Reusing and rehabilitating Vancouver’s heritage buildings supports the four pillars of sustainability.
- Cultural: Heritage buildings contribute to our sense of place and community identity, and connect us to Vancouver’s diverse history and cultural heritage.
- Social: Older buildings provide some of the city’s most affordable housing and the majority of the city’s rental housing.
- Economic: Rehabilitated heritage buildings are popular places to live, work and visit making them an important part of the local economy.
- Environment: Fifty percent of the buildings in Canada were constructed before 1970. Demolishing a 2,500 sq ft house sends 60 tons of debris to the landfill. Retrofits can significantly improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions while avoiding waste and reducing the need for new energy-intensive materials.
Resources
Check out the following resources that address the cultural, economic and environmental sustainability of retaining older buildings, with specific focus on rehabilitation and retrofitting.
- From the Federal Provincial Territorial Historic Places Collaboration: Building Resilience: Practical Guidelines for the Sustainable Rehabilitation of Buildings in Canada
- VHF’s 2022 Retrofit Guides: Insulation, Windows and Air Sealing
- VHF’s 2009 Green Guide: New Life for Old Buildings
- BC Heritage Branch’s Heritage and Sustainability Facts
- City of Vancouver’s Green Home Renovation Guides
- National Trust for Historic Preservation’s The Greenest Building Report – quantifying the environmental value of building reuse
- Preservation Green Lab’s Older, Smaller, Better – measuring how the character of buildings and blocks effects urban vitality
- Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation energy efficiency retro-fitted related publications: Insulation, Retro-fit Options & Case Studies Post-WWII
For tips on reducing carbon emissions, visit VHF’s Energy Improvements in Older Homes.
VHF Case Studies
In 2014, VHF created a documentary film based on three case studies with funding from Telus and the talent of local filmmakers. View Restoring Community Film and learn more about the project.
Read all sixteen VHF Case Studies below.
