Refurbishment and its advantages

Chapter 1

Introduction

In modern times there's been a large upsurge in the refurbishment of old and vacant properties in preference to creating new builds. Some of the reasons for this may be:

• legislative reasons i. e. if a house is a guarded structure and there is no choice but to refurbish it.
• During the increase there was a lot money that folks could afford to own a second home and spent money in refurbishing older properties with the motive of selling to produce a profit or booking.
• Or advantages to be gained by deciding on refurbishment rather than a new build job.

1. 1 What is Refurbishment?

There are lots of meanings for refurbishment, for example "Refurbishment is the process of major maintenance and slight repair of an item, both aesthetically and mechanically. "

A very extensive definition of the word is 'work performed to a preexisting building'. However, refurbishment plans can take many forms and could be performed for a variety of different reasons.

Another meaning for refurbishment is Extending the useful life of existing properties through the version of these basic varieties to provide a new or modified version of the initial structure. (Riley, Cotgrave 2005)

The amount of work that's needed is in order to accomplish these definitions stated above will be very different on different assignments, and will hinge on:

• The condition of the prevailing structure
• The shape and size of the existing structure
• The located area of the structure
• The designed use of the structure
• The amount of work required to the existing framework to enable conformity with current Building Regulations
• Whether the building is detailed, either who
• Adequate financing for the works
• Whether or not the works can be executed safely.

(Riley, Cotgrave 2005)

Some other conditions, which are used instead of, and also with the term refurbishment, are:

1. Conversion - The usage of the building may be improved but the composition will remain the same.
2. Renovation - The procedure of repairing or enhancing a structure
3. Restoration - The procedure of taking a building back again to its original state
4. Retrofit - the utilization of new and more modern systems in an existing building.

Refurbishment is difficult to define as it could include one or all of the above elements, but as the dissertation goes on there will be different facets of refurbishment discussed thus leading to a greater knowledge of the term.

1. 2 The benefits of Refurbishment

1. 2. 1 The availability of buildings suited to refurbishment

Advances in modern day lifestyle, in conditions of work and leisure, have led to larger amounts of buildings becoming obsolete and redundant. In place it has produced a sizable number of complexes which are well suited for refurbishment tasks, or even transformation to suit new uses. (See Appendix A, Fig 1 - Fig 6)

1. 2. 2 The quality of buildings suitable for refurbishment

In a sizable amount of the circumstances, the properties themselves are structurally audio and well constructed, this, for some individuals is commonly deciding factor in favour of refurbishment. You must never judge a publication by its cover is a common term but ordinarily a book with a poor cover is never opened up. Yet, in some times when the complexes are surveyed in detail, and, the actual developers and purchasers are interacting with well designed and structurally sound buildings. These complexes in turn give a perfect basis for refurbishment to be completed.

1. 2. 3 Shorter Development Period

Among the main features of refurbishing a building before a complete new build is that in most cases, new accommodation comes in a much shorter time frame.

If a total demolition and engineering of a framework is planned rather than refurbishing, the composition then generally it will require a a lot longer time period to carry out.

This might not exactly always be the case, for example, if the building must be structurally changed and also if the building is unstable then it could prove a demolition and new build would be the best option as refurbishing a building such as this would be very time consuming and expensive.

In basic, it is assumed that generally enough time which is spent on a refurbishment job (including pre agreement planning and planning permission) is merely a 50 % to three quarters of the time which is needed to complete a demolish and new build engineering.

Because of that time period saved on the refurbishment of the framework there are financial rewards such as; the shorter development period reduces the expense of financing the design as well as the client will get the building faster which he subsequently receives revenue sooner from renting etc (Highfield, 2000)

1. 4 Planning agreement is not necessarily necessary

A big positive aspect of refurbishing a residence or building is that in some situations planning agreement is not needed, for example. Under the Planning and Development Work 2000, planning authorization is required for 'development'. However, Section 4 (h) of the Function says that "the carrying out of works for the maintenance, improvement or other alteration of any building which have an effect on only the inside of the building, or do not materially have an impact on the external appearance of the building' will not constitute development". (www. irishstatutebook. ie).

Works like these do not constitute development. Therefore a residence or building has been restored internally and there is nothing being carried out externally of the home then there may be no need to get planning authorization for the works.

There are exceptions to the rule of course, such as mentioned in section 4h of the Take action which claims that if the use category of the building changes then planning permission is required. For example if someone chooses that it desires to refurbish the inside of a house to become shop or pub but no works are being completed externally, planning permission will still be required. (M Taggart, 2008)

1. 5 The large amount of structures available for refurbishment.

