Reuse, Retrofit, Recycle
2 Formal CPD Points
As designers, builders, and engineers we know that the construction industry is a major contributor to the environmental pressures the world is facing. We also know that to reach the goal of net zero carbon by 2050 we must find the most sustainable ways to deliver projects and guide our clients along this path.
Repurposing, retrofitting or “adaptive reuse” of existing buildings is one way for designers to achieve sustainable outcomes and generate commercial and social returns on their projects.
According to the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction 2018 Global Status Report, 11% of global emissions are attributed to building materials and construction and a further 32% of emissions attributed to “industry” includes building finishes and equipment.
As our property operations start to transition to decarbonized energy sources, the embodied carbon within our existing and new structures will become a vital opportunity that must be embraced to address climate change and resource depletion.
While adaptive reuse provides possibilities for sustainable outcomes, we also can look for opportunities in the recycling and manufacturing of by-products on buildings by looking closely at how to deal with waste.
Materials used in the creation of buildings create waste which is sent to landfill, or other unsustainable disposal methods.
Internationally recognised UNSW Materials Scientist, Professor Veena Sahajwalla, believes that … “waste itself, can, and should be seen, as a resource if we want more sustainable outcomes in managing building materials and waste impact…”
Join us next month for a CPD webinar, delivered by leading design and engineering experts, who will describe how they have adapted existing building structures and how these projects have positively influenced sustainable outcomes.
Some of the areas our expert panel will present on include:
Adapting existing building structures whilst enhancing performance and functionality.
Case studies of adaptive reuse, Broadmeadows Town Hall (Kerstin Thompson Architects) Espy Hotel & Garden State Hotel, Melbourne (Techne Architects), & architectural landscaping projects Cockatoo Island clifftop walk, NSW and Bungarribee Park, NSW (JMD Design).
Understanding the decision-making process around deciding to reuse/demolish.
What designers/ project stakeholders need to be doing to make sure that something can be retrofitted.
Circular economy principles of transforming building waste products into materials for remanufacture.
Understanding why materials are becoming more important to decarbonise.
Cost to attend is $90 per person plus GST. Save 10% when you buy 2 or more tickets. Purchase includes access to live studio recorded webinar, course notes, MP4 recording of the session and CPD certificate
Broadmeadows Town Hall _ KTA - Photo by John Gollings
Brenda Kingston
Director, Sustainability, WSP
Brenda Kingston is a Sustainability Director within WSP and has over 24 years’ experience as a consultant specializing is sustainability and building physics in a range of building sectors. As lead sustainability consultant or director for a range of projects including office, health, laboratory and community projects, Brenda has brought vision and applied science-based approaches to achieving high performing sustainable outcomes for a range of projects which have been recognised with architectural or engineering awards. With a particular passion for low energy, resilient and healthy spaces, Brenda’s recent projects include adaptive reuse elements, such as the Glenroy Community Hub, and Nunawading community hub.
Kerstin Thompson
KTA Architects
Kerstin Thompson is Principal of KTA and Adjunct Professor at RMIT and Monash Universities. A committed design educator she regularly lectures and runs studios at various schools across Australia and New Zealand. KTA’s redevelopment of the Broadmeadows Town Hall won the 2020 Victorian Architecture Medal. Noting the greenest building as one already built (Carl Elefante) Kerstin explains the strategic thinking required for transformation with limited means and generous civic ambitions. KTA applied a spectrum of change to the existing fabric to determine the extent of work required to unlock the site’s potential. T The outcome is a form of advocacy for a better way - celebrating the life expectancy & material longevity of The Pink Elephant, where cultural memory too is a beneficiary. Kerstin explains how to extract mutual benefit between a project/client and its situation/neighbours and shows how this leverage from the official project brief can be utilised to enrich and care for others and the environment.
Professor Veena Sahajwalla
Founding Director, UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT Centre)
Professor Sahajwalla is an internationally recognised materials scientist, engineer, and inventor revolutionising recycling science. She is renowned for pioneering the high temperature transformation of waste in the production of a new generation of ‘green materials’ at the UNSW Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT Centre) where she is Founding Director. Professor Sahajwalla is the inventor of polymer injection technology, known as green steel, an eco-friendly process for using recycled tyres in steel production. Professor Sahajwalla’s presentation will provide examples of how we can take so called “end of life” waste products and reform them into materials for remanufacturing, including technologies which can transform waste, such as glass and textiles into ‘green ceramics’ for the built environment, and plastics from e-waste and other waste sources into filament as a resource for manufacturers and other users for 3D printing.
Nick Travers
Director, Techne Architects
Nick Travers is driven to innovate and meet challenges head on. Nick thrives on the complexity of the architect’s role and is stimulated by a thorough discourse around the philosophical and practical elements of his discipline. Through sharp examination he decisively pushes Technē to reach the highest possible level for his team, partners, and clients. In his role as Technē director, Nick knows the best design occurs when ideas are challenged and shaped collaboratively. Over Technē’s 18 years, this belief has formed the cornerstone of the studio’s culture and is evident in each project. Nick gained experience from Melbourne to Berlin before founding Technē with Justin. His starting point for projects is free hand drawings that give form to his thoughts, functioning as a source of inspiration. This unguarded approach is balanced with a pragmatic attention to detail that promises each moment in a project timeline is handled with dedication. Nick will be presenting on his projects The Espy Hotel located on the St. Kilda foreshore and Garden State Hotel located in Flinders Lane, Melbourne. Both projects are terrific examples of creative design through reuse of existing structures and materials
Anton James
Director, JMD Design Architects
Anton, who trained as a landscape architect and visual artist, has over the past 25 years designed projects in Australia, Europe, and the USA. He and his partners founded JMD Design in 2008, the practice has been published widely and has won numerous awards and competitions, both in Australia and overseas. As a working director of the Sydney based practice, Anton has been actively involved in the design and documentation of wide range of projects that include metropolitan parks, a foreshore walk, regional playgrounds, urban renewal studies, urban plazas, public art, and the adaptive reuse of heritage infrastructure. Anton will be discussing sustainable design from a landscape architectural perspective, focusing on three projects undertaken by JMDdesign. Paddington Reservoir, a project completed in 2009 in collaboration with TZG Architects, Cockatoo Island Clifftop Walk, completed in 2008 and more recently Bungarribee Park, a project that is still underway. The three sites are vastly different in nature but are all examples of projects that speak to the value of enhancing what is already at the site, preserving the existing natural systems and enabling them to be adaptable to human use to create sustainable public spaces.
CPD Learning Outcomes - at the conclusion of this webinar attendees will be able to:
List 3 ways that Adaptive Reuse supports sustainable building outcomes
3.3 Design: Conceptual DesignDescribe 3 ways that waste can be recycled into materials for reuse
4.4. Design: Schematic DesignList 3 ways that Adaptive Reuse supports cultural and heritage
4.2 Design: Schematic DesignDescribe the link between circular economy principles and how material selections and adaptive reuse can support these outcomes
4.2 Design: Schematic Design