Retrofit Talks is a webinar series platforming architects and product manufacturers to discuss completed or ongoing retrofit projects. Part of Retrofit 24, these talks give a voice to built environment professionals, allowing them to detail in their own words the process, challenges and outcomes of their projects. Connecting people, allowing for cross country dialogue, Retrofit Talks gives the audience the opportunity to learn from our presenters and ask questions in the Q&A. If you have ever wondered about the process behind a building join us for these lunch time sessions and have your queries answered.
Civic House in Glasgow is a 1920’s multi -functional industrial building. It houses a workspace, venue and canteen and it hosts social, cultural and green enterprises. However, it was designed with little thought for energy efficiency. In 2017 Agile City tasked Collective Architecture with turning this building into Scotland’s first PassiveWareHaus. Using a phased approach that was mindful of the limited funding, Emily Ong and her colleagues created a comfortable and cost- effective space, reduced CO2 emissions from heating and the building now generates over 30,000 kWh of energy per year. Emily will not be able to join this session but her efforts are clear; Civic House won the GIA Sustainability Award in 2023 and was awarded a Retrofit Silver Medal by the Scottish Design Award. Join us for this lunch time session where the hosts; Chris Stewart of Collective Architecture and Robert Morisson of Agile City, will discuss how this challenge was tackled.
- Chris Stewart (Architect & PassivHaus designer)
- Emily Ong (Architect & PassivHaus designer)
- Robert Morisson (Co- Chair/ Co- Director- Agile City)
Chris has been working in architectural practice for over 30 years and has been involved in the design, direction and teaching of sustainable buildings for over 20 years. He has considerable experience in directing, through a wide variety of successful and well received projects, from large scale strategies to smaller community-based regenerations. Chris is RIAS Sustainable accredited, a RIAS Sustainable Assessor and chair of SEDA. He is Convenor of the GIA Sustainability committee and Chair of the RIAS Sustainable Working Group.
Emily joined Collective Architecture in 2019. She has contributed to a range of projects, ranging from a small-scale community refurbishments to large-scale passivhaus developments in various stages of completion. Emily's extensive knowledge of construction and broad understanding of building typologies has enabled her to contribute to the detailed design of numerous projects. Notably, she has completed the Civic House refurbishment project targeting the EnerPHit Standard and is currently managing the delivery of 90 unit Passivhauss new build flats at Dundashill.
Rob is the Executive Director of Agile City CIC. The driving force behind his work is the creation of spaces for development and learning which empower communities to create positive and sustainable change. He has overseen the fund-raising and development for the retrofit of Civic House and is currently working on developing Glue Factory - the second building in an emerging 'retrofit campus' of spaces next to the canal in north Glasgow.
