Experience and lessons learned

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The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them. Sir William Bragg (1862–1942)

Some common reuses for industrial sites are outlined below and case histories described. However, the number of implemented redevelopments is much higher: for example, Waymarking (n.d.) presents 186 cases (including some highlighted in this book) with summaries of site histories, redevelopment processes, and achieved reuses. Several dozens of other cases are discussed in IAEA (2011). Many industrial heritage sites are reused for museums and creative industries (e.g., artist studios). The esthetics of industrial places is often compatible with arts and the building fabric is often preserved with the patina accumulated by time. Multi-residential reuse of industrial sites can cause more radical impacts than other uses. For example, large spaces are carved up into smaller units and new services, such as plumbing or air conditioning, can be installed. Heritage buildings are often adapted as high-end residential developments, which may result in building fabric being painted over, or hidden behind new walls (note these interventions could be regarded as inimical to historic preservation). However, a changing sentiment means that the industrial esthetics and patina of building fabric are now growingly recognized. Heritage qualities tend currently to be appreciated as desirable components and are successfully marketed. Residential reuse can also generate good financial returns. In some cases, residential reuse of industrial buildings has resulted in the regeneration of those areas, and has significantly increased property prices. Recreation can offer options for the reuse of sites in a manner accessible to broad segments of the community. Recreational uses may also be the solution for heritage sites that are hard to reuse otherwise. For example, many decommissioned railways are being reused as trails for cycling, walking, and other recreational activities (Section 6.7.5). Recreational reuses can also allow to maintain sites in the state of “ruins,” that is, some recreational reuses do not require fully operational buildings;

Fig. 6.1 Claude Lorrain—The Painter as Draftsman, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Beyond Decommissioning. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102790-5.00006-3 Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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besides a landscape marked by ruins can have a special fascination to some people (Fig. 6.1).

6.1

Power plant sites and large industrial complexes, including land areas and infrastructure

Many power plants have been left unused for years or decades after they have been decommissioned, which can contribute to the deterioration of a neighborhood’s character and harm the local economy. Instead, other sites have become attractive, integral parts of the surrounding neighborhood by generating new jobs, tax revenues, and business opportunities. Success stories are typically associated with properties that have an underlying value. This may be due to the existing infrastructure, transportation access, or other handy services. The success of a project is not necessarily based on a specific building or land use, as power plants have been adapted for a range of new public or private uses. However, the power plant territory should be assessed to decide on the best fit for reuse. In some cases, the adaptive reuse of a given plant has cascaded into further economic development to the surrounding areas or has been implemented within broader redevelopment plans (e.g., for a whole city or a region). For obsolete power plants, adaptive reuse typically implies the removal of powergenerating components and systems, taking care of any existing contamination; and leaving some structures or buildings for a new function that may or may not be related to power generation. Environmental considerations typically include asbestos, metalbased paints and coatings, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): nuclear power plants have the additional complication of radioactivity. There can be many advantages from reusing a decommissioned commercial NPP, including cost savings, tourism or revenue sources, better public awareness and the preservation of history. The cost of decommissioning a modern NPP is huge. Structures that were designed as lasting, sturdy barriers against high pressures and temperatures, and fluid contaminants are difficult to dismantle. The reuse of some of these structures offsets part— hardly all—of the dismantling cost. In turn these savings would allow the operating organizations to commit funds for a number of uses or to save consumers’ money during plant’s service life. Reusing decommissioned sites can establish new jobs for industrial and residential purposes, and provide the local community with financial support (otherwise lost after plant’s final shutdown). Providing employment possibilities can allow previous plant workers to remain in the community they had chosen when taking a job at an operating plant. Amenities, such as tours at cooling towers or control rooms, can attract visitors and sustain local businesses. Industrial heritage tourism is a growing area nuclear sites could join in. The redevelopment and preservation of nuclear sites help to provide useful information to the public. Actually it is the lack of knowledge and transparency that causes nervousness about nuclear energy. The opening of a site for public access can rid it of irrational fear and unmotivated stigma, and enhance a sense of involvement and