Because of the frequent innovations in technology, design, quality, appearance and performance in the building industry, people's needs for homes and properties have also developed with the market leaving many set ups which are lacking in these areas discontinued, obsolete and redundant. As almost all of these houses and structures are structurally reasonable and built in great locations they offer a lot of potential opportunities for the public to undertake refurbishment tasks.

Once it was assumed that it was necessary to move into towns and cities in order to be closer to everything such as outlets, factories, amenities etc, and for this reason many people decided to leave the countryside and move closer to the cities. This kept many properties unfilled in the countryside. Nowadays however the times have transformed and people want to move away from all the busyness of towns and cities, and are instead moving away to the serenity and serenity of the countryside. The large number of left behind properties in the countryside provides ideal opportunities for folks to refurbish the properties into modern homes in lovely environment, and then for a lower price than demolishing and rebuilding. (Highfield, 2000)

1. 6 Environmental aspects

As we all know, these days we could constantly reading about the consequences, problems and concerns of global warming. The experts keep revealing us that it's due to world's huge use of energy we have to re-use, re-place and re-cycle our present resources much more so as to decrease our rate of burning up our energy resources and slow down global warming.

Whenever a building is recycled, by opting for refurbishment alternatively than demolishing and rebuilding the composition then a sizable amount of energy is being saved by avoiding the need to remove recycleables and convert them into a replacement building. Smaller range refurbishment, for example; when the existing framework and the exterior building envelope are maintained, will clearly deliver the best energy savings, but even the more drastic renovations, where larger scale refurbishment occurs involving the structural aspects and the refurbishing of the external leaf will usually use up noticeably less energy resources than the decision to demolish and repair.

(Highfield, 2000)

Even though this might only seem like a very small cutting down of energy set alongside the overall consumption of energy, if a lot of assignments are refurbished rather than being demolished and rebuilt then a whole lot of energy could be kept.

1. 7 Aesthetic/ Architectural advantages

Another benefit of choosing a restoration job is the cosmetic and architectural advantages that can be obtained if attractive older properties are chosen to refurbish. The explanation for it is because a whole lot of older homes and buildings were designed with highly expensive materials, natural materials, high quality and skilled craftsmanship. Many of these factors donate to an extremely attractive faade to the surface and interior of the building. A good example of the architectural quality an more aged building has is when you see a vintage house, with the exterior leaf of the home being made using chop limestone

(Highfield, 2000)

If a refurbishment task is undertaken on a residence or building that already has highly architectural and visual characteristics such as

• Skilled workmanship
• Antique furniture and fittings
• Highly attractive faade
• In the vicinity of other architecturally attractive properties
• Expensive materials

Then these qualities combined with the proper undertaking of the refurbishment work, could add to the financial value of the home or building when the works are finally completed.

1. 8 The financial cost involved in the refurbishment project.

On renovation projects the overall cost of financing the actual structure will mainly rely upon the following factors.

• The cost of the renovation works
• The length of time of the scheme
• The level of rates of interest prevailing at the time of the scheme

As we well know the financial cost of any kind of construction job is of huge importance, so in a renovation job the financial aspect can have a significant advantage over other options. In a big number of reconstruction projects the total interest payable on the amount of money borrowed will be significantly less than that for a fresh build due to lower overall costs and the shorter development times of restoration and refurbishment tasks. Because of just how that the interest rates are increasing before year or two it would verify much cheaper to choose a reconstruction option

(Highfield, 2000)

1. 9 Availability of existing infrastructure

When a refurbishment task is being carried out, the contractors can, in a lot of cases, use the existing infrastructures, which can be set up, such as:

1. Water services
2. Electricity
3. Gas mains
4. Waste normal water connection
5. Cables and telecommunication

These infrastructures would not be accessible if for example a new build was chosen over a green field site. The availability of these infrastructures can be very beneficial economically to the client as there is no need for the services, which are aforementioned above to be installed

Other than the direct cost savings that are being achieved, there are indirect cost savings to be performed such as, the development period being further shortened because of the infrastructure already being set up whereas this time around saving would not be available if no infrastructure was in place.

References

BOOKS

Highfield, David (2000) Refurbishing and Upgrading of Complexes, E & F spoon

Taggart Martin (2008) Lecture notes on Refurbishment

Riley, Cotgrave (2005). The Refurbishment and Maintenance of Structures, Macmillan

WEB SITES

• http://www. irishstatutebook. ie/2000/en/act/pub/0030/sec0004. html#parti-sec4