Historic Buildings: Our Greatest and Most Undervalued Asset in Green Building
by Kirsten Nelson-Johnson
Historic preservationists have long touted the environmental and sustainable aspects of their work, and now that work is beginning to reflect in the LEED green building rating system. Not only do historic buildings educate about history and help organizations connect to their communities; but they most often feature beautiful architecture worthy of preservation. With their antiqueness, historic buildings present a unique set of challenges for their maintenance and renovation. Unlike most new-construction projects, historical renovations often hold surprises. In planning and carrying out historical renovations, multiple ratings systems and codes must be considered by managers teaming with architects and contractors.
The biggest challenge is maintaining historical integrity while incorporating modern accessibility pre-requisites, fire-code compliance requirements, and the addition of LEED certification standards.
Hazardous-material abatement can also raise renovation costs considerably, so it is critical that managers identify all such materials early on in the planning stages. Builders must be able to think on their feet during a historical building renovation project, as well as calculate how they are going to deal with situations and problems not present in new construction.
In the past, historic preservationists have supported the general concept of sustainable design – noting that re-using an older building is the ultimate kind of recycling and reuse. However, many are wary of the ways in which the green-building community stresses new technologies and novel materials over preservation. On the flip-side, sustainable-design advocates have been frustrated by preservation standards and guidelines that they feel are outdated and inflexible.
They see the major challenges of green historical preservation as:
- The lack of coordinated public policy and investment to encouraging green and historic initiatives.
- The inflexibility of green-building guidelines and preservation standards
- The cultural short-term focus on gains and "disposal architecture"
- The perceived additional costs of green preservation in contrast with new construction.
Without clear guidance, green preservation projects can run the risk of becoming a disarray of quasi-historical green design. However, when buildings are restored correctly utilizing sustainable design guidelines the results can be stunning.
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