Page 36 - Beyond Decommissioning

The fundamentals of industrial redevelopment 17

between proactive strategies and reactive regeneration projects, and between legisla-
tive and educational policies, while fully engaging owners, communities, public insti-
tutions, and financial markets (Loures et al., 2011). The amalgamation of such diverse
objectives and factors clearly highlights that solutions in concrete cases should be
based on cost-benefit analysis or multi-attribute utility analysis.

2.1 Adaptive reuse

Until a few decades ago, industrial buildings and sites were generally ignored, unlike
country homes, palaces, and castles which early preservationists valued for their asso-
ciations with historic characters and events. The neglect of industrial buildings high-
lights that they have long been, and partly still are, considered by many as a burden and
an eyesore. They are often overlooked due to their seedy environs, polluted soil, and
“common” architecture. Such a perception disregards the rich architectural detail,
identity features, and unique spaces available in industrial complexes for public fru-
ition. One of the main challenges to productive reuse of the former industrial sites is
environmental contamination. In some cases, owners have “mothballed” land and
buildings, allowing them to sit idle rather than facing the challenges of reuse. In other
cases, owners have simply abandoned their properties, allowing them to revert to the
public domain. Consequently, local governments, often struggling with their own
financial crises, are compelled to deal with the problems of contamination and dete-
rioration if they want to return the facilities to productive and profitable use.
Adaptive reuse is the process of finding a new use for a building or site. It can be
described as a “process by which structurally sound older buildings are developed for
economically viable new uses” (Virginia Polytechnic, 2005). The term “adaptive
reuse” has been typically applied to circumstances where a facility is obsolete from
the viewpoint of its original function but it can be modified for a new function. Indus-
trial operations and processes are subject to continual change and improvements.
Changes in products and production methods imply that, unlike offices or dwellings,
it is generally impractical to carry on using industrial sites for their original objectives
beyond a certain time (limited by the service life, market trends, or unplanned
circumstances, e.g., fires). This implies that adaptive reuse is important in the preser-
vation of industrial sites.
Adaptive reuse is a means to give the sites further life while maintaining the his-
torical knowledge and other cultural values for future generations.
From another angle, adaptive reuse is “the option available to both reduce the num-
ber of abandoned/unused industrial buildings (i.e., modifying a place) and/or prevent
demolition of these cultural heritage assets (retaining cultural heritage value): it is a
way to reuse them for new programs and functions by recycling their usable
components” (Sugden, 2017).

Adaptive reuse has a richer meaning than change of use because it refers not only to
the “change” in function but also to the concept of “restoring” to functionality fol-
lowing a previous decommissioning condition. The term “adaptive” introduces an
even deeper meaning, relating to the field of biology, which indicates the ability of