Why Refurbishment Matters for Long-Term Building Value
As cities grow and environmental pressures increase, the circular economy is reshaping how buildings are designed, delivered, and upgraded. Rather than following the traditional “take–make–dispose” model, the circular economy prioritises reuse, upgrading, and extending the life of existing assets to reduce waste, carbon footprint, and improve long-term value.
Refurbishment projects play a central role in this shift. In 2020, around 70% of office construction activity in Central London focused on refurbishing existing buildings rather than new builds, reflecting a mature market with a stronger emphasis on asset optimisation over replacement.
In the UAE, the context is different, but the trend toward refurbishment is becoming more evident. The vast majority of the country’s existing building stock was developed after 2000, meaning many assets are now entering a phase where system upgrades, rather than wholesale redevelopment, are becoming increasingly relevant. While the UAE construction market has historically been driven by new development, refurbishment activity is now gaining momentum as asset life extension, operational performance, and long-term value take on greater importance.
This shift is also supported by regulatory and policy frameworks that incorporate sustainability requirements into the built environment. The Dubai Green Building Regulations (mandatory since 2014), the Al Sa’fat rating system (mandatory since 2020), and Abu Dhabi’s Estidama Pearl Rating System (mandatory since 2010) all reinforce the need to consider performance, efficiency, and lifecycle thinking across building systems. While sustainability alone is rarely a primary commercial driver, these frameworks increasingly influence how assets are assessed, upgraded, and future-proofed.
Why Lifts Matter in the Circular Economy
Vertical transportation systems are critical to building operation, user experience, and long-term asset performance. They also represent a practical opportunity to apply circular economy principles at a system level.
Instead of removing and replacing entire lift systems, partial modernisation and refurbishment can significantly improve performance while retaining a large proportion of the existing installation. This approach can reduce disruption, shorten downtime, and avoid unnecessary replacement of components that remain structurally and technically sound, all while maintaining safety and compliance.
Historically, sustainability discussions around lifts have focused primarily on operational energy efficiency. While this remains important, attention is increasingly expanding to include embodied carbon, the emissions associated with manufacturing, transporting, and installing new components. From a technical perspective, retaining suitable existing elements and upgrading only what is necessary can materially reduce upfront environmental impact compared to full replacement.
However, the real strength of lift refurbishment lies not only in environmental outcomes, but in the broader commercial and operational benefits it can deliver to asset owners and operators.
The Commercial Case for Lift Refurbishment in the UAE
For asset owners in the UAE, refurbishment is often best evaluated through considerations of flexibility, speed, and long-term value rather than sustainability alone.
Refurbishment and modernisation strategies can offer greater agility, allowing buildings to respond more quickly to changing tenant expectations, technology developments, and regulatory requirements. Targeted upgrades can be phased over time, enabling assets to remain competitive without committing to large, single-point capital expenditure.
Lead times and downtime are often significantly shorter than full replacement. By retaining major structural and mechanical components, projects can reduce installation periods and minimise disruption to occupants, a critical consideration for operational commercial and residential buildings.
Refurbishment also enables greater use of local and regional supply chains. Unlike new lift installations, which often rely heavily on centralised manufacturing and long international logistics chains, modernisation projects draw more extensively on local expertise, specialist contractors, and regional suppliers. This supports a more tailored, market-specific approach aligned with UAE building typologies and operational realities.
From a cost perspective, while the upfront capital cost difference between partial modernisation and full replacement can sometimes appear modest, the lifetime cost profile often tells a different story. Retaining serviceable components, reducing downtime, and avoiding premature replacement can improve whole-life cost efficiency and enhance long-term asset value.
Refurbishment vs New Build: A Wider Project Perspective
The benefits of refurbishment extend beyond vertical transportation systems. Across the built environment, upgrading existing buildings often delivers both environmental and commercial advantages:
Refurbishment typically results in lower embodied carbon than new construction and can offer improved whole-life performance.
Renovation avoids large volumes of demolition and construction waste, which in some regions accounts for over one-third of total waste generated, and significantly more where demolition activity is high.
Circular approaches such as reuse and retrofitting support local labour, specialist trades, and regional supply chains while reducing transport-related impacts.
For developers, asset owners, and project teams, refurbishment can therefore support sustainability objectives while also strengthening asset resilience and long-term value.
Why Lift Refurbishment Is Still Underused
Despite these advantages, partial lift modernisation is still less frequently adopted than full replacement. One contributing factor is the lift industry’s increasing reliance on standardised, full replacement solutions, which are often simpler to procure and easier to manage from a contractual and warranty perspective.
Over time, the availability of highly experienced lift modernisation specialists has declined, making complex refurbishment projects appear more challenging to deliver with confidence. As a result, full replacement is frequently perceived as the lower-risk option.
In many cases, the upfront cost difference between partial modernisation and full replacement is relatively small. Clients understandably gravitate toward full replacement, where a marginal increase in capital cost delivers a brand-new system with a single warranty and clear lines of responsibility. However, this perspective can overlook the longer-term implications for lifecycle cost, flexibility, and environmental impact.
The Role of Manufacturers in Driving Change
Lift manufacturers are well positioned to enable a more sustainable and commercially balanced approach. This requires greater emphasis on lifecycle planning, modular system design, and standardised modernisation packages that make refurbishment more predictable, scalable, and attractive for clients.
Rather than designing lift systems around a nominal 20–25-year lifespan, the industry may increasingly consider 40–50-year asset strategies, supported by planned interventions such as minor modernisation every 10 years and major modernisation every 20 years. Recognising that not all components need to be replaced simultaneously is key to reducing waste while maintaining safety and performance.
This shift requires changes in mindset and business models, but it offers clients clearer long-term planning, improved cost certainty, and more resilient assets. More broadly, as resource constraints tighten and regulatory and market pressures continue to evolve, a move toward circular, resource-efficient systems is becoming unavoidable. Early consideration of these factors can improve long-term adaptability and planning certainty for asset owners.
A More Informed Approach to Long-Term Value
At Soydan VT Consultancy, we support clients, architects, developers, cost consultants, and project managers with independent, technically robust vertical transportation advice. We help project teams evaluate refurbishment and modernisation options objectively, balancing cost, programme, risk, performance, and long-term asset value.
With experience across both refurbishment and new-build projects, and a strong understanding of circular economy principles, we support informed, practical VT decisions that deliver resilient, future-ready buildings.
This approach supports balanced, informed decisions across performance, risk, and long-term value considerations.
References
London Refurbishment vs New Build Trends — Macfarlanes (Central London offices)
https://www.macfarlanes.com/what-we-think/2023/refurbishment-and-the-circular-economy/
Deloitte survey on London office refurbishment activity
Circularity in the Built Environment, McKinsey & World Economic Forum
https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Circularity_in_the_Built_Environment_2024.pdf
Embodied carbon reduction through reuse — Anthropocene Magazine
Carbon and business case for refurbishment vs new build, AECOM
https://insights.aecom.com/insights/article/refurbishment-vs-new-build-the-carbon-and-business-case
Adaptive reuse overview, Wikipedia
Eight Surprising Advantages of Retrofit over Demolition
https://www.holcimfoundation.org/media/articles/2025/eight-advantages-retrofit
Including Embodied Carbon in Assessing Renovation
Al Sa’fat – Dubai Green Building System
https://www.dm.gov.ae/municipality-business/al-safat-dubai-green-building-system/
The Pearl Rating System for Estidama Building Rating System
https://jawdah.qcc.abudhabi.ae/en/Registration/QCCServices/Services/STD/ISGL/ISGL-LIST/DP-306.pdf