Unveiling the Process of Sustainable Renovation

Abstract

Renovation processes are complex and there is a risk of underestimating architectural, cultural, and social values in favor of exterior and interior upgrading, energy efficiency and financing. A synthesized, systematic process is needed for making decisions about renovation measures. The aim of this paper is to survey decision-making procedures aimed for sustainable renovation. We inventory existing tools and methodologies based on (a) a literature review and (b) results from a workshop with participants from the Swedish buildings sector, academia, and other stakeholders. Our results show that there are many tools available but few seem to have reached acceptance in renovation. None of the more established methods and tools addresses a complexity that balances material and immaterial values and they are often too specific. There is a need for simplified tools, especially for evaluating more intangible, experienced values. Instead of one comprehensive tool preferably a methodology for renovation should be developed with references to different tools. In the building sector, renovation should be considered a service-minded process rather than a merely technical one as often is the case in new construction. There is a need to clarify the process and the meaning of the terms, and that need is even more urgent when it comes to the values that are more difficult to define.

A Tool to Evaluate Different Renovation Alternatives with Regard to Sustainability

“…Although a few of these, such as the Retrofit Advisor [3], consider all the required aspects, it is not possible to adapt them to include parameters such as building characteristics and climatic conditions, as these tools are developed based on national conditions. There are tools, which aid in performing economic, environmental, technical, and (to some degree) social analyses, but few include all of these dimensions, and it is often difficult to gain information on the assessment of individual parameters [4]. A workshop with representatives of housing companies, architects, consultants, contractors, and tenants' associations was arranged in order to learn more about how various organizations make decisions regarding renovation measures.…”

From Tool-Making to Tool-Using – And Back: Rationales for Adoption and Use of LCC

“…Sustainable renovation is seen as a key for meeting goals related to, for example, decarbonization (Mjörnell, Boss, Lindahl, & Molnar, 2014) and reduced total energy consumption of buildings (Ástmarsson, Jensen, & Maslesa, 2013). Renovation is currently also a major challenge for Swedish real estate and property owners since there is great need to transform an aging, energyinefficient and unsustainable building stock in an economically feasible way (Thuvander, Femenias, Mjörnell, & Meiling, 2012;Palm & Reindl, 2016). There is therefore an increased need for life cycle perspectives during renovation processes (Olsson, Malmqvist, & Glaumann, 2016).…”

Sustainable Renovation Strategy in the Swedish Million Homes Programme: A Case Study

“…Renovation and sustainability have been studied from a number of different perspectives. Several authors have developed general tools and models that can be used to evaluate renovation policies from a sustainability perspective [10][11][12][13][14]. Renovation issues can also be discussed from a broader philosophical perspective and in relation to theories of justice, as is done in [15,16].…”

“…Extra Renovation Cost 17,500 Extra rent increase per apartment per year 130 Present value of rent increases 1110 Difference in value at the end of year 10 17,500 Present value of difference in exit value 13,000…”