Should You Renovate, Rebuild or Start Again?
If you already own a home and are thinking about making substantial changes, one of the first questions that usually comes up is whether to renovate, rebuild or start again.
It can seem like a fairly straightforward decision, but there is quite a lot to consider. The existing house, the site it sits on, the way you live, your budget and what you want from the home in the future all have a part to play.
For us, the starting point isn’t deciding whether the house should stay or go. It’s understanding what is already there.
An existing home can have qualities that aren’t immediately obvious from looking at a floor plan. It might have good orientation, established gardens, mature trees, interesting materials or a particularly good relationship with the landscape. There may also be parts of the house that work very well, even if other areas don’t.
We like to spend some time looking at these things before drawing anything.
Understanding what you already have
When we begin a renovation or alteration project, we look at the house as well as the site around it. Some of the things we consider include:
Orientation and the movement of the sun
Natural light throughout the day
Prevailing breezes and opportunities for cross ventilation
Existing trees, gardens and landscape
Views and privacy
Topography, drainage and other site constraints
The condition and potential of the existing structure
How the existing spaces connect with each other and the outdoors
We also want to understand how the house actually works for the people living in it.
Where do you spend most of your time? Which rooms do you enjoy being in? Where does the house become dark, hot or difficult to use? Is there somewhere quiet to retreat to? How do you move between the kitchen, living areas and garden?
These conversations can reveal that the problem isn’t necessarily a lack of space. Sometimes the house has enough space, but it isn’t arranged in a way that supports the way you live.
A renovation might therefore involve relatively simple changes to the existing layout. In another project, a larger extension or substantial reconfiguration might make more sense.
When rebuilding might make more sense
There are homes where renovation simply isn’t the most sensible path.
The existing structure may be in poor condition, the layout may be fundamentally at odds with the site, or the changes required to make the house work may involve rebuilding so much of it that starting again becomes the more practical option.
A new home gives us the opportunity to respond to the site from the beginning. We can consider where the house should sit, how it should orient itself to the sun and breezes, where it should open to the garden and where it needs to provide privacy.
Even when a house is going to be demolished, we don’t necessarily see the site as a blank slate.
There may be things worth carrying forward:
Existing trees and established landscape
Materials that can be salvaged or reused
Parts of the existing structure
Existing site features and natural contours
The character and history of the property
These things can influence the design of what comes next.
Looking beyond the building
This is where regenerative design becomes particularly relevant.
Rather than looking only at how to make a building more energy efficient or use more sustainable materials, regenerative design encourages us to consider the wider relationship between the project and its place.
We might ask how the project can:
Protect and improve the existing landscape
Work with the local climate rather than against it
Reduce reliance on mechanical heating and cooling
Retain or reuse what is already there
Support biodiversity and healthy soil
Use water thoughtfully
Remain useful and adaptable over time
Sometimes that means building less. Sometimes it means rebuilding because the existing house simply can’t provide the quality of home that is needed without excessive compromise.
The important part is understanding the difference.
Considering the home through Vāstu Shāstra
Our approach is also informed by Vāstu Shāstra, an ancient Indian tradition concerned with the relationship between people, buildings and the natural world.
We don’t approach Vāstu Shāstra as a rigid set of rules to apply to every house. Instead, it offers another lens through which to consider the qualities of a site, orientation, movement, light, water and the relationship between built and natural space.
This complements the practical site analysis we already undertake. Both encourage us to slow down and pay attention to the particular qualities of a place before deciding what should be built there.
So how do you decide?
There isn’t a simple rule that renovation is always more sustainable, or that rebuilding will always give you a better result.
For each project, we look at what is already there, what isn’t working, what the site offers and what you want the home to become. From there, we can explore different possibilities — retaining, renovating, extending, substantially altering or rebuilding — and understand the implications of each.
That process gives you a much better basis for making the decision than simply comparing the cost of a renovation with the cost of a new build.
The starting point is the same either way: understand the place, understand the home, and understand how you want to live.
Then we can work out what comes next.
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