New RetroFirst film calls on public to fight tide of demolition

27 May 2021 · By AJ news desk

A new short film about the AJ’s RetroFirst campaign is voiced by architect and TV presenter George Clarke

The film, available on YouTube and edited by film-maker Jim Stephenson, promotes the RetroFirst campaign for the re-use of existing buildings.

In it, the well-known Channel 4 presenter explains how replacing the 50,000 buildings lost to demolition in the UK every year with new structures made of concrete and steel increases CO₂, with construction responsible for 10 per cent of UK emissions and almost two-thirds of all UK waste.

Despite this, the film points out, our planning system has yet to get to grips with this issue and our tax system perversely rewards the most wasteful type of construction while penalising the most sustainable. New-build housing is taxed at 0 per cent VAT, while most refurbishment work attracts the standard 20 per cent rate.

The AJ launched its RetroFirst campaign in 2019 after recognising the climate crisis, the wasteful nature of the construction industry and the potential of the circular economy to rapidly reduce emissions.

Will Hurst, AJ managing editor, said: ‘Demolition is the construction industry’s dirty secret. Despite all the declarations of climate emergency and talk of a green recovery, it is propped up by outdated rules and taxes and great swathes of our towns and cities are currently earmarked for destruction.

‘If the government really means to “Build Back Better” it must recognise that conservation of buildings is now a climate issue and introduce reforms to ensure that bulldozing buildings is an absolute last resort.’

The RetroFirst campaign is backed by architects including 14 winners of the RIBA Stirling Prize as well as property firms such as British Land, Canary Wharf Group and Grosvenor Britain & Ireland, engineers including Arup, and professional organisations such as the RIBA, the RICS, the RTPI, the TCPA and the UK Green Building Council (see full list of supporters below).

In January, the campaign was the subject of a letter to The Times signed by Clarke and 34 others, including former Environment Secretary and peer John Gummer, campaigner Doreen Lawrence, British Land chief executive Simon Carter and architects Norman Foster, Asif Khan, David Chipperfield and Sarah Wigglesworth.

The following month, a report from the Commons Environmental Audit Committee echoed RetroFirst’s recommendations on policy and VAT, calling for new regulations to cover embodied carbon in construction and asking the Treasury to ‘correct the disparity’ between the zero rate of VAT on new-build construction and the full rate charged on retrofitting.

The three demands of RetroFirst

Tax: Cut VAT rate on refurbishment, repair and maintenance from 20 per cent to 5 per cent or below
Policy: Amend policy to promote the re-use of existing buildings to high standards
Procurement: Insist that all publicly-funded projects look to retrofit solutions first

The film is available to download and share here, and a one-minute version is here.

RetroFirst campaign supporters

Built environment companies and organisations

44 Consult
AKT II
Anthropocene Architecture School
Architects’ Climate Action Network (ACAN)
Arup
Bath School of Design, Bath Spa University
British Land
Buro Happold
Canary Wharf Group
Capital + Centric
Chapmanbdsp
Create Streets
Crosstree
Cundall
Edinburgh World Heritage
First Base
FORE
Grosvenor
Hearth Historic Buildings Trust
Historic Environment Scotland
Hoare Lea
Integral Engineering Design
Jensen Hunt Design
London Waste & Recycling Board (LWARB)
Mann Williams
Max Fordham
MultiLateral Structural Design
New York University, London
Paradigm Land
Pavehall PLC
Price & Myers
Priestley Construction
Project Etopia
RIBA
RICS
RTPI
SAVE Britain’s Heritage
Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB)
Spenbeck
Town & Country Planning Association (TCPA)
Trilogy Real Estate
Troup Bywaters + Anders
The Twentieth Century Society
The Victorian Society
U+I
UK Green Building Council
Urban Splash
Useful Simple Trust
WSP

