Adaptive Reuse

Issues Addressed:
Housing Costs Housing Options Infrastructure Redevelopment Sustainable Housing
A diagram showing two versions of the same building. At the top: a darkened mill-style building with missing windows, a broken roof, and sparse plant growth around it. An arrow points to an image below where the image has been brightened, the windows replaced, the roof repaired, and a tree growing next the structure.

What is it?

“Adaptive reuse” or “adaptive use” is the practice of reusing old buildings for new purposes. While people have always adapted their buildings to meet the needs of the moment, the contemporary architectural practice and term “adaptive reuse” emerged in the 1970s and 1980s in response to the demolition of historical buildings during the era of urban renewal. 

While, in theory, many types of buildings can be adapted for new uses, in practice adaptive reuse most often occurs in pre-World-War-II industrial buildings (like factories, mills, and power plants) and institutional buildings (like hospitals, schools, and houses of worship). The durability of pre-war construction and the dimensions of such buildings make them more amenable to adaptive reuse compared to post-war buildings. Often these older buildings are well suited for housing.

While adaptive reuse is a great way to add new housing, revitalize vacant buildings, increase local tax revenue, and reduce the energy used for new construction, adaptive reuse projects are typically more complex than new greenfield development.

How can it help?

Adaptive reuse can…

  • Provide new housing in existing communities.
  • Provide a wider range of home types than conventional development.
  • Create opportunities for mixed-use development.
  • Preserve local heritage and sense of place and history.
  • Eliminate the negative impacts of empty buildings and vacant lots.
  • Increase the value of and tax revenue generated by older buildings.
  • Spur economic development in disadvantaged areas.
  • Remediate sites contaminated with hazardous industrial materials.
  • Save on costs for construction (if the site does not require extensive cleanup).
  • Reduce the embodied carbon footprint of new housing.
  • Reduce demand for greenfield housing development, thus preserving open spaces. 
  • Take advantage of current infrastructure capacity, rather than creating the need for new infrastructure.

Getting Started

  1. Recognize and promote adaptive reuse’s impact on common master plan goals, such as historic preservation, economic development, open space preservation, and increased housing options.
  2. If undertaking a master plan, include adaptive reuse as a recommendation.
  3. Consult any other plans, including urban renewal plans, to learn if other sites have already been identified for adaptive reuse or redevelopment. If so, find out what barriers to redevelopment have been previously identified.
  4. Inventory existing buildings and sites that would be appropriate for adaptive reuse. This could include historic mill complexes, power plants, factories, schools, hospitals, churches, retail malls, or other sites.
  5. Where possible, talk to property owners to gauge interest in redevelopment or selling their property for that purpose. If the property owner has already considered redevelopment, determine what factors have shaped their decisions.
  6. Reach out to and build relationships with property developers who specialize in adaptive reuse. Talk to them about the typical impediments they face in their projects.
  7. Conduct an audit of your city or town’s regulations to find impediments to reuse of existing buildings. Your audit should include zoning (use, parking, and dimensional rules), site design regulations, any local amendments to the state building code, conservation requirements, and any other regulations relevant to your conversations with property owners and developers. Identify barriers to adaptive reuse.
  8. Propose amendments to local regulations that would make adaptive reuse viable in your community. Building, zoning, and site design regulations should be flexible enough to make projects workable on constrained sites.
  9. Build public awareness of preservation needs and adaptive reuse potential.
    1. Use public forums, outreach to local boards and committees, and other engagement methods to grow awareness. 
    2. Use visuals to illustrate what adaptive reuse would look like at specific sites.
  10. Introduce and encourage partnerships between property owners and potential developers.
  11. Work with private consultants and/or the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services to assess environmental remediation needs on viable sites.
  12. Where necessary, identify sources of funding for environmental remediation, including local sources, NH DES grants and loans, or US EPA funds.

