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BUILDING RENOVATION PROJECTS SUSTAINABILITY: SPACE
EFFICIENCY INDICATOR FOR EARLY DECISION MAKING
ABSTRACT
Choosing renovation over new construction has recently emerged for improving built environment
sustainability. Targets for building renovation are in all international agendas, and the market is
reacting to this call. Existing buildings represent most future building stock, and thus sustainability
impacts – environmental, social and economic – will still be imposed by those.
When undertaking renovation projects, decisions must be made whether carrying out minor
interventions or entailing great alterations and demolitions. Therefore, inspection and diagnosis of
exiting building should be the first sept towards renovation design. This step avoids unnecessary
demolitions and indicates the main pathologies needing to be conquered. Beyond this step,
sustainability analysis should go along with design, as early as possible, to guide decision making
towards sustainability goals.
In this sense, this work presents a framework of how could a tool to aid early stage design decision
making towards sustainable goals in renovation projects, be developed. Space efficiency is
presented as an example of a sustainability indicator. This indicator is an adaptation of a previously
developed indicator for early stage design of new single family buildings. Improved space quality
and efficiency can drive attractiveness and contribute to improve comfort and well-being; while lower
environmental life cycle impact can improve existing natural environment, reducing the negative
impacts of building.
Space efficiency, is not a hotspot of sustainability assessments, not even for renovation projects.
However, it plays an important role in inhabitants’ life quality and comfort, beyond the environmental
related aspects which are more commonly mentioned. To adapt this indicator, a parametric study to
existing renovation projects was needed. It was possible to verify that, renovation actions often
improve net internal and usable area, keeping the same gross floor area. This shows that, even if
need for space is not a driven force for renovation, it is often considered during design.
Keywords:
space efficiency, sustainability, early stage design, building renovation
1. INTRODUÇÃO
Os edifícios contribuem para um consumo mundial a larga escala de recursos, produção de resíduos
e têm grande impacto no PIB e emprego industrial (FIEC, 2016). A população passa a maior parte
do seu tempo dentro de edifícios. Os edifícios promovem abrigo e segurança para além de todas
as outras utilizações inerentes ao próprio. A cultura e a qualidade de vida estão diretamente ligadas
à qualidade dos edifícios e da sua arquitetura. O património construído é então uma parte integrante
da herança sociocultural. Além disso, a maior parte do edificado existente, dentro de cinquenta
anos, ainda estará presente e funcional no quotidiano. A construção nova, mesmo que sustentável,
tem um baixo potencial de contribuição para a sustentabilidade do parque habitacional, enquanto o
edificado existente tem grande potencial para contribuir para essa sustentabilidade geral (Mansfield,
2009). Devem ser encontrados novas utilidades socioeconómicas para os edifícios com herança
cultural de forma a manter um desenvolvimento local e ciclos de atividade sustentáveis (Teller;
Bond, 2002).
Dados recentes do mercado revelam uma tendência em escolher projetos de reabilitação em
detrimento de projetos de construção nova. Ainda assim, Portugal tem um milhão de edifícios a
requerer reabilitação e os centros históricos das cidades são uma constante nestas necessidades