In recent news, the RIBA has urged the government to stop the demolition of buildings, which plays a key factor in contributing to severe climate change issues. It takes a lot of polluting energy to make cement, steel, and bricks, so instead of demolishing old homes and rebuilding with more pollution hungry materials, developers should be obliged to retrofit, refurbish, reassemble buildings and salvage materials arising from demolition.
This is a hot topic, especially as 50, 000 buildings a year are being demolished, accounting for 2/3 of British waste. Simon Alford, president of the RIBA, has expressed a view that we need to think of buildings as assets and conserve the energy from existing buildings through re-use. Our practice prides itself in the conservation and the re-use of listed buildings, and we all need to do our bit to combat this growing issue within the built environment.
Former Otter Mill Switchgear Building before its conversion into apartments. 
Present day Otter Mill.