Architecture practices

3D Reid
5th Studio
50.8 Architecture & Interiors
AAB Architects
aad architects
ADP Architecture
Alison Brooks Architects
alma-nac
Amos Goldreich Architecture
Andris Berzins + Associates
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)
Allies and Morrison
Architectural Emporium
Architectural Thread
Architecture for London
Architecture Initiative
Architype
Aros Architects
Asif Khan Ltd
Assael Architecture
Assorted Skills + Talents*
Atelier; Helen Brooks Architects
AWW
Barr Gazetas
BBM Sustainable Design
Belsize Architects
Ben Adams Architects
Benjamin Tindall Architects
Bennetts Associates
Boano Prišmontas
Brimelow McSweeney Architects
Bryden Wood
BuckleyGrayYeoman
Buttress
Caruso St John Architects
Child Graddon Lewis
Chris Dyson Architects
Circle Architecture
Clare Nash Architecture
CMA
Colman Architects
Connolly Wellingham Architects
Conran and Partners
Cousins and Cousins
Curl La Tourelle Head Architecture
CZWG Architects
Daria Wong Architects
Darling Associates
DarntonB3 Architecture
David Chipperfield Architects
Dennis Hellyar Architects
Devlin Architects
DLG Architects
DNA Architecture
Donald Insall Associates
Dow Jones Architects
Downs Merrifield Architects
Dress for the Weather
dRMM
Earle Architects
ECD Architects
ECE Architecture
e-gg
EPR Architects
Fearn Macpherson Chartered Architects
Featherstone Young
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios
Feix&Merlin
Fletcher Priest
Foster + Partners
Freehaus
Gardner Stewart Architects
Gensler
Glenn Howells Architects
GLM
Goode Architecture
Gort Scott
gpad london
Gray Macpherson Architects
Grimshaw
Group Ginger
Halliday Clark Architects
Hawkins\Brown
Haworth Tompkins
Heatherwick Studio
Henley Halebrown
Heritage Architecture
Hills & Co
HOK
Hopkins
HPA Architecture
HÛT
Hutchinson & Partners
Hynes-Laitt Studio
Ian Ritchie Architects
Jestico + Whiles
John Gilbert Architects
John Robertson Architects
Jonathan Tuckey Design
JTP
Kendall Kingscott
Knott Architects
KR.eativ: Architects
Living Space Architects
LTS Architects
LYN Atelier
Mackenzie Wheeler Architecture & Interiors
MAP Architecture
Marks Barfield
Märraum
MawsonKerr Architects
MAX Architects
McGinlay Bell
McMullan Studio
MICA Architects
Mike Daubney Architects
Mikhail Riches
Morris + Company
Morrow + Lorraine Architects
Moxon Architects
Morse Webb Architects
MTBA Associates, Ottawa, Canada
Murphy Associates
Napier Clarke
Neu Architects
New Practice
Nicola de Quincey architecture + conservation
Norman-Prahm Architects
O’Donnell + Tuomey
Outpost
Owen Ellis Architects
Page\Park Architects
Paper Architecture
Parkes Poole Architects
Paul Testa Architecture
PDP London
Peak Architects
Penoyre & Prasad
Piercy & Company Architects
Pollard Thomas Edwards
PPIY Architects
Procter-Rihl
PRP
Purcell
Resi
RGP Architects
Robert Dye Architects
Robert Rhodes Architecture + Interiors
Robert Rowett Architectural Services
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners
Ruth Butler Architects
Sarah Wigglesworth Architects
Scott Brownrigg
Selencky Parsons
ShedKM
Sheppard Robson Architects
Simone de Gale Architects
Simpson & Brown
Sjölander da Cruz Architects
Sow Space
Square One Architects
Stanton Williams
Stephen Taylor Architects
Steve Ritchie Partnership
Stiff + Trevillion Architects
Studio C102
Studio Basheva
Studio Bednarski
Studio Ben Allen
Studio DuB
Studio Egret West
Studio Polpo
Studio Seilern Architects
Studio Van Hoorebeek
Syndicate West Architects
Tate Hindle
Theis and Khan Architects
Thirdway Architecture
Thomas Robinson Architects
Tim Greatrex Architects
Tonic Architecture
Triangle Architects
Turn Architects
Type3 Studio
Ullmayer Sylvester Architects
Una Kaya Architects
Urban Fabric Architects
van Heyningen and Haward Architects
Whittaker Parsons
WilkinsonEyre
Wilson Mason
Witherford Watson Mann
Woodfield Brady Architects
Wren Architecture & Design
Zaha Hadid Architects

Individuals

Clara Bagenal George, Elementa Consulting
Emma Dent Coad, former MP for Kensington
Mark Farmer, independent champion for MMC in housebuilding and CEO, Cast Consultancy
Julie Godefroy, sustainability consultant
Loyd Grossman, chairman of The Royal Parks
Kelly Harrison, Heyne Tillett Steele
Joe Holyoak, architect and urban designer
J Jeffrey Keays, senior lecturer, school of architecture design & built environment, Nottingham Trent University
Kevin McCloud, broadcaster
Walter Menteth, architect and procurement reform campaigner
Alice Moncaster, senior lecturer at School of Engineering and Innovation at The Open University
Lucy Mori, architect and business consultant
Alastair Mumford, South West Energy Partnership Regional Programme Manager, Devon County Council
David Ness, adjunct professor at the School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia
Paul O’Neil, Bryden Wood
Clare Richards, ft’work
Simon Sturgis, Targeting Zero
Professor Peter Walker, director of architecture and digital design, University of Salford