Giving a new life to an existing building, bringing it from its past to the present and preparing it for the future, is one of the goals of architectural rehabilitation. “It’s not just about preserving, but about intelligently and responsibly transforming our built environment”, summarises Joaquín Torres, professor at the Higher Technical School of Architecture of the University of Navarra and expert in building rehabilitation.
Moreover, this is something that is becoming increasingly common in the world of architecture: what twenty years ago was a secondary or marginal activity in the building sector has become “front-line, with a broader, more comprehensive and strategic approach”, he argues. The data proves him right: according to the forecasts collected in the Observatory 360 prepared by the Arthursen consultancy for the National Association of Ceramics and Construction Materials (Andimac), visas for rehabilitation will increase by 7.5% in 2025 compared to the previous year. In a country with a stock of used housing whose average age is 43.5 years, the increase makes sense.
What is building rehabilitation (today)
What does rehabilitating a building involve nowadays? “It integrates aspects such as energy rehabilitation, environmental sustainability, the health and well-being of people, as well as the social and urban dimension, considering strategies that go beyond the building, at the neighbourhood or city scale, and sometimes introducing a regenerative character”, explains Torres. Ultimately, it is about “extending the life of built heritage” and doing so by responding to current challenges: climatic, technological and social.
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This approach differs from the more traditional one, the one used to address this type of work a couple of decades ago, which focused more on specific interventions. “They were technical issues, involving the adaptation of facilities or years of repairs”, he says. Now the aim is to give the building a new lease of life, but only if such an intervention makes sense. “It’s not about rehabilitating on principle or rebuilding out of inertia: it’s about making the smartest decision for each case”, the expert says.
When to rehabilitate? This action is preferable, Torres explains, when the building has a structural, architectural or urban, material or significant value (“not to mention cultural or historical”), that deserves to be preserved. It is also preferable if the existing building allows for an efficient upgrade. “Today we know that maintaining the existing structure allows us to save between 40 and 60% of the carbon emissions of a new construction, and that has a big impact on the ecological transition”, he explains.
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In this sense, the architect recommends always considering rehabilitation before discarding a building. In doing this exercise, it is also important to look for the potential of the construction: “to recognise what is good in the built environment that has come down to us and project it into the future”.
Sustainability as a pillar of rehabilitation
If there is one key word that can be applied to most architectural rehabilitation projects today, it is sustainability. In a context like the current climate emergency, reforms involve not only adapting the building to be, for example, more energy efficient (even becoming passive), but also seeking a construction process that has a minimal impact. “If we want to meet the decarbonization goals we have committed to, it can only happen in conjunction with innovation and the development of industrialisation in construction”, Torres explains.
One of the ways to achieve this decarbonization will be through deeper renovations, which can help to reach near-zero or even positive emissions building standards. “In them, aspects related to the use of the materials and their circularity. “Also with the use of digital tools ( BIM, BEM, digital twins…) and data science that allow for better management of the construction process and the subsequent behaviour of the building in use”, Torres explains.
This trend toward so-called “deep renovations” is coupled with the need to “increase the architectural quality of the interventions”. What exactly does architectural quality mean? According to the expert, in addition to fighting against the homogenization of cities, “full of buildings clad inaccurately”, it is also about focusing on “indoor air quality, natural lighting, thermal and acoustic comfort and, ultimately, improving the health of the occupants”.
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Finally, this rethinking of building rehabilitation is also part of the broader trend of rethinking cities. “We need to think beyond the building: an urban regeneration strategy, linked to sustainable mobility, the reincorporation of vegetation, the design of public space and social cohesion, through collaborative and community projects, with new financing and governance models”, he points out.
Programs and public funding for building rehabilitation
The importance of architectural rehabilitation, almost as a trend in itself, is evident when observing the various programs and grant lines that have been launched in recent years to promote this type of project. An example is the comprehensive residential rehabilitation plan included in the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan (PRTR): Implementation of the Spanish Urban Agenda: Urban rehabilitation and regeneration plan. Endowed with 3.42 billion euros, under the Next Generation funds, it includes aid for the comprehensive rehabilitation of buildings, for the rehabilitation of neighbourhoods or for the preparation of the book of the existing building.
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Another European example is the Renovation Wave, which architect Adrian Krezlik of Estudio Dosta Tec described at Connections by Finsa as “an European directive with incentives to renovate the entire building stock across Europe, aiming to double the annual rates of energy renovation over the next ten years, or programs designed to improve the energy consumption of homes without compromising comfort and quality of life”. This “renovation wave” aims to reach 35 million renovated buildings by 2030.
New European Bauhaus also promotes renovations (so much so that some people ask if Renovation Wave is one of their initiatives; it isn’t), focusing not only on sustainability, but also on inclusion and beauty.
