Yorkshire & Humber Chapter Launches
Retrofit-first campaign group Don't Waste Buildings plants its flag in one of England's most architecturally storied regions, with chartered surveyor Oliver Connew as inaugural chapter lead, citing The Reuse Dividend's blueprint for jobs, innovation, carbon savings and a planning system fit for the climate age
Leeds — Don't Waste Buildings (DWB), the UK's leading campaign group calling for a 'retrofit first' presumption across the built environment, today announces the launch of its Yorkshire & Humber Chapter, the latest milestone in the organisation's rapid national expansion. Taking the helm as the Chapter's inaugural lead is Oliver Connew, Associate Director at specialist decarbonisation consultancy crbn solutions, a chartered building surveyor and a proud Yorkshireman with a commitment to the buildings his region has inherited.
The launch signals DWB's determination to bring its message into one of England's most architecturally and culturally significant regions, whose skyline is written in stone, brick and cast iron, and whose future, DWB argues, depends on continuing to value what already stands.
Oliver Connew, chapter lead for Yorkshire & Humber
Oliver Connew was born and bred in Yorkshire and, after a four-and-a-half-year stint living and working in Australia, returned home in 2023. He and his wife Sonia live with their young family in a small village between Harrogate and Leeds, in a former presbytery building: a daily, lived demonstration of how a structure can evolve gracefully across centuries and remain deeply relevant to the lives within it.
It is a philosophy Oliver carries into his professional engagements.
"Some of my favourite places locally - Salts Mill in Saltaire, The Piece Hall in Halifax, Red Brick Mill in Batley - demonstrate the extraordinary wealth of architectural, social and cultural capital that building reuse can deliver," said Oliver. "These aren't relics. They are living, breathing economic and cultural assets. Yorkshire & Humber has adaptive reuse in its bones. My job is to help make it the default instinct, and push for reuse incentivisation."
Oliver holds an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development from the University of Oxford and is an RICS Certified Whole Life Carbon Assessor, a designation that gives him a precise, quantitative understanding of the embodied carbon implications of the demolish-and-rebuild cycle. In his role at crbn solutions, he advises owners and occupiers of non-domestic buildings on decarbonisation pathways, placing him at the sharp end of the very decisions DWB exists to influence.
"I'm excited to have found a cause that will genuinely raise awareness about how we collectively approach the decisions between demolition and new-build versus reuse," Oliver added. "I'm looking forward to learning more about the pain points around the reuse of buildings in the region and what can be done to prevent wasting buildings."
The Yorkshire & Humber Chapter launches against the backdrop of DWB's landmark paper, The Reuse Dividend, which sets out a rigorous, evidence-based case for the systemic value unlocked when existing buildings are retained, retrofitted and repurposed rather than demolished and replaced.
The paper's findings carry particular resonance for a region like Yorkshire & Humber. Its analysis demonstrates that retrofit and reuse activity generates more jobs per pound of investment than conventional new-build construction, and crucially, those jobs are embedded in local supply chains: the surveyors, structural engineers, specialist contractors, heritage craftspeople and energy retrofit installers who live and work in the communities they serve. They cannot be offshored. They cannot be automated away. For a region that combines a vast legacy of industrial, commercial and civic building stock with persistent economic inequality, this is not an abstract environmental argument. It can form part of a growth strategy.
The Reuse Dividend also makes the carbon case with clarity. Demolishing a building does not merely remove a problem, it destroys an asset and, in doing so, releases the embodied carbon locked into every brick, beam and pane of glass, carbon that can never be reclaimed. For a region where local authorities from Leeds to Sheffield have declared climate emergencies and committed to net zero trajectories, the paper's core message is unambiguous: retrofit-first will not only eliminate carbon emissions today, but it is also an economic growth opportunity that benefit local communities and generate an increased tax base.
