Episide 30. Retrofit expert Bob Prewett describes how a client’s brief for an ‘extreme retrofit’ in 2008 gave him ‘something bigger than architecture to think about’. Divided between London and Wells, the ten-strong Prewett Bizley Architects has a portfolio of completed retrofit projects that achieve upwards of 70% energy savings and regularly monitors its buildings to understand how they operate over time.
Although a founder member of the Passivhaus Trust, Bob observes that ‘we rarely push all the way to Passivhaus which is a bit strong for many heritage buildings’. Self-taught when retrofit resources, training and exemplar projects were scant, Bob explains the many ways architects can upskill today.
Hawkins\Brown’s Louisa Bowles on what net zero actually means
Editional Studio on persuading domestic clients to build less and retrofit more
ACAN founding member Sara Edmonds on ramping up domestic retrofit
John Christophers on his zero carbon home, which generates a 40% energy surplus
Lessons from AHMM’s Stirling Prize-winning Burntwood School building performance study
Judit Kimpian on why building performance studies are crucial for net zero
AKT II’s Hanif Kara on CLT virtue signalling, concrete innovations and Bloomberg’s embodied carbon
Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum on why the climate crisis is not a north-south problem
Philippe Madec on combining sustainable development with Frampton’s critical regionalism
How France is pioneering contemporary architecture built from straw, hemp and thatch
Why France is increasingly building with bio-renewable materials – with Dominique Gauzin-Müller
Justin McGuirk on the Design Museum’s Waste Age exhibition and Kat Scott on the Architects Declare Practice Guide
Rachel Hoolahan on material passports for retrofit
Duncan Baker-Brown on mining the Anthropocene
COP26: Glasgow‘s plans for carbon neutrality by 2030 + ACAN‘s COP26 fringe activism
COP26 pop-up activism and Glasgow’s new climate resilient public realm
RIBA Climate Special with Simon Allford and Gary Clark
The 21st-century village: Sarah Featherstone and Jennifer Ross on VeloCity
Rewilding expert Isabella Tree on why a 3,500-home development must be stopped
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