Mipim told new-builds should be ‘last resort’

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16 March 2007


By Will Hurst


DEGW chairman calls for end to new developments, as conference focuses on sustainability

A leading commercial practice is set to shock the Mipim property conference this week with a rallying cry for the industry to abandon new-build office development in favour of wholesale refurbishment.
As millions of square feet of proposed commercial property were touted at the four-day Cannes event, chairman of DEGW, Despina Katsikakis, said that new construction should be seen as a “last resort” for developers and architects because of the threat of climate change and under-use of existing buildings.
“Our offices and homes are… dramatically under-utilised,” she said, ahead of a speech to be delivered in the main conference hall on Thursday, after BD went to press.
“Where is the need for more and more newly constructed space when we are clearly not using what we have to the best of our abilities?”
Katsikakis’s call, which underlined how sustainability has become the defining theme at this year’s Mipim, was slammed by other commercial practices and the RIBA.
“A moratorium on new-build development is a silly proposition,” Ken Yeang, of Llewelyn Davies Yeang, said. “Metaphorically, stopping building because of the environmental crisis and imminent climate change is like forcing an obese person to stop eating entirely because he is fat, which could lead to eventual death by starvation.
“Architects should certainly keep building but only create buildings that are social, ethical and economical.”

Head of public affairs at the RIBA, Steven Harding, admitted that Katsikakis’s advice would “choke” a large part of the architectural market.
“It’s naïve to expect a ban on new buildings,” he said. “But if she is saying we need to take refurbishment more seriously then I entirely agree. The government’s Barker Report [on planning] made that point and it needs to deliver on that.”
But Katsikakis won backing from the mayor of London’s chief adviser on climate change, Allan Jones, and colleague and founder of DEGW, Frank Duffy.
“On commercial development, she has probably got a point,” Jones said. “It’s very important we get to grips with existing development and by doing that, you get hold of a much greater tranche of development per annum.
“New development has quite a lot to answer for [in terms of carbon emissions] and existing development could be brought up to spec.”
Duffy, meanwhile, said changing patterns of working due to IT advances should lead to a renewed focus on adapting existing buildings.
“It would do the architectural profession a lot of good to widen its scope to make better use of buildings through time, and regard this as a critical part of the process,” he said. “We tend to focus on glittering new buildings but it should be about the longevity of design decisions.”

Fonte: BDonline