🏢Pall Mall is a deep retrofit of a Grade II listed office building located in Manchester, UK. 💡It has been transformed from a 1960s office building into a modern, sustainable hub for innovation, technology and science sectors.

💡 Efficiency-led retrofit projects have enormous potential to transform urban decarbonisation, provided policy, finance, and delivery mechanisms work together effectively.

🏠 The delivery of genuinely affordable, secure and socially supportive housing has emerged as a defining challenge across the urban retrofit landscape. These two recent additions to our case study library demonstrate different ways cities across Canada are exploring affordable housing delivery.

📢Urban Retrofit Co-Investigator and Planning Authorities Co-Lead Hannah Hickman (Assoc. Prof of Planning Practice at the @uwebristolofficial.bsky.social) is speaking at the @rtpiplanners.bsky.social 'Academia into planning practice' seminar on 11 June 2026.

💡 District-scale retrofits engage many more actors, more complex administrative structures and much larger budgets than building retrofits.

💡 'Bristol City Leap' is a world-first approach to decarbonisation at city scale. Delivering modernised and reliable heating, and creating social value in local communities, learn more about this Energy & Efficiency case study shared by the team at Vattenfall Heat UK for our case study bank. Read👇

💡This new paper from Urban Retrofit project team Prof James White and Dr Jeff Biggar in Planning Practice & Research Journal explores how the adaptive reuse of commercial offices is gaining traction as a means of addressing housing affordability in Canada.

❗ Interested in the future of planning education? If you're in Glasgow tomorrow tomorrow afternoon, please do come along to our in-person seminar with Hannah Hickman (University of the West of England). Details and sign up in the thread below 👇

🚨Still time to register for our in-person seminar next Thursday (23 April) at the @glasgow.ac.uk! 👉 Sign up here: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ussp-and-u...

🧱 🏘️ Can retrofitting industrial parks help address the housing crisis? ✍ In this blog, Kathryn Firth explains an ongoing Arup study exploring how industrial parks could help solve the housing crisis by evolving into dense, mixed-use neighbourhoods that combine homes, jobs, and sustainability.

📍Sign up now for our free upcoming seminar with Hannah Hickman "Planners are society's humanisers": The expectations and motivations of 21st century planning students, taking place in-person 23 Apr 26 3:30-5pm at @glasgow.ac.uk 👉More info and tickets: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ussp-and-u...

📍Join Dr Philip O'Brien and Prof James White on a tour of urban retrofitting sights in the biggest city in the American South, Atlanta in this most recent blog on our website: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/suburban-ret...

💡NEW BLOG: Celia Davis highlights that despite the crucial role of planning in addressing the climate crisis, in practice climate considerations are seldom practiced. Unless change occurs, the English planning system will be poorly equipped to respond to climate emergency.

Thanks @housingevidence.bsky.social for sharing the latest case study from our human-centred retrofit theme! All Urban Retrofit case studies can be found on our website: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/case-studies/

💡 In this third case study focusing on examples of human-centred retrofit, the Urban Retrofit team look at the Affordable Housing Association of Nova Scotia (AHANS). Read in full here: lnkd.in/e4CWdA_D 📍 To see all live case studies so far, see here: lnkd.in/eS8mxpvg

🌍 Retrofit is not new in Latin America's self-built neighbourhoods with people repairing, restoring, adapting and improving their environments for decades. [1/3]

📖 In our second case study focusing on examples of human-centred retrofit, we explore the Milton Parc Citizens' Committee in Montréal, Canada. Read here: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/case-studies... [1/5]

Human-centred retrofits are those which emphasise the social processes. Read more about Jane and Finch Centre Corner Commons project including challenges, results and lessons learned: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/case-studies...

In our first blog published in 2026, Dr Neale Blair reflects on the evolving iterations of regional development strategies in Northern Ireland with retrofit in focus. Read more: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/urban-retrof...

It has been a busy first year for the Urban Retrofit project, with much more to come in 2026. Principal investigator @profjtwhite.bsky.social reflects on the milestones of this year. Read: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/urban-retrof...

Reflections from @profjtwhite.bsky.social and Assoc. Prof Hannah Hickman who recently attended #SBE25 in Trondheim, Norway. Read more: urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/counting-car...

The URBAN RETROFIT International Symposium concluded with some excellent discussions on retrofitting the historic environment; growth, risk, and the development industry; and governance and regulation. Look out for outputs on our website in due course.

After getting out and about the city, participants at the URBAN RETROFIT International Symposium got straight back into detailed discussions about design-aware retrofit, the density question, and scaling up retrofit initiatives.

It was an early start this morning for participants at the URBAN RETROFIT International Symposium, with four parallel walking tours around different areas of Glasgow - Govan, Laurieston, Dundashill, and the Avenues. Thanks to everyone who helped to organise the tours!

