Demolition Map

We are in a state of climate and ecological emergency! With the built environment contributing to 42% of national emissions, we urgently need to implement ambitious and radical changes if we hope to address and reverse our current trajectory towards catastrophe. Presently, the manner in which we produce, operate and renew our built environment continues to curtail biodiversity, pollute ecosystems and encourage unsustainable lifestyles.

The UK Green Building Council, an organisation that aims to 'radically transform' the way that the built environment in the UK is planned, designed, constructed, maintained and operate, estimates that 25% of the UK’s emissions are directly attributable to the vast energy required to produce new construction materials. Cement production alone accounts for 8% of the world’s carbon emissions, and the construction industry consumes 50% of global steel production and 25% of all plastics and produces 60% of UK waste.

And whilst there is widespread awareness of the consequences, we see fully functioning buildings being demolished one after the other, often with the same use as before.

Trying to find statistics on threatened or unfairly demolished buildings can be difficult. 'It is equally difficult to find positive case studies of campaigns that saved buildings from demolition.

The Demolition Map aims to gather information on threatened, demolished, or saved buildings, building on the campaign to stop demolition, as a critical step towards Net Zero!

For this map, we have chosen to start with demolitions from 2016, when the UK signed the Paris Agreement.

Demolition does not only result in the loss of materials and resources, but also cultural, historical, and social values. In the UK, demolitions are often targeted at social housing, as there is a wider trend in replacing estates built around the 70s and 80s with new-built homes at largely increased rent, meaning that vast numbers of people remain displaced.

In our times, social cleansing and ecological damage go hand in hand.

By identifying all these buildings that we unfairly lost, the ones that are currently threatened and the saved ones, we hope to build a picture of the immense scale of the issue and advocate stronger to address it, by promoting reuse and retrofit as a first and best option.

HOW TO ADD A BUILDING

Do you know a building threatened with demolition, demolished in 2016 or later, or saved from demolition? Add the building on the map (making sure to locate the site using the 'pin'), and then fill the form with facts, pictures, stories, and personal memories! Once you have submitted the information our team of volunteers will moderate and publish your entry within the next few days.

Contributors' contact details and email addresses, provided when you add a building, will not be displayed on the website or passed on to third parties.

If you are looking for sources of information for existing or historic buildings, you can search in:

Various council and municipality Planning Portals
Historic Environment Scotland - Portal
Historic England - Listed Buildings Map
Wikipedia and the Wikimedia Commons
National Library of Scotland for historic maps

Do you have any tips on where to find more information? Feel free to email us!