Towards circular renovation: A comparative review of circular economy integration in sustainable building rating systems
Building Research & Information, Volume 53, issue 5, 2025
Alysson Lucas has published a paper drawing on her PhD research with A/Prof Sandra Loschke which investigates Sustainable Building Rating Systems (SBRS) as an effective method to implement circular renovation by conducting a rigorous comparative analysis of residential SBRS against the established ReSOLVE framework’s circularity principles (Regenerate, Share, Optimize, Loop, Virtualize, Exchange).
The paper is open access. Click here for your copy.
Have you been involved in an apartment building renovation project in New South Wales? If so, we want to hear from you!
If you belong to one of three groups, then we have a short, 10 minute survey for you to complete.
Apartment owners involved in renovation projects,
Architects who have undertaken a renovation project on an apartment building,
Strata managers who have had buildings they manage undergo renovation projects.
The surveys will collect information about the process and outcomes of apartment building renovation projects (building works beyond regular maintenance, valued over $30K). We will use the survey findings to help identify challenges and opportunities for making apartment building redesign a more viable option.
The surveys can be filled out on desktop or mobile devices. Filling out the survey is voluntary, and has been approved by the University of Sydney’s Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 2022-046).
Please join us on Thursday 1st May at COX Architecture in Sydney for the Renew Symposium!
The Symposium is a public event representing the culmination of the Renew research project. The project’s research team will report back on case studies, interviews, fieldwork and reviews, and partner organisations and invited experts will share insights on multi-unit housing renovation in Australia and across the world.
The Symposium offers five thematic 90 mins sessions, consisting of short, snappy presentations with subsequent discussion panels:
01 Global Directions in Housing Renewal: Learning from International Case Studies
02 Housing Renewal and the Profession: A love-hate relationship?
03 How to ride the Green Housing Renovation Wave
04 Regulatory Landscapes
05 Introducing: The RENEW Co- and Redesign Guide for transforming existing housing
As Parlour celebrates ten years of advocacy in the architectural profession (happy birthday, Parlour!), we reflect on our recent experience of guest hosting their Instagram account.
In May, Renew spent a week presenting Parlour’s twenty-two thousand followers with a series of provocations. We aimed to identify, understand and interrogate some of the profession’s beliefs around renovation, ageing buildings, risk, demolition and design by committee.
So. What did we hear?
There was overwhelming support from many architects and apartment residents alike for research into the retention and redesign of ageing apartment buildings and a desire to learn more.
Many architects enthusiastically staked a claim for their profession on who is the best-placed to lead the charge. However, there was substantial support for building designers and other building performance experts who are widely respected for their expertise in this space in Europe, South Africa and the Middle East.
Some shared their own experiences as architects, strata committee members and owners of apartment transformation in Australia. They noted the complexity of the exercise, particularly with stakeholder negotiation, but reflected that they would like to do more redesign work, and some even specialise in it.
A few practitioners noted that complexities also arose around the misalignment of current Building Code requirements and major upgrade projects and that reducing these hurdles may increase uptake. We also heard suggestions of replicating the tax deduction upgrade schemes in Europe and using the narrative of carbon savings to incentivise uptake.
We are grateful for and energised by the dozens of comments and messages of support received during our week as guest hosts. We’re looking forward to further engaging with architects and the Parlour audience over the coming months to develop our conceptual and practical frameworks for reframing and retaining these social, economic and environmental assets.
Please click here to view the Instagram Parlour Hosting posts.
The benefits of a co- and re- design approach to addressing Australia’s ageing apartments have been highlighted in the March/April issue of Architecture Australia.
In a dossier within the issue, Sandra Loschke and Hazel Easthope examine the potential of redesigning Australia’s aging apartments. Over two million Australians live in apartments, a fifth of which are 60 or older or have a mobility related disability. The location and amenity of apartment blocks is a significant asset for residents, but many no longer suit the current inhabitants. Loschke and Easthope argue that engaging residents in the redesign of their buildings via an architect led co-design process could facilitate mutually beneficial user engagement and agency, and achieve substantial social, environmental and economic transformation in the housing sector.
The special issue Designing for Dignity: Beyond Compliance, Towards Empathy is curated by guest editors Maryam Gusheh and Catherine Murphy. They urge the profession to focus more attention on upgrading Australia’s existing housing to reflect the diverse needs of households.
