adaptation and to “learn how buildings learn”, rather than seek to instigate major changes in behaviour.

Research limitations/implications

The researcher acknowledges that the depth of analysis for each individual case does not attain levels achieved through a purely qualitative approach to data collection and that this is a limitation of this method of data collection.

Practical implications

Examination of adaptation patterns showed that the events were similar regardless of age or location and typically involved multiple adaptations to separate areas within buildings such as office floors, lobbies and foyers. Such a pattern misses the opportunity to benefit from economies of scale or to incorporate more extensive adaptations to reduce environmental impact of the building as a whole.

Social implications

The patterns of ownership and relatively short-term multiple tenancies compound the piecemeal approach to adaptations in this sector of the market. Moving forward, a more holistic approach is required to optimise adaptation and sustainability benefits and to minimise unnecessary waste.

Originality/value

A real danger is that numerous adaptations over time which may seem “sustainable” within the context of the one adaptation may not be sustainable in the context of the entire building over the whole lifecycle or the city over the long–term, and this is a challenge we must attend to.

Citation

Jane Wilkinson, S. (2014), "How buildings learn: Adaptation of low grade commercial buildings for sustainability in Melbourne", Facilities, Vol. 32 No. 7/8, pp. 382-395. https://doi.org/10.1108/F-12-2012-0100