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belonging in the industrial heritage. Besides, the preservation and reuse of former NPPs will benefit young generations as they see and touch the emblems of contemporary NPPs. Power plants offer a variety of special industrial and architectural features that deserve to be preserved in the plant reuse. Industrial equipment formerly used for generating electricity, such as the turbines, smokestacks, steam pipes, or coal hoppers, may seem problematic for redevelopment. However, the original features have been preserved in reuse to maintain the plant’s identity and have even been used as a unique marketing tools (e.g., a landmark). The presence of these structures and their histories will enrich the culture of the local communities and the tourists. Redundant power plants have been adapted to a range of new uses, for example: l

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Museums (e.g., the Tate Modern, London, UK; the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, Canada; Sydney Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia). These cases are described in more detail in IAEA (2011). Restaurants Hotels

In practice, most power plants have been converted into multiple uses. Besides many examples given in the following sections, one case is given here as typical. In New Braunfels, Texas, the Comal power plant was constructed in 1925 and operated until 1973. The facility is adjacent to the Comal River and to the Landa Park, both of which are popular public recreational areas. The plant equipment was dismantled first. Environmental issues included mainly asbestos and metals-based paints. The reuse of the facility was determined by a request for proposal process in which any interested party was allowed to submit a reuse proposal. The selected reuse was a commercial complex with loft apartments, a hotel and restaurant open to the public. The adapted reuse of the building shell was expected to work well with the public recreational activities nearby (Scadden, 2001).

6.1.1 Savannah River Site, SC, USA The Savannah River Site (SRS) has a number of decommissioning projects underway. For example, the partial dismantling and entombment of P and R reactors was completed a few years ago (Fig. 6.2). Spent fuel from US and foreign research reactors is received and stored at the SRS L Area Material Storage (L Basin) (WM, 2013). The L Area Material Storage Facility is a former nuclear reactor built in the 1950s to produce materials for national defense and scientific research. The facility contains a large water-filled basin that was used for disassembly and interim cooling of targets prior to shipment to separation installations onsite. With the shutdown of the reactor and the completion of its production program, the disassembly basin was converted to a storage facility for the onsite inventory of DOE fuels formerly stored at the Receiving Basin for Offsite Fuel, and also for receipt and storage of DOE fuels to be returned from the Domestic Research Reactor and Foreign Research Reactor. In addition, the facility has the possibility to provide inter-area shipment of spent fuel to H-Area for processing. The SRS K-reactor has been turned into a plutonium storage facility.

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Fig. 6.2 The P Reactor at SRS, SC (later entombed). Credit to US DOE.

SRS has still a good deal of operational facilities and can be considered an active site. However, SRS can offer large land for projects that can help ensure the continuing socioeconomic performance of the site. A list of SRS excess facilities eligible for reuse is given in SRS (1995), including a Facility Reuse Inquiry form for prospective developers. The following project is described in SRS (2017). The US military are faced with a shortage of large land for tactical maneuver training. Challenges stem from base closures, constant technological changes, and environmental restrictions: all of these that can hinder training sessions. One possible strategy to overcome these difficulties is to use federal sites. The SRS and the US DOE have a vested interest in national security, and a partnership between the military and the DOE offers reciprocal advantages. The attractions SRS can offer to military training include its isolation, the fact that only 10% of its 800 km2 is in use, its terrain (swamps, timberland, roadways), and its darkness (there are no major cities nearby). On the other hand, military’s work can help SRS missions and goals. In an agreement stipulated in June 2007, it was stated that the military shall have no interactions with SRS operations, no additional cost shall incur to SRS, no live fire training shall be performed, and that the military shall be responsible for operational safety. Training activities must protect the site’s environmental and cultural assets. All military training is planned in advance, and a series of coordination meetings are held before a training event. Under the umbrella of this agreement, the South Carolina National Guard (SCNG) has carried out several projects that have benefited the site, among others, installing a new fire pond dam, replacing the B-area storm water basin and clearing 20 sludge lanes damaged by the ice storm.

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During their July 8–25, 2015 training at SRS soldiers of the 122nd Engineer Battalion worked on converting a sediment/detention pond to a wet detention pond (Fig. 6.3). The project was a collaboration between the SCNG and SRS, which offered civil works training for the soldiers and infrastructure upgrading for the site. A recent training exercise is described in Military.com (2016). In one specific training event, “dirty bomb” scenarios were made up with the use of very short-lived radioisotopes: it is apparent that the assistance of SRS radiation protection specialists was instrumental to facilitate the exercise and ensure that residual radiation levels would quickly go back to background.