Tonight's provocative lecture by Prof Yvonne Rydin on post-growth got the audience thinking about different ways to think about the pervasive "growth economy". This stimulated a wealth of reflective commentary and ideas about the future of planning and urban retrofit.

Discussions continued at the URBAN RETROFIT International Symposium this afternoon, with a focus on communities, streets, public spaces, and the international experience including examples from Australia, Canada, Colombia, Europe, South Africa & The USA!

Over the next two days, the URBAN RETROFIT team and partners will participate in a series of parallel sessions and study tours. Underway now - some fantastic discussions on housing, climate, and planning, and a special session with reflections on and lessons from our recent Canada study tour!

The URBAN RETROFIT International Symposium is off to a great start in Glasgow, with participants from 5 continents! We kicked things off with the launch of our first major output- a systematic international evidence review- now available online. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/publications/

In this blog, Dr Sarah Payne argues that Labour’s growth agenda risks sidelining urban retrofit in favour of faster greenfield builds. Without clear support, retrofit may lose out to easier, less sustainable options. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/urban-retrof...

Join us for a public lecture by Prof Yvonne Rydin (UCL) on her new book Planning Without Growth - exploring how planning systems can adapt to post-growth futures. 🗓️ 8 September 📍 The Social Hub Glasgow Followed by a panel discussion + drinks. 🔗 urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/event/planni...

In this blog, Dr Jingyi Zhu reflects on the possibilities of urban retrofit and the inspiration she gained from the project study tour of Canadian cities urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/places-peopl...

In this blog, Dr Ying Wang considers the challenges associated with delivering urban retrofit outcomes and what lessons might be drawn from some of the projects visited on the recent Urban Retrofit Study Tour of Canadian cities urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/bridging-the...

In this blog, Dermot O’Kane, Planning Manager at Belfast City Council, reflects on affordable housing delivery in Toronto and Montreal and the lessons that might be drawn for planners in UK cities urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/planning-for...

On the morning of the second day of Urban Retrofit’s Canadian study tour we visited a series of build-to-rent office to residential adaptive reuse projects in Halifax and Dartmouth being developed by place-focused developer Sidewalk RED.

Organised by project team members Jeff Biggar and Graeme Stewart-Robertson from Dalhousie University, our first stop was Halifax where Kyle Miller from Build Nova Scotia gave us a fascinating tour of small and medium sized interventions that have transformed the city’s waterfont.

Urban Retrofit’s Canada study tour is well underway. We've been learning from retrofit, reuse and regeneration projects in Halifax, Montreal and Toronto — from waterfront interventions to tower retrofits and green laneways.

Is growth the problem? Join us on May 7 at UCL for an evening roundtable on post-growth planning with Dr Dan Durrant, Anna Pagani & Lucía Cerrada Morato. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/urban-retr...

Labour's planning reform agenda fixates on growth, but at what cost? urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/urban-retrofit-and-the-governments-planning-agenda-for-growth-compatible-or-contradictory/

🏗️🌍 Labour’s housing push risks more sprawl and car dependency. @profjtwhite.bsky.social and Andy Inch ask whether we can retrofit cities for a greener future instead. 🚶‍♂️🚲 theconversation.com/starmers-pla...

We are delighted to welcome Husniya Kedr Denur to the project team. Husniya is committed to exploring how communities can adapt and thrive in the face of climate challenges through innovative and inclusive urban solutions. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/project-team...

We are excited to welcome Graeme Stewart-Robertson to the project team. Graeme is an environmental geographer and policy researcher based in Atlantic Canada, specialising in climate adaptation and sustainable development. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/project-team...

We are excited to welcome Dr Ying Wang to the project team. Her research revolves around two interrelated themes: urban regeneration and approaches to address ‘wicked’ urban problems. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/project-team...

We are excited to welcome Dr Jingyi Zhu to the project team. Jingyi joins as a Research Associate, bringing expertise in urban planning, design, and governance. Her research explores public space, place quality, and how people engage with cities. urbanretrofit.housingevidence.ac.uk/project-team...

The built environment contributes 25% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. To meet net zero targets, we need to retrofit our cities—not just buildings, but entire urban areas. Find out more about Urban Retrofit from @profjtwhite.bsky.social and Dr Phil O'Brien. youtu.be/v-M5pFghpAs

"What does it all mean? 🌍🏙️ @profjtwhite.bsky.social explores the definitions of retrofit and net zero in our first blog. 🔗 urbanretrofit.ac.uk/what-does-it...

Today we’ve launched our new @urbanretrofit.bsky.social website and invite you to check it out. We are just getting started and there will be more to share as our project develops but do follow us on this exciting research journey.

We are delighted to announce that the website for Urban Retrofit is now live. Led by @profjtwhite.bsky.social and a team of researchers from institutions across the world, this ESRC-funded project is part of a £9.5m investment into place-based approaches to net-zero living. 🔗 urbanretrofit.ac.uk