Key recommendations from The Reuse Dividend with direct relevance to Yorkshire & Humber include:
A statutory 'retrofit first' presumption in planning policy, requiring applicants to provide robust, auditable justification before demolition consent is granted;
VAT harmonisation to eliminate the perverse fiscal incentive that currently zero-rates new build housing while charging 20% on most retrofit works — a disparity that skews developer economics against reuse before a single calculation is made;
Mandatory whole life carbon assessment as a standard component of the planning application process, ensuring that embodied carbon is visible and accountable at the point of decision;
Regional skills and innovation investment to build the retrofit workforce and supply chain that policy reform will demand, with Yorkshire & Humber's further education and apprenticeship infrastructure well-placed to respond.
"The Reuse Dividend isn't just a title, it's a description of what communities leave on the table every time a building comes down unnecessarily," said Oliver. "As an RICS Whole Life Carbon Assessor, I see the numbers behind these decisions daily. The case for reuse is overwhelming. This Yorkshire & Humber Chapter will provide a coordinated regional voice to spread the word and push the case for reuse prioritisation."
Many of the local development plans in the region are under consultation or in development, which makes it a good time to campaign for the prioritisation of the reuse of existing buildings.
DWB welcomes these signals but is candid about the scale of what remains unfinished. Policy ambition is not yet matched by consistent implementation; the VAT anomaly continues to penalise retrofit across every local authority boundary; and whole life carbon remains absent from most planning decisions. The Yorkshire & Humber Chapter will work to accelerate progress, share best practice between authorities, and ensure the region's voice is heard loudly in the national policy conversation.
The Yorkshire & Humber Chapter joins a rapidly expanding UK network of DWB regional groups, which recently saw the launch of chapters in Cumbria, East of England and the South West, in addition to international chapters in the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. The network reflects that embodied carbon is a global issue and that the retrofit-first action must be taken at every level of the planning and development system, from Westminster to individual planning committees.
Richard Nelson, DWB Co-Founder, said:
"Yorkshire & Humber is a region that makes the retrofit-first argument for us. You cannot stand in the Piece Hall or walk the floors of Salts Mill and make a serious case for tearing down what we have inherited and starting again. The embodied value in this region's buildings - the carbon, the craft, the community identity - is enormous, and it is ours to lose if we default to the wrecking ball.
Oliver brings a strong combination of technical rigour, regional rootedness and genuine passion that a chapter lead needs. He understands the numbers as a Whole Life Carbon Assessor, he understands the places as someone who has grown up loving them, and he understands the stakes as a parent who wants his children to inherit a planet from people who made the right decisions.
Don't Waste Buildings is growing because the argument is becoming impossible to ignore: retrofit first is as much an economic growth opportunity as it is a social and environmental imperative. Having Oliver making this case across Yorkshire & Humber means it will be made with authority, with conviction and with local credibility. We are honoured and delighted to have him on the team."
Oliver closed with a direct appeal to the region's instincts:
"Yorkshire has never been short of practical common sense. The idea that we should demolish buildings that can be saved, adapted and decarbonised, wasting the embodied carbon, the jobs, the craftsmanship and the cultural memory locked within them, is one that I think this region will find very difficult to. Don't Waste Buildings gives us the platform to push the agenda of building reuse regionally, and I can't think of a better place to be making that case."
About Don't Waste Buildings:
Don't Waste Buildings (DWB) is a UK-based international organisation dedicated to making the case for the reuse and retrofit of existing buildings through government policy clarity and financial incentives to make it the default choice for developers. DWB brings together built environment professionals, policymakers, developers, and building owners to share knowledge, challenge assumptions, and accelerate the shift towards a more circular approach to development, one that recognises the environmental, social, cultural, and economic value embedded in the buildings we already have. DWB operates through a growing network of UK regional and international chapters, each building local communities of practice around the global imperative to leverage the economic, social and environmental impact opportunities of reusing and regenerating existing buildings and places.
Media Enquiries: Leanne Tritton, Co-Founder | info@dontwastebuildings.com