6.1.2 Connecticut Yankee NPP, CT, USA (Cooper, 2015) Unlike Rancho Seco NPP (see Section 7.1) the redevelopment of Connecticut Yankee (CY) NPP can hardly define a success story. The plant commenced commercial operations on January 1, 1968. It operated for 29 years, eventually shutting down on December 4, 1996. With a staff of 550, CY had for many years been the largest employer in a small town (Haddam) with limited commercial/industrial activity. The closure of the plant considerably impacted Haddam’s employment levels. Haddam’s nonagricultural employment decreased from 1710 in 1996 to 1320 in 1997. No industry was taking over to replace CY: four years later the employment base was 1400. In late 1999, Bechtel Power Corporation took charge of plant building dismantlement. Bechtel’s 465 contractors far exceeded the 150 CY staff still onsite. The plant decommissioning was completed in 2007. Similar to many decommissioned NPP sites in the USA, a small portion of the land is used for storage of spent fuel and cannot be released until

Fig. 6.3 Civil works on SRS dam. Credit to US DOE.

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the Federal Government develops a national spent fuel disposal site or a centralized store (Fig. 6.4). A small number of CY staff remain to ensure safety of the CY spent fuel store. For Haddam town, the heaviest impact of CY’s closure was the decrease in the tax revenues stemming from the plant value, which would cover the costs of road and bridge maintenance, and the town’s portion of the regional school district budget. Eventually, due to this factor and others, Haddam had to manage a major economic change with scarce financial assets, significant debts, and reduced revenue. Unfortunately, during the years of CY operation, Haddam had chosen not to invest the profits in developing new assets, but only to preserve existing conditions. An Economic Development Plan was made available by consultants in 1997. The plan included a number of new activities: tourism, retail, lodging, incubator space, home business, industrial parks, and offices. The plan also included provisions for public water service to two villages. The plan also suggested that the town be proactive for the construction of a 750-MW gas-fired power plant on an existing parking lot at the CY site, taking advantage of its proximity to water and electricity lines. Shortly before the Economic Development Plan was released, AES Corporation, a Virginia-based energy company expressed interest in purchasing 81,000 m2 of CY land to construct the 750-MW gas-fired plant. The AES proposal was a $310 million project that would contribute up to $200 million to Haddam’s tax base. In early 2001, the project went further ahead as AES and CY signed a draft agreement for a land purchase. In early 2002, however, the proposal was dropped, with AES mentioning security, economic, and supply issues for the cancellation. Since then, the only change

Fig. 6.4 Spent fuel casks stored at Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). Courtesy of Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

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has been the 2013 sale of 0.15 km2 along the Salmon River to the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The land has become part of the Salmon River Division of the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge. With the acquisition of a tract of the CY property, the Salmon River Division included 1.68 km2 of land by 2013. “The Salmon River Division of the Conte refuge includes extensive beds of submerged aquatic vegetation, which provides a multipurpose habitat for a large number of fish species, including commercial finfish and shellfish. The cove where the Salmon River meets the Connecticut includes freshwater tidal wetlands, flats that provide migratory birds and shorebirds with sources of food, water, and shelter and serve as bald eagle winter roost and perch sites” (WNN, 2013).

6.1.3 Big Rock Point NPP, MI, USA (LaGuardia, 2012) The site of Big Rock Point NPP proved to be more valuable for its real estate than initially assumed. The site is situated adjacent to Lake Michigan. The local community was a major attraction to recreational users, and the land was soon recognized as a profitable investment for developers. Therefore, in the course of decommissioning, the owner modified the planned end state from brownfield to greenfield, which facilitated the sale of the land for real estate investment. This entailed all subgrade structures to be fully removed and the site restored to pristine conditions. The additional costs to change the site target were apparently worth.

