The adaptive reuse of industrial built heritage for residential purposes in England
England is experiencing a severe housing shortage with a need to build good quality affordable homes at scale and fast. A toxic combination of the rising population and falling housing delivery rates has resulted in a backlog of needs among people living in unsuitable accommodation and affordability pressures preventing people from accessing the housing they need.
The Conservative Government are committed to delivering 300,000 houses each year by the mid-2020s, which will provide at least 1,000,000 more houses over the next Parliament. To date, new housing output has continued to be well below estimates of the annual housing requirements, with supply steadily increasing year by year from a low point of 125,000 in 2012/13 and a high point of 243,000 in 2019/20, with supply declining to 212,000 in 2020/21 but increasing to 233,000 in 2021/22. Therefore, the demand for housing, whether new build, conversion, or renovation of existing structures, continues to increase.
Increasing housing is a key priority identified by the Conservative Government. A practical approach to help achieve this objective is through the adaptive reuse of redundant industrial buildings within the historic environment. The adaptive reuse of industrial buildings is a complex process that is gaining increasing acceptance as a method of safeguarding heritage assets in a rapidly developing urban environment.
When the original function of a building is no longer adequate to conserve the neglected heritage, reassigning its functionality through adaptation can preserve the heritage and secure its long-term future. The process of adaptive reuse from conception to completion is multifaceted and is dependent on a range of factors such as cultural, social, environmental, and economic parameters.
While poor adaptation poses a threat to heritage assets, new residential or commercial uses that enhance their historic character and significance are encouraged, connecting the present and future generations to the history, evolution, and culture of a place.
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Deenpreet is currently supervised by the following PhD supervisors:
- Dr Hocine Bougdah
- Katriona Byrne
