Construction companies tend to focus on the materials that will be used in the construction of new buildings. These companies have to consider the environmental impact of these materials during their production and transportation. While these are important considerations for construction companies, they are secondary to the more basic question of whether construction of such buildings was actually required.
The best example of the environmental benefits of reuse and refurbishment over construction of new buildings is a loft conversion. The structure of the loft is already built and exists within the building. The foundations of the building were built decades ago, and the walls of the loft have been built with the energy of the building over that time. So, no further energy is required to construct extra foundations, walls, or to transport and manufacture the materials needed for the construction of the new room in the loft. For Loft Conversions Bristol, visit https://www.caineslofts.co.uk
In addition, the embodied carbon produced by building an equivalent new space is avoided altogether. The carbon that was used to build the existing roof has been spent. So, using that existing space for storing goods does not increase the amount of carbon in the environment; it instead reduces it by creating more space for storing those goods.
In addition to loft conversions, renovations can also be considered instead of demolishing a building altogether. In almost all cases, the most sustainable renovation of a building is one that renovates the existing structure as opposed to constructing new buildings.
The greenest building is the one that was never built. Instead of constructing a new building, the existing building was properly utilised.
