Precinct Retrofit Roadmap

Towards a Precinct Retrofit Roadmap

Researchers:  Sarah Bell, Brendon McNiven, Enzo Lara-Hamilton

Overview: Precinct retrofit, or urban retrofit is well established in academic literature as an effective approach to decarbonisation. Low carbon precincts have been a key research area of numerous Australian Research Council Funded Centres and projects such as the Low Carbon Living CRC (2012 – 2019), and currently RACEfor2030 CRC’s Pathways to Net Zero Precincts project is currently underway (2024 – Ongoing). This research area, as a means to not only decarbonise, electrify, and optimise city systems at the scale of precincts, is a clear government priority, aligning with the ARC Industrial Transformation research program priorities: Renewables and low emissions technologies, Transport, and Value-add in resources (2024). Precinct scale retrofitting hosts a number of barriers to implementation, amplified by increased complexity of projects. To deal with these challenges, a Retrofitting Precinct Roadmap will be produced. This roadmap will establish a framework for achieving clear market and governance challenges to retrofitting at a precinct scale, and act as a shared source of truth to work toward increasing effectiveness and uptake of retrofitting at a precinct or district scale. The roadmap will identify knowledge gaps and research priorities.