Are new ‘Green’ buildings necessary?

Before we progress too go too much further with this blog I feel I have to state my position on the whole sustainable issue. In the building industry at the present time there is much ‘lip service’ given to sustainable design, there is also some great ideas that have come from the thing about the need to conserve energy and protect the environment. This said, we must not forget that playing a part in the industry, or requesting a building to be designed and built on your behalf; we are fundamentally consuming products and having an impact on the environment! If we can design building to consume less, or even feed a little energy back into the grid, this is great. First,however, the question must be asked, do we need a new building at all? or there ways of reworking our current house or property to suit our need for today and into the future? not simple renovation or extension, but radical rethinking.

The difficulty faced is that it is easier and cheaper to just knock down and rebuild…… but is this the best solution? In my opinion a building is like the proverbial glass of wine, they do get better with age. They do change over time to suit the needs of different occupants and for this they grow richer. There is nothing that can replace the character gained through passage of time. This will means excepting that it may not look like the latest and greatest ‘Macmansion‘, but hey, ‘I think that is a good thing’. I do mean we take any house, whether it is a fine architect design from the turn of the century to the cheap 1980’s developer special. Working with and building on the character of the existing building will always offer a richness and expression never achieved from a blank canvas. There is no need to be nostalgic about the past, in fact richness could come in the form of blatant disrespect of it, either way, it still makes up a layer of depth to the project.

If we could first take our existing homes and work with them, it will also benefit the environment. This is not the easy option, nor often the cheapest option, but it is the best option. If this means pulling apart the existing house piece by piece and rebuilding it with the same materials, why not, what a great driver for an idea of a home. This could well become a work of art.