Don’t Waste Buildings is launching a practical guide to help councils develop policies that put the reuse of existing buildings at the heart of housing delivery and regeneration.
The Reuse Policy Playbook: A Retrofit-First Guide for Local Authorities sets out how councils can encourage the repair, adaptation and reuse of buildings to deliver homes, workplaces and community facilities, while reducing waste and carbon emissions.
Written by architect and whole-life carbon specialist Simon Sturgis, the Playbook brings together the financial and environmental case for reuse, examples of local authority policies, and policy wording councils can use to develop their own approach. It is aimed primarily at local authorities in England.
The guide highlights the potential for empty and underperforming buildings to help revive high streets, support local businesses and restore pride in place. It also explains how reuse can offer shorter construction programmes and lower financial risks compared with demolition and rebuild.
Simon Sturgis, author:
'Net zero by 2050 puts huge pressure on the built environment industry to be more resource and carbon efficient. The simple but effective answer is to retrofit. Compared to new build, retrofit is also quicker and cheaper in delivering results.'
Julia Thrift, Don’t Waste Buildings Policy lead:
'This short, practical guide will empower councils to write policies supporting the re-use of buildings - helping to save tonnes of embodied carbon, reduce landfill waste, and find creative new uses for familiar structures, instead of demolishing and rebuilding every few decades.
‘Councils are under enormous pressure to deliver homes, revive town centres and make limited budgets go further. Some of the buildings that could help meet those needs are already standing and could be transformed into high quality new homes and workspaces.
‘This Playbook gives councils a practical starting point for developing their own approach to reuse. We want to make it easier to recognise the value of existing buildings to local communities and bring them back into useful life.’
The Playbook draws on groundbreaking and positive local government approaches including Westminster City Council’s Retrofit First policy and the City of London’s policies supporting building retention and refurbishment.
The launch of the Playbook follows the successful launch in April 2026 of The Reuse Dividend, an international study showing how other countries are unlocking billions from building reuse through financial incentives, while Britain’s VAT system holds it back.