6.1.4 Indian Point NPP, NY, USA (Lohud, 2018) Two reactors at this site are still in operation, while Unit 1 was shutdown long ago. It is interesting to note that a debate is already open on the reuse of the site: learning of the social and economic impacts of final shutdown at other nuclear sites has prompted the local stakeholders to seek solutions in good time. A consultant has identified three plots of land (two of about 20 ha each and third of 7 ha) on the 100-ha property that could be used to compensate for the tax revenues that the local communities will lose after Indian Point shuts down in 2021. This approach would require that the three parcels be delicensed, a decision to be approved by the NRC: the potential safety-related interactions between the redeveloped sites and adjacent decommissioning activities will have to be evaluated. One parcel includes 20 wooded ha that would likely have to be environmentally reviewed for the impact redevelopment would have on wildlife. The second 20-ha parcel includes the nuclear operator’s training building as well as rights of way for electrical and gas transmission lines. One of the proposed parcels is situated beside the ISFSI. The three parcels could be redeveloped for residential, commercial, and industrial use. The consultant suggested possible uses could include power generation plants for natural gas or renewable sources like solar and wind as well as facilities to store energy. Commercial uses could include offices or a marina (the site is located along the Hudson River). No decision has been taken yet on the extent of redevelopment that would be allowed while the plant is being decommissioned.

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6.1.5 Tihange NPP, Belgium Tihange NPP has been already in operation for many years and the date of its final shutdown is uncertain. A study was made a few years ago to redevelop Tihange and territories nearby as an industrial strip. Details are given in Apperlo (2011).

6.1.6 Windsor Site, CT, USA Nuclear use of the 250-ha Windsor site started in 1955 when Combustion Engineering, Inc. (CE) was tasked by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to manufacture nuclear fuel for the US Navy including R&D. From the mid-1950s to 2000, the site was involved in a range of activities related to nuclear fuel systems, as well as large-scale fossil fuel boiler testing, and coal gasification. Activities produced both low-level radioactive waste and chemical wastes. By 2001, radiological operations came to an end, and decommissioning of the installations commenced. Nuclear decommissioning ended in 2006 when the NRC approved the Final Status Survey. In 2007, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the NRC allowed the property owner (Asea Brown Boveri, ABB, which acquired CE in 1990) to remediate the site areas included in the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) under NRC oversight. Remediation of these areas started in 2009 and ended in 2013 when USACE and NRC approved the related Final Status Survey; then, the NRC license was cancelled. Early in the planning of site remediation, ABB selected the objective of unrestricted use, as they estimated there was little difference in remedial costs between an unrestricted residential and a restricted industrial/commercial use scenario. Besides, ABB wanted to dodge the long-term maintenance and liabilities that would remain under restricted use. This early decision determined the remedial objectives for each of the remediation programs, and oriented the overall remediation strategy. In 2010, as the major remediation activities were coming to an end, ABB established a joint venture with Winstanley Enterprises, LLC to redevelop the site. Early establishment of this alliance allowed the redevelopment plans to be coordinated with the remaining remediation activities. Since 2010, redevelopment scenarios have included light industrial, commercial, and residential reuse. To make the property available for redevelopment opportunities, the redevelopment planners had a policy to release as much of the site as possible, as soon as possible, from all regulatory requirements. Therefore, steps were taken to release portions of the site once they met the applicable release criteria. In September 2013, as the first phase of the redevelopment, the first portion of the site was transferred to Great Pond Village, LLC. The future vision for the site is a phased development including residential and retail space. Detail about the D&ER process and the redevelopment underway are given in Shephard et al. (2014).

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6.1.7 Austin Base, TX, USA Penn Field, Austin, TX, was originally a military air base. During WWI it was used by the US air force for radio training. After the war ended in 1918 the site was auctioned off. In 1922, the plant was destroyed by a tornado. The buildings were reconstructed, and the base became an industrial site occupied by a wood-truck-body-building company, furniture manufacturer, and air-conditioning and fireplace manufacturer. Over the years the state of the buildings began to deteriorate. By 2000, when the site was redeveloped into office space, the mix of brick and timber structures and metal warehouses had been unoccupied for nearly a decade. The site developers decided not to demolish the old brick structures, rather they built new elements inside. Therefore, the building interiors are new, but the outer patina reflects memories of the building history. The architects responsible for the 7-ha redevelopment project stated: “The site had a substantial and beautiful palette of materials, architectural shapes, and forms. We believed we would not have to add much in materials, but would simply reconfigure and reorganize what was there. Then the result was direct recycling of materials and buildings keeping them onsite and out of a landfill” (O’Connor, 2000). As one example, the 29-m wide wood trusses that graced the original brick armory building were saved. It was realized it would be nearly impossible to esthetically or financially re-make the 100-year-old trusses so they were kept in place. It was estimated that the redevelopment costs were nearly half conventional new construction. The space was rented to local and national groups, such as the National Academy of Recording Artists Grammy Awards and Clear Channel Radio.

