Why retrofitting in India lags and how to tackle it?

The incremental cost in retrofitting an existing building would be anywhere near 15-20% depending on the structural condition and the size of the building and the challenges an architect would face because it involves a lot of effort, time and money. These challenges pose a serious threat to the demand. Unless there is a growth in demand, manufacturers would not come up with cost-effective solutions. So awareness should be created and once the demand picks up, eventually the cost of retrofitting existing buildings would come down.

Dear friend, retrofitting of existing buildings is a tough thing to do, primarily because of the cost factor. The ratio between new green buildings and retrofitting of existing buildings would be about 25:1. The government should wake up soon and take a lead by retrofitting their age old buildings. If that is done, it would throw open a huge opportunity for architects to come up with ideal solutions, which in turn can help in conserving energy. If the demand for retrofitting of existing structures picks up, then the market would expand on a huge scale, generating opportunities for manufacturers to come up with more cost-effective products.

 The success of every project whether big or small, is driven by its purpose, payback period, Ethos and Economics. Retro fitting is not an exception.

The purpose of retrofitting wins its case if it: ensures longevity of the building; increases the structural safety of the building; conserves the heritage cultural importance of the building if any attributed to the building.

Another good reason it’s the payback period within which the asset earns its cost of construction including the establishment cost. The shorter the period, the more viable it is.

Ethos is the most important in case of the monuments and buildings of historical importance. The existence of the building/ structure is linked to sentiments of the citizens, culture of the country.

Economics is the most important of all. It is directly linked to the revenue generated owing to its tourist attraction and other good reasons.

The retro fitting serving all these purposes will be meaning full and successful.

Retro fitting in India lags because the technologies adopted like micro concreting and others are yet to be fully developed. The use of retro fitting technics are limitd to Monumental buildings in India.

More over the Average Indian engineering psyche is more towards constructing new structures rather than retrofittingthe old ones .

Any change, modernisation or implementation of any policy it always depend upon effectiveness of the enforcing agencies which are government organisations. Unfortunately almost all government organisations lag behind in any advance modernisation methods. Even whatever formulated isnever enforceddue to careless & casual attitude of such implementors. That is is the prime reason whu India lags & astrict enforcement policy driven by strong political will can tackle such inertia.