Back to the future: heritage Buildings, sustainability and adaptation in the Melbourne Central Business District

Wilkinson, S

Back to the future: heritage Buildings, sustainability and adaptation in the Melbourne Central Business District

Wilkinson, S

Permalink

Publisher:: Australia ICOMOS IInternational Council on Monuments and Sites)
Publication Type:: Journal Article
Citation:: Historic Environment, 2012, 24 (2), pp. 7 - 13
Issue Date:: 2012-01

Closed Access

	Filename	Description	Size
	2011008304OK.pdf		838.59 kB	Adobe PDF	View/Open

Copyright Clearance Process

Recently Added
In Progress
Closed Access

This item is closed access and not available.

Full metadata record

Field	Value	Language
dc.contributor.author	Wilkinson, S https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9266-1858	en_US
dc.date.issued	2012-01	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Historic Environment, 2012, 24 (2), pp. 7 - 13	en_US
dc.identifier.issn	0726-6715	en_US
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/10453/22558
dc.description.abstract	Humans have adapted buildings for almost as long as they have constructed shelters. With an acceptance of links between energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change, many perceive the built environment as a sector with high potential to reduce overall emissions. The built environment is responsible for around half of all greenhouse gas emissions and could play an important role in mitigating global warming. Many global cities aim to become carbon neutral, Melbourne leads the way with a target of neutrality by 2020 with others following such as San Francisco with a 2030 target. With only around two per cent of new buildings added to the existing stock each year, clearly the scope for emissions reductions lies largely within the adaptation of existing buildings. Buildings have to meet the needs of users and the wider community. As such, successful adaptation requires stakeholders to address social, technological, environmental, economic, and legislative criteria. Heritage buildings often account well in terms of embodied energy, though they may not be energy efficient. Whilst unlisted buildings present their own challenges and opportunities, heritage stock adds another layer of complexity to adaptation and sustainability practices, given the varied heritage-related restrictions on the nature and extent of retrofit measures that may reduce energy, water, and resource consumption. Concentrating on Melbourne, Australia, this paper addresses the question: what is the nature of adaptations in relation to heritage and non-heritage office building stock in the Central Business District (CBD)? The study analyses 1,548 commercial building adaptation events of heritage buildings, surveys the extent and nature of adaptations between 1998 and 2008, and identifies future considerations for integrating sustainability into heritage retrofits.	en_US
dc.publisher	Australia ICOMOS IInternational Council on Monuments and Sites)	en_US
dc.relation.ispartof	Historic Environment	en_US
dc.title	Back to the future: heritage Buildings, sustainability and adaptation in the Melbourne Central Business District	en_US
dc.type	Journal Article
utslib.citation.volume	2	en_US
utslib.citation.volume	24	en_US
utslib.for	1202 Building	en_US
utslib.for	1201 Architecture	en_US
utslib.for	2101 Archaeology	en_US
utslib.for	2103 Historical Studies	en_US
pubs.embargo.period	Not known	en_US
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/e-Press
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building/School of Built Environment
pubs.organisational-group	/University of Technology Sydney/Strength - CCDP - Contemporary Design Practice
utslib.copyright.status	closed_access
pubs.consider-herdc	true	en_US
pubs.issue	2	en_US
pubs.volume	24	en_US

Abstract:

Humans have adapted buildings for almost as long as they have constructed shelters. With an acceptance of links between energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change, many perceive the built environment as a sector with high potential to reduce overall emissions. The built environment is responsible for around half of all greenhouse gas emissions and could play an important role in mitigating global warming. Many global cities aim to become carbon neutral, Melbourne leads the way with a target of neutrality by 2020 with others following such as San Francisco with a 2030 target. With only around two per cent of new buildings added to the existing stock each year, clearly the scope for emissions reductions lies largely within the adaptation of existing buildings. Buildings have to meet the needs of users and the wider community. As such, successful adaptation requires stakeholders to address social, technological, environmental, economic, and legislative criteria. Heritage buildings often account well in terms of embodied energy, though they may not be energy efficient. Whilst unlisted buildings present their own challenges and opportunities, heritage stock adds another layer of complexity to adaptation and sustainability practices, given the varied heritage-related restrictions on the nature and extent of retrofit measures that may reduce energy, water, and resource consumption. Concentrating on Melbourne, Australia, this paper addresses the question: what is the nature of adaptations in relation to heritage and non-heritage office building stock in the Central Business District (CBD)? The study analyses 1,548 commercial building adaptation events of heritage buildings, surveys the extent and nature of adaptations between 1998 and 2008, and identifies future considerations for integrating sustainability into heritage retrofits.

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:

http://hdl.handle.net/10453/22558