Conserve, refurb or replace?

New BRE report provides guidelines for deciding whether to demolish or refurbish the UK's older housing stock.

Hundreds of thousands of Victorian and Edwardian homes could be saved from demolition following a new report into the feasibility of refurbishment from the Building Research Establishment.

The report is described as a blueprint for those deciding whether to conserve, restore or demolish the country's stock of Victorian and Edwardian housing. "It's estimated that this constitutes between 17% and 20% of the total, or between 4 million and 4.5 million homes," said Tim Yates, director of the research project.

"Renovating and refurbishing older housing stock involves more complex decisions than might be immediately apparent," he added. The restoration must be economically viable and the resulting homes must be energy efficient and easy to maintain. The desirability of a location in terms of transport links and shops and schools were also key issues.

"We found there could be good grounds for renovation in terms of one aspect of the project - for example, the potential to make the property environmentally efficient - but big drawbacks in terms of something like location," said Yates.

Yet a case study in Nelson, Lancashire, found that seemingly intransigent problems, such as oversupply of terraced housing, an investment backlog and a declining town centre could be overcome through refurbishment.

The result, according to the report, was a popular, sustainable, and economically viable scheme that resulted in a £25,000 rise in prices for two-bedroom houses.

"What this shows is there is no simple answer as to whether refurbishment or renewal is the best option. But what our guidelines will do is provide a standard methodology, which will make comparisons and decision-making much easier," Yates concluded.

* Communities secretary Ruth Kelly has blocked the compulsory purchase of several homes in Darwen, near Blackburn, prior to their intended demolition under the government-funded Elevate East Lancashire housing-market renewal programme.

In doing so, Kelly said she was backing a report from a planning inspector and said it did not reflect a shift in policy away from demolition. "In accepting the inspector's recommendations, the secretary of state emphasised that this decision relates to this particular proposed compulsory purchase order in Darwen.

"It is without prejudice to any future similar proposals elsewhere in the East Lancashire HMR Pathfinder area, which will be assessed on their own merits," said a letter accompanying Kelly's decision.

[Contract Journal, 23 August 2006, p 5]