Buildings are responsible for 50% of C02 emissions and their design has become the focus of intense technical scrutiny. Knowing how to build more technically efficient, or more ecologically and being able to assemble the social resources to do so requires different forms of knowledge and practice. There is wide contestation over the optimal pathyways to greener buildings design and great diversity in practices of sustainable architecture.

Written by an authoritative team of experts, this book gives guidance as to the types of building stock offering greatest potential for conversion that are likely to be viable and sustainable. The team of authors includes historians, researchers, conservationists, designers and entrepreneurs. The book covers a wide range of issues from analysis of different types of industrial building and conservation policy to a useful illustrated case study section presenting successful initiatives in different environments and countries.