6.1.8 Gas Works, Toronto, Canada The Consumers Gas Company purchased a significant portion of Toronto land in 1885 and developed it for the production of gas to light the houses and streets of the city. A block housed production facilities. The building that now houses the Imperial Oil Opera Theatre was the Gas Purifying House No. 2 constructed in 1887–88. It has been designated as a historic building under the Ontario Heritage Act. Standard Woolen Mills constructed the building to the west (also a designated historic building) in 1882. In 1893, an extension was joined to the woolen mill, and in 1897 a fourth floor was added. As electricity became a more common source of lighting the city, the demand for gas dropped, but gas production continued at this site until 1954, when natural gas was brought to Toronto. Consumers Gas Company then closed operation and sold its lands. The building at the south-west corner of Front and Berkeley streets passed through several owners until Dalton’s, a manufacturer of foods and household goods, bought it in 1967. In 1985, the Canadian Opera Company purchased the buildings north and initiated a comprehensive $10 million remediation project. Both federal and provincial government contributed major funding and a private fund-raising campaign raised the balance.

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Phase I of the Opera Center in the old gas-purifying house was completed in November 1985, and houses the 450-seat Imperial Oil Opera Theatre and facilities for rehearsal, coaching, workshops, and receptions. Phase II, the old woolen mill, was renovated as the administrative offices, box office, wig and make-up department, music library, archives, props workshop and costume workshop and opened in December 1987. The building south of the lane that now houses CanStage’s Berkeley Street Theatre Complex was a gas-pumping station. This heritage building was converted into a center for contemporary theatre in 1971 (Lost Rivers, n.d.).

6.1.9 Sesto San Giovanni, Italy Sesto San Giovanni is part of Greater Milan Area, Italy. Since the 1950s, this territory had been characterized by major steel mills and chemical plants. The availability of raw materials, land and road and rail communications favored its industrialization. Located in Sesto was the steel plant of Falck, one of Italy’s leading industrial companies, with a peak 1.25 million t of steel a year. Also located in Sesto were the plants of Breda, dealing in engine manufacturing, the Marelli Group which made magnetos and electronic equipment for the automotive industry and Ercole Marelli, a manufacturer of large power-generating motors. During the 1970s, these areas had record employment levels. Later on, due to a shrinking world market and harsh competition, Europe’s steelmaking industry including Sesto San Giovanni sank into a lasting crisis reaching a peak in the early 1990s. In January 1996, Falck closed the last steel factory in the area, making 1700 workers redundant. The city suffered problems associated with abandoned land areas and obsolescence of its buildings. There was a general lack of amenities and modern services. And on top of all that, Sesto San Giovanni had to deal with the industrial, disused and polluted land lying in its middle. The Falck Company, in cooperation with the Municipality of Sesto San Giovanni and the Province of Milan, saw to converting the crisis into an opportunity. Within the frame of a strategic land management plan, a joint action was launched, centered on a major project for sustainable development. An agency was established—the Agency for the Promotion and Sustainable Development of the North Milan Metropolitan Area or ASNM to take action on the challenges posed by industrial crisis. ASNM had a proactive approach, turning a defensive climate in the face of crisis into one of opportunity for the regeneration of the local economy. Actually, the Sesto San Giovanni brownfield site had great potential for renewed community life. The redevelopment project has a clear layout predominantly based on green areas, together with the existing industrial buildings bound for reuse. Milanosesto is the largest redevelopment project in Italy. Situated in Sesto San Giovanni in the ex-Falck industrial area, just a few km from Milan’s downtown, the scope of this project has over 1 million m2 of new and renovated spaces, and 700,000 m2 of green spaces. Architect Renzo Piano’s design has two types of residential buildings— skyscrapers with up to 30 floors, and low-rises up to 11 floors—that will provide

