{"id":771570,"date":"2025-01-22T16:15:40","date_gmt":"2025-01-22T16:15:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?p=771570"},"modified":"2025-01-23T11:17:36","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T11:17:36","slug":"city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","title":{"rendered":"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The new Planning for Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), provides guidance on how developers should approach the City Corporation\u2019s sustainability policies in their planning applications, including the design and construction of buildings.<\/p>\n<p>Formerly in draft form, the SPD has now been approved by the Corporation\u2019s Planning and Transportation Committee and includes measures to support the City\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 approach.<\/p>\n<p>The AJ\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/retrofirst\">long-running campaign<\/a> for such measures \u2013 RetroFirst \u2013 was launched in September 2019. Since then, several local councils, including the City, Westminster, Camden and Bath &amp; North East Somerset, have developed and adopted retrofit-first policies in support of their Net Zero targets and declarations of climate emergency.<\/p>\n<p>More planning authorities, particularly in the capital, <a href=\"https:\/\/lichfields.uk\/blog\/2024\/april\/02\/retrofit-first-the-city-camden-now-westminster-who-will-be-next\">are poised to follow suit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The City\u2019s SPD is intended to support its 2040 Net Zero target and covers four other key sustainability themes, many of them concerned with slashing upfront or \u2018embodied\u2019 carbon. These are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Circular economy<\/strong> Encourages a shift from a linear to circular waste model in a building\u2019s construction and operation to minimise waste through a building\u2019s life cycle<\/li>\n<li><strong>Greenhouse gas emissions and energy use<\/strong> Includes measures to reduce whole life-cycle carbon and operational energy emissions<\/li>\n<li><strong>Climate resilience<\/strong> Sets out how developments should address flood risk management, water management, building and urban overheating, pest and disease control, and infrastructure resilience<\/li>\n<li><strong>Urban greening and Biodiversity<\/strong> Sets out how to protect, conserve and enhance biodiversity, habitats and green infrastructure in the Square Mile.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Among other measures, the SPD will introduce<a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/everybody-needs-good-nabers-how-australia-leads-way-in-assessing-buildings-energy-use\"> NABERS<\/a> UK* targets (a five-star target for new office developments, and four-star target for retrofitted office developments), as well as introducing embodied carbon benchmarking, aligning with the GLA embodied carbon benchmarks.<\/p>\n<p>Zero carbon expert and architect Simon Sturgis, who has been instrumental in the application of a whole-life carbon approach to planning and development in the UK, strongly welcomed the City\u2019s move, saying it could deliver economic growth as well as carbon savings.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The City of London\u2019s new Retrofit &amp; Reuse policy is a great step forward in promoting carbon efficient development,\u2019 he said. \u2018The City must now support this policy with speedy planning consents. The next step is to require third-party verification of submitted carbon assessments.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Chairman of the City Corporation\u2019s planning and transport committee, Shravan Joshi, said: \u2018This new guidance provides transparency to the built environment sector, encouraging it to come with us on this journey as we see continued confidence and demand for high-quality, sustainable office space in the Square Mile.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018The City of London is home to some of the most sustainable commercial buildings on the planet and, as it continues to be a hugely attractive place for office occupiers, we are setting the pace globally for sustainable design, with the delivery of the next generation of new and retrofit developments to attract the best global talent, innovators and high-growth businesses.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>In a statement, the Corporation said the new SPD would offer a degree of flexibility if planning applications miss the upfront carbon benchmarks. In this case, developments will be expected to go \u2018above and beyond in their delivery of wider environmental sustainability benefits\u2019 in the Square Mile.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018This could include, for instance, creating or extending local energy networks, supporting sustainable transport modes through significant public realm upgrades, implementing City climate resilience infrastructure, such as \u201ccool routes\u201d, or providing skills and training opportunities in sustainable construction,\u2019 the statement said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new Planning for Sustainability Supplementary Planning Document (SPD), provides guidance on how developers should approach the City Corporation\u2019s sustainability policies in their planning applications, including the design and construction of buildings. Formerly in draft form, the SPD has now been approved by the Corporation\u2019s Planning and Transportation Committee and includes measures to support the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81280,"featured_media":754362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"ep_exclude_from_search":false},"categories":[681],"tags":[1334,10434,5950,1342,5357],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-01-22T16:15:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-23T11:17:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/04103007\/shutterstock_2508565675-1024x770.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"770\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"will hurst\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"will hurst\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force\",\"name\":\"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-01-22T16:15:40+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-23T11:17:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145\"},\"description\":\"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Architects\u2019 Journal\",\"description\":\"Architecture News &amp; Buildings\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145\",\"name\":\"will hurst\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/edb2a9c82cf2d614f0a9a76f486cc4a3\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"will hurst\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/will-hurst-2\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force","description":"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force","og_description":"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced","og_url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","og_site_name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","article_published_time":"2025-01-22T16:15:40+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-23T11:17:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":770,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.rt.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2024\/09\/04103007\/shutterstock_2508565675-1024x770.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"will hurst","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"will hurst","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force","name":"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-01-22T16:15:40+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-23T11:17:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145"},"description":"A proposal by the City of London to encourage reuse of existing buildings and other circular economy measures will become policy within the coming weeks, the authority has announced","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/city-of-londons-retrofit-first-policy-to-come-into-force#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"City of London\u2019s \u2018retrofit first\u2019 policy to come into force"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/","name":"The Architects\u2019 Journal","description":"Architecture News &amp; Buildings","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/f7c23d4772522a5c23d6a2bc36064145","name":"will hurst","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/edb2a9c82cf2d614f0a9a76f486cc4a3","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/05396dc4387bd2a019bed2b5a6c109fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"will hurst"},"url":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/author\/will-hurst-2"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771570"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81280"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771570"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771570\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":771668,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771570\/revisions\/771668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}