{"id":46779,"date":"2026-05-19T16:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T15:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=46779"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:48:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T13:48:47","slug":"more-updates-from-ihbcs-council-on-dont-waste-buildings-a-blog-feature-following-a-council-chat-post-by-celia-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/?p=46779","title":{"rendered":"More updates from IHBC\u2019s Council: On \u2018Don\u2019t Waste Buildings\u2019 – A blog feature following a Council chat post by Celia Clark"},"content":{"rendered":"
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image for illustration: \u00a0Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celia Clark, of the Portsmouth Society, the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and the Sustainable Conservation Trust, remarked on the relevance of the relatively new \u2018Don\u2019t Waste Buildings\u2019 (DWB) initiative at the IHBC\u2019s last council, and agreed to write a short blog on its work as posted below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Celia Clark & DWB write:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a dedicated conservationist who\u2019s worked to save and repurpose historic buildings in Portsmouth and Hampshire for more years than I care to remember, the launch in April 2024 of the Don’t Waste Buildings (DWB) campaign, a proactive movement advocating for the reuse and retrofit of existing structures crystallised my long-held belief that buildings can and should have a second \u2013 or even more – new lives after their first function disappears.\u00a0 As DWB says, there are buildings all over the UK, and globally, which are untapped economic and social assets, not structures to be casually discarded. They could be utilised to deliver much-needed housing and development at greater speed, lower cost and with less of an impact on our environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Don\u2019t Waste Buildings campaign was co-founded in May 2024 by Will Hurst<\/a> (Managing Editor of The Architects’ Journal<\/em>), Leanne Tritton (Founder of ING Media<\/em>), and Richard Nelson (Managing Director of Abyss Global<\/em>).  It\u2019s non-party political, with no funding, membership fees, sponsorship or commercial interests of any kind, run as a collective by individuals including leading property developers, financiers, architects, engineers, heritage experts and others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 150 volunteers and 2,200 LinkedIn members focus on its six key objectives: Engage, Recommend, Inform, Demonstrate, Collaborate, and Educate<\/strong>, aiming for \u2018policy clarity and financial incentives to make the reuse of existing buildings simpler and more profitable in order to stimulate growth in housing <\/em>and development\u2019. <\/em>Regional UK Chapters have been launched in the West Midlands<\/a> (Birmingham), North West<\/a> (Manchester) and Scotland, and the first international chapter in Australia<\/a> (Melbourne). DWB arranges study tours of vulnerable and reused buildings in different parts of the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Its April 2026 report \u2018The Reuse Dividend: Unlocking Economic Growth from Britain\u2019s Existing Buildings\u2019<\/em> called on the UK government to overhaul its tax system to incentivise the reuse of empty buildings, warning that Britain is missing out on billions of pounds of potential economic growth. The report analysed financial incentives used across eight developed economies \u2014 including France, Germany, the United States and Ireland \u2014 and found a proven blueprint that Britain has failed to adopt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Central to the group’s concerns is what it calls a \u2018perverse incentive for demolition over renovation\u2019: retrofit projects currently attract 20% VAT, while new-build housing pays zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report identifies this disparity as the single most impactful barrier to building reuse, and recommends four complementary measures to address it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  1. Levelling the VAT playing field<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Tax credits or relief, such as introducing capital gains tax relief and stamp duty discounts for bringing vacant buildings back into use while meeting sustainability quality measures<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Creating targeted grants for struggling high streets and derelict buildings; and<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Subsidised finance: Establishing long-term low-interest loans with repayment grants for deep reuse projects through the National Wealth Fund, or a similar institution<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Report lead author and DWB co-founder Richard Nelson said: \u2018A single empty building on a main street can define whether that street feels alive or forgotten. The opportunity is extraordinary. The only thing stopping us is the way we tax it.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The report also cites Historic England research suggesting that converting empty buildings over 100 years old could deliver up to 670,000 new homes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    RIBA Board chair Jack Pringle, who attended the launch, described the VAT disparity as \u2018perverse\u2019 and called on the Treasury to act, while a government spokesperson pointed to existing energy-saving VAT reliefs and the \u00a315 billion Warm Homes Plan as current measures in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DWB events in London and Portsmouth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In May last year I enjoyed the DWB event at 123 Golden Lane in London which is a model for Building Reuse, a refurbishment of a late Victorian building into a workspace which includes a cluster of architectural practices, preserving 80% of the original structure to minimize embodied carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    We heard about the international spread of the interactive Demolition Map (www.demolitionmap.uk<\/a>). 50,000 buildings are demolished a year in the UK. The Map highlights Buildings Lost, Under Threat and Reused. The Portsmouth area of the UK map is well stocked \u2013 with the help of the Sustainable Conservation Trust which is based in the Dockyard Heritage Quarter. Catching sight of the large Tricorn site, empty since its demolition in 2004 makes me furious every time I pass it on my way out of the city.\u00a0 Two architects prepared reuse plans for this multi-use, multi-layered structure, but the minister refused to list the building \u2013 and it was demolished. Just as infuriating is the pile of rubble \u2013 all that\u2019s left of the local newspaper The News<\/em>\u2019s office, distribution centre and printworks.\u00a0 The latter was in use until 2023\/4. An application to list it as an iconic 60s building failed. First Bus pulled it down using a loophole in Permitted Development \u2013 which urgently needs to be closed.\u00a0In summer 2025 DWB and Historic England held a seminar in Portsmouth\u2019s Sustainable Conservation Trust\u2019s office \u2013 the reused iron-framed Navy Pay Office in the Historic Quarter of HM Naval Base, followed by a tour of Portsea and Old Portsmouth exploring change and renewal locally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See the details below and for general details contact Celia Clark at celiadeane.clark@btopenworld.com<\/a> and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Contact Don\u2019t Waste Buildings info@dontwastebuildings.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DOWNLOAD THE REUSE DIVIDEND<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See https:\/\/www.dontwastebuildings.com<\/a> and https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/groups\/13002786\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See more on the IHBC council here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See more on IHBC Councils HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sign up for our NewsBlog service<\/a> HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See more on IHBC CPD<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    See more on volunteering with the IHBC HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    DONATE HERE<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    image for illustration: \u00a0Neil Owen, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons Celia Clark, of the Portsmouth Society, the Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust and the Sustainable Conservation Trust, remarked on the relevance of the relatively new \u2018Don\u2019t Waste Buildings\u2019 (DWB) initiative … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[849,18,20,29,13,373],"class_list":["post-46779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ihbc-newsblog","tag-adaptive","tag-conservation","tag-cpd","tag-heritage","tag-retrofit","tag-reuse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46779"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46783,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46779\/revisions\/46783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsblogs.ihbc.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}