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around 8000 apartments. It will also house a multifunctional shopping center and almost 100,000 m2 of retail, hotel, and industrial spaces. The area includes schools and a new hospital and medical research center. Milanosesto is also home to a sports stadium, to be used both recreationally by members of the community and for professional sporting events. The area is largely green, with 10,000 trees and 20 km reserved to pedestrians. Main hindrances to the redevelopment were found in the poor efficiency of the local administration and scarce political support. Initially during the social turmoil caused by the Falck steel plant closure, attention and response by the public authorities were promptly available. Following the fading of the emergency, collaboration between different bodies became more difficult, especially between local development agencies and local administrators. Details of Sesto San Giovanni city and the redevelopment project are given in Sesto San Giovanni (2011)

6.1.10 Release of UK’s nuclear sites (WNN, 2012a,b) The following illustrates a few examples of portions of UK’s nuclear sites de-licensed and released to new owners and for new purposes. In general, the decommissioning program in the UK foresees long periods of safe enclosure; and care and maintenance of remaining structures and systems. However, the strategy of the body in charge of the overall strategy (the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, NDA) is to sell or lease portions of nuclear sites that have remained unaffected by previous nuclear operations. This is an effective way of partly offsetting the large expenses incurred by the national decommissioning program. In June 2011, following detailed ground surveys and building testing, 35 ha (half of the original Oldbury NPP site) had been delicensed by the UK Office of Nuclear Regulation (ONR): it was then officially stated that the land, having no radiological hazard, was suitable for any form of reuse. This land includes a nature trail and a longstanding visitor center. Part of the delicensed land was to be used by Horizon Nuclear Power which planned to construct a new NPP onsite. The 36 ha left under nuclear license contain the two 217-MW Magnox reactors and plant infrastructure. At Berkeley 11 ha—out of a total 38 ha—were being marketed for use as a business park after the nuclear use was revoked. The delicensed area comprises offices, warehouses, laboratories, engineering workshops, a coffee bar, a lecture hall, and meeting rooms. Many of the site buildings had had no radiological use, while others—e.g., radiochemistry labs and waste management installations—were decontaminated and dismantled (NDR, 2012). Research reactors and other research facilities at Harwell were constructed 1946–60. Nuclear activities continued until the early 1990s, when it was decided there was no further need for research work at Harwell. The ’de-designation’ of the land follows on its delicensing by the ONR. In 2012, 6 ha of land at the Harwell nuclear research site were delicensed. This land could then be aggregated to the broader Harwell Oxford campus, which includes a

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number of high-tech companies and research organizations. Following the delicensing of 7 ha in 2010 and 11 ha in 2011, 20% of the original Harwell site had been decontaminated and delicensed by February 2012. Fig. 6.5 shows two remaining reactors (Dido and Pluto), which have been kept under safe enclosure for many years. It should be noted that, unlike land, the redevelopment (adaptive reuse) of individual buildings is often impractical. At Harwell 70% of prenuclear buildings could be reused for nuclear activities, but only 5% are expected to be reusable through/after the delicensing process. This typically happens because of deterioration or damage incurred during decontamination, difficult-to-remove residual contamination or the difficulty of proving the lack of contamination in drains or underlying soil. One relevant example from Harwell is Building 146. The following quotation from Atyeo (2010) lists various phases in the lifecycle of this building. l

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“RAF Sergeants Mess 1930s. Modified 1946 to be radiochemical labs, vent system, glove boxes, early shielded facilities, alpha handling Refurbished in 1980s—equipment removed, vent system sealed in position, fixed contamination sealed in position and placed under management control Reused as offices occupied by a tenant on the licensed site until 2006. Also part used as a nonnuclear laboratory Final decommissioning in 2008 included removal of vent system and fixed contamination, sealed contaminated drains, asbestos Removal of these systems rendered the building clean but unusable and it was demolished.”