Considerations

  • Public investment in infrastructure or environmental clean-up can spur private investment in building rehabilitation.
  • Brownfield assessments and cleanups can be facilitated by NH Department of Environmental Services and US Environmental Protection Agency grants and loans.
  • For identified sites, ensure housing is allowed by-right following administrative review.
  • Larger projects benefit from a mix of uses. Leading development with retail, restaurant, and/or cultural institutions can help spur interest in reuse of other buildings/sites nearby.
  • When allowing non-residential uses, ensure residential uses are prioritized through zoning incentives and/or restrictions.
  • The 2018 International Existing Building Code (IEBC) has been adopted by the State and specifies guidance and requirements for adaptive reuse projects. Your community’s building inspectors (if you have them) should be trained in this code. Communities without a local building code enforcement system can request the State Bureau of Building Safety & Construction Engineering & Plan Review Section inspect construction projects.
  • (Re)branding a specific site or historic area may help increase interest in adaptive reuse.

Case Studies

  • Manchester, NH
  • Newmarket Mills, Newmarket, NH
  • Cottage Hospital, Portsmouth, NH
  • Holyoke, MA
  • Baltimore, MD
    • Read more

Resources

Related Tools

An axonometric diagram of two buildings next to each other. One building is four stories with two entrances. On the bottom story there is a sign for "nh hardware." The second building is two stories with three entrances (including a corner entrance), awnings, and cafe tables). The drawing is labeled "Retail, restaurant, and other active uses on ground floor" and "Housing on upper levels."
Mixed-Use Development
An axonometric diagram of two versions of the same area of land. On the top is a diagram of the area with five two- and three-story buildings, plus large empty lots breaking up the area. An arrow points from the top to bottom. On the bottom, the empty lots now contain additional mixed-use buildings and homes.
Infill Development
A diagram showing an axonometric view of an area with several two- and three-story buildings. An area is demarcated on the land and labeled "Designated Downtown or Village Area." Most of the buildings are grayed out, but one building is shown in color and labeled "Rehabilitated Property." Below the axonometric drawing is the label "Community Revitalization Tax Relief" with a column chart with two bars. The column on the left is labeled "Before rehab" and "Taxed value on property before rehabilitation." That column is small and shown in green. A larger column on the right is labeled "After rehab." The portion of the column equal to the "Before rehab" column is also green. The portion above that is gray and hatched and labeled "Untaxed value on rehabilitation: savings for up to 5 years."
Community Revitalization Tax Relief (79-E)
A diagram showing an axonometric view of an area with several colorful 1.5 and two-story homes. An area is demarcated on the land and labeled "Designated Housing Opportunity Zone." Below the axonometric drawing is the label "Taxes in Housing Opportunity Zone" with a column chart with two bars. The column on the left is labeled "Before new development" and "Taxed value on property before development." That column is small and shown in green. A larger column on the right is labeled "After new development." The portion of the column equal to the "Before new development" column is also green. The portion above that is gray and hatched and labeled "Untaxed value on new development: savings for up to 10 years."
Housing Opportunity Zones
A diagram of five drawings connect by one-way arrows. First, a drawing of yellow notes labeled "Municipal bond." Second an axonometric drawing of a street with the road and underground pipes showing, labeled "Infrastructure." Third a drawing of a building labeled "Private development." Fourth, a column chart showing a small column on the left in light green, and a large column on the right with a gray area equal in size to the first column and a green area above. The chart is labeled "Property taxes on increased values." Fifth and finally, a drawing of a $50 bill labeled "Bond payments."
Tax Increment Financing (TIF)
Three axonometric diagrams connected by one-way arrows. First, a small home on a small plot of land labeled "Historic, compact development pattern." Second, a larger home on a larger plot of land with arrows specifying setbacks, etc. labeled "Development mandated under zoning." Third and finally, a home and land parcel the same size as the first drawing, with arrows indicating setbacks, etc. and labeled "Reduced requirements."
Reduced Zoning and Subdivision Requirements
A drawing of a plot of land. Most of the land is shown in green and planted with trees, with two small houses. It is labeled "Sending Zone: Land owners sell development permissions to preserve open space/agriculture." A smaller area is grayed out and shows many buildings. It is labeled "Receiving Zone: Land owners buy development permissions to increase allowed density."
Transfer of Development Rights (TDR)
A grayscale diagram of a three-story, mixed-use, traditionally styled building with three columns of windows and a cornice. On the left is a diagram of the front facade, on the right is an axonometric diagram of the building on its land parcel. There are unlabeled arrows implying measurements for total height, total living area height, ground floor height, upper floor heights, cornice heights, ground and upper floor fenestration, setbacks, land widths, parcel depths, etc.
Form-Based Codes