Meeting housing, climate and placemaking goals requires a broader focus than new build alone, including the reuse and retrofit of historic buildings.
While heritage buildings may require specialist approaches, the practical experience of Westminster (see below) and the national support provided by Historic England show that this work is far less daunting than it is often perceived to be.
Historic England’s recent analysis highlights the significant national opportunity presented by bringing vacant or underused historic buildings back into use.
We estimate that up to 670,000 new homes could be created by repairing or reusing historic residential or commercial property, contributing to the Government’s ambition to build 1.5 million homes.
The environmental case for reuse is equally compelling: constructing a new home can generate up to 13 times more embodied carbon than refurbishing an existing one, while retrofitting can deliver operational carbon reductions of between 59 per cent and 94 per cent compared with a typical Victorian house built around 1894.
The benefits of reuse extend beyond carbon and housing numbers.
Historic buildings are valued by communities, with 71 per cent of people surveyed saying local buildings are important to their quality of life.
Bringing historic buildings back into use helps to shape places where people want to live, supporting vibrant high streets and town centres.
Historic England is focused on unlocking opportunities to reuse historic buildings, particularly in high streets and town centres, by identifying barriers, securing investment and building partnerships.
- We are already working with local authorities and the LGA to develop these approaches and will explore them further at the LGA’s annual conference in Bournemouth from 7-9 July.
- See Historic England analysis and advice.
Delivering housing, climate and place outcomes
Councillor Ryan Jude (Lab) is a Member of Westminster City Council
Under our administration, delivering new housing for residents, ensuring we avoid unnecessary demolition, supporting our historic buildings on their decarbonisation journey, and bringing underused buildings back into use have all been key areas of focus.
Historic buildings are a defining feature of Westminster. With a significant proportion constructed pre 1919, 76 per cent of the city within conservation areas, and more than 11,000 listed buildings and structures, the challenge of retrofitting buildings with heritage significance is particularly acute.
Having served as a cabinet member for climate and culture, I am clear that achieving our environmental goals must include supporting historic buildings to be fit for the future.
The council is therefore prioritising retrofit over demolition by adopting a ‘Retrofit First’ planning policy to encourage the retention and upgrading of existing buildings when development proposals are being planned.
The work of our Retrofit Taskforce will help to accelerate progress. It is exploring how consent processes such as Heritage Partnership Agreements, Local Development Orders and Local Listed Building Consent Orders can enable retrofit measures to be used on historic properties at greater scale and pace.
We hope these approaches can support other councils facing similar challenges.
Westminster is also using its dense urban setting to support low carbon heat infrastructure for historic buildings. This will help buildings that are harder to retrofit to move away from gas-fired heating and transition to low-energy, resilient and healthy buildings.
- Find out more about the work of Westminster’s Retrofit Taskforce.