Development of the existing older building stock

This paper questions and challenges the state of the ongoing development of the existing building stock. This paper attempts to approach the many and often mixed handling of the existing (older) building stock as an alternative to demolition to clear sites for new build. At present the recycling of materials is seen as a major contributor towards a sustainable building industry, but one might expect that a continued use of the existing buildings would be a much more sustainable approach. The focus of the paper is limited to buildings erected before modernism, as most of the projects for revitalization of buildings concentrate on the newer and often much larger building stock, to which technical solutions are less complex and the economic results more obvious.