Improving the quality of our buildings is as important as increasing supply. As we experience an older population, working and enjoying leisure time for longer, a drive towards a fitter, more active lifestyle and dramatic fluctuations in the climate, we need to think closely about not just building more homes, offices, hospitals, shops and leisure facilities but ensuring those that already exist are future proofed. 
RIBA (the Royal Institute of British Architects) has recently stated that if we are to meet targets to reduce carbon emissions and save on energy bills, we would need to retrofit homes, offices, hospitals and shops at a rate on one property every minute. That means adding something that wasn’t there when it was originally built.
In the same report – Building a Better Britain – it also states that four fifths of Britain’s schools are being used ‘beyond their life cycle’ and should be replaced by buildings that offer a healthier learning environment.
In Bristol – and indeed the West Country generally – we have many fine architectural gems that have housed schools for decades. Red Maids, in Bristol, where we are currently working, is in fact the oldest independent girls’ school in England, founded in 1634.
You may want to send your child to schools steeped in history because of family tradition as much as quality of teaching and surroundings. But you also want to make sure they are offering the best in educational facilities, from sports to IT provision to libraries. These larger refurbishment projects don’t have to compromise the integrity of the building. It is possible to incorporate new and cutting-edge facilities by creating sympathetic and well-designed extensions or mezzanines that breathe new life into the building as well as, in some cases, bringing them up to current and future building standards. And it’s not just schools – there are all sorts of beautiful, old, unlisted buildings that could be transformed given some imagination and foresight, rather than just tearing them down and starting again – often at a fraction of the cost, both financially and emotionally.
Tim Stringer is divisional director of Integral Build, specialists in refurbishment, fit out and interiors
