Repair. Adapt. Insulate. Reuse.
Long before sustainability became a standard part of the construction vocabulary, SMT Associates was working with existing buildings, repairing them, converting them to new uses and improving their performance.
For 30 years we have helped clients retain and adapt buildings rather than automatically replacing them. From the conversion of redundant agricultural buildings and historic properties to the refurbishment and upgrading of existing homes and commercial buildings, our work has consistently involved finding new uses for existing structures and extending their useful lives.
Improving existing buildings.
Sustainability is not simply about adding insulation.
Existing and traditional buildings need to be understood before their thermal performance is altered. Changes to insulation, ventilation, heating and airtightness can alter temperatures and moisture movement through the fabric. An improvement considered in isolation can therefore create condensation, mould or deterioration elsewhere in the construction.
Our approach combines building pathology with building conservation and technical design.
We consider the building as a whole, including its construction, exposure, moisture condition, ventilation, heating and proposed use, before developing an appropriate strategy for improvement.
Over the last three decades our work has included roof, wall and floor insulation; breathable insulation systems; secondary and improved glazing; repair and draught reduction to traditional windows; heating and ventilation improvements; moisture management; and the sensitive thermal upgrading of historic and listed buildings.
The greenest building can be the one already standing.
There is also embodied energy and carbon locked into every existing building.
Repairing sound construction, retaining masonry and timber, conserving windows and roofs and adapting buildings to new uses can avoid the environmental cost associated with demolition, waste disposal and manufacturing replacement materials.
That principle has been part of SMT's work since 1996, not because it carried a sustainability label at the time, but because repairing and intelligently adapting good existing buildings made sense.
Today, improved understanding of building physics, materials and energy performance allows us to take that philosophy further.
Our objective is straightforward: retain what is worth retaining, improve what can sensibly be improved, and make existing buildings comfortable, durable and useful for the next generation.