Thousands of ageing buildings previously considered obsolete could be spared the wrecking ball and new-builds shelved as planners come under pressure to curb the country’s carbon emissions.
In a test case that has set a new battleground, heritage campaigners have accused Aberdeen city council of environmental damage by planning to demolish and rebuild two prominent city centre buildings as part of a multimillion-pound transformation project.
The local authority announced plans earlier this year to knock down a 47-year-old indoor market and adjacent former shop and replace them with a large new “destination food and drink venue” to help economic recovery from the pandemic.
But the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) has objected to the £75 million plan, as has the Aberdeen Civic Society, which describes it as “reckless”.
Planners are now being asked to take the creation of greenhouse gases, which fuel climate change, from the construction process into account in a development. In the future that could mean fewer new-build schools, hospitals and other modern projects with a likely lifespan of a few decades in favour of refurbishing older buildings, which could last longer if properly maintained.
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Studies have shown that demolition and rebuild produces two and a half times as much carbon as working with an existing building.
Bill Brogden, convenor of the AHSS’s northeast branch, said: “Rather than squander the sound, very robust, and very large, if ugly carcass which the existing market buildings present, we should use them as the starting point.
“They cost us nothing and the expensive and ghastly business of demolition can be avoided, not to mention the effective doubling of environmental damage which destruction followed by new re-building would entail.”
The civic society added: “While we welcome reinvestment in this city centre amenity, the proposed demolition of the existing concrete building, with its large store of embodied carbon, appears reckless in the context of current national carbon reduction targets.”
The former BHS store on Union Street closed in 2016 while the indoor market shut in March 2020. The company that owned the properties went into liquidation and the council bought the site. At the announcement of the rebuilding plan Ryan Houghton, the council’s city growth and resources convenor, said: “The new market has the potential to reshape the future of the city centre.” He added that the project had been awarded £20 million from the UK government’s levelling-up fund.
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Brogden said the AHSS was not against development of the crucial site but “the recent Cop26 conference has sharpened our awareness of methods which we must use to achieve these aims”. Instead of a new building, the present structure should be retained with the frontages refurbished to make it more attractive, he said.
About 50,000 buildings are demolished every year in the UK despite some having many years of useful life.
Aberdeen city council said it could not comment on live planning applications.