The 60-year-old Capenhurst site in the UK consisted previously of two segments. One part—a former diffusion uranium enrichment plant that shut down in 1982—was

Fig. 6.5 Dido and Pluto reactors at Harwell. Photo by M. Laraia.

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owned by the NDA and operated by contractor Sellafield Ltd. As most of the plant has now been decommissioned, uranium-based materials are foreseen to be stored onsite until 2120. The other part of the Capenhurst site includes Urenco’s operating centrifuge uranium enrichment plant. Urenco subsidiary Capenhurst Nuclear Services (CNS) has now taken ownership of the NDA segment of the site, merging it with the adjacent Urenco-owned site to create one nuclear licensed site. The transfer of 7 ha of land started in December 2011, when the NDA signed agreements with Urenco. Transferring ownership of land on the site required removal of Energy Act designations. Operations formerly carried out by Sellafield Ltd. at Capenhurst were transferred to CNS, including decommissioning and waste storage, and the processing of by-product/legacy material from uranium enrichment. The transfer is a component of the NDA’s asset use program which has transferred to the private sector land from, for example, Wylfa, Oldbury, and Springfields sites (WNN, 2012b).

6.1.11 Chernobyl Site, Ukraine (Leister et al., 2005) The Chernobyl site comprises Units 1, 2, 3, and 4 (the one damaged by the 1986 accident), the uncompleted units 5 and 6, stores for radioactive solid and liquid waste, a spent fuel storage facility and other infrastructure. The entire of Chernobyl site is under decommissioning since final shutdown of the last operating unit in 2000. The managing organization is also responsible for the shelter building being upgraded to safe containment rendering ecologically safe the damaged Unit 4. In consideration of the significant contamination remaining in and around the Chernobyl site, unrestricted release is out of the question. Instead the area will be gradually converted to a brownfield site including the following facilities bound to remain in operation for the following 100 years: – – –

An interim storage facility for radioactive waste (solid and liquid waste stores; interim store for long-lived low and intermediate level waste and for high-level waste; interim store of radiologically contaminated metals; cooling ponds; and store for high-level waste); A facility for radioactive waste management (liquid radioactive waste treatment plant; industrial complex for solid radioactive waste management; and areas for cutting and decontamination of dismantled components); and A facility for the treatment of fuel-containing-materials inside the Unit 4 shelter building.

Already in operation are: – –

A centralized storage facility for treatment and long-term storage of disused spent radioactive sources; and Some near-surface disposal facilities.

In a few more years, the ongoing decommissioning project and the conversion of the shelter building into ecologically safe systems inside the safe containment will make some more activities possible, including: –

Ukraine’s National Center for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities;

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A centralized national enterprise for LLW management and disposal; and Centralized enterprises for spent fuel storage from Ukrainian NPPs.

The suitability of Chernobyl’s exclusion zone as a geological disposal site for Ukrainian HLW is currently being investigated.

6.1.12 Veurey and Annecy sites, France (AREVA, 2013) The Industrial Company for Nuclear Fuel (in French, SICN) is a French entreprise, part of the Areva group, initially dealing in the fabrication of nuclear fuel and later converted into metallic uranium pieces and ammunition. In 1955, a workshop for the fabrication of uranium rods commenced production at Annecy. The rods were aimed at G1 reactor, Marcoule, and later at G2 and G3. A fuel pellet workshop was installed in 1957 at Veurey-Voroize. The Annecy SICN factory has produced nuclear fuel until the closure of the last gas-graphite reactor in France. The Veurey-Voroize factory specialized in the fabrication of oxide fuel for fast reactors (e.g., Superph
enix). Later on SICN focused on depleted uranium applications. Nuclear fuel fabrication operations came to an end in the early 2000s. SICN used the following technologies for the shaping of metallic uranium products: rolling, spinning, stamping, machining. The Annecy factory had also a foundry. These technologies allowed SICN to produce uranium pieces (natural or depleted) for the French civilian or defense industry, or for the aviation industry. Over the last few years, AREVA carried out value development operations at Annecy and Veurey. The challenge with this project resided in the conversion of a site that no longer has a nuclear purpose. A partnership with local stakeholders and public institutions has been conducive to industrial redevelopment and preservation of jobs. At Veurey-Voroize, Areva carried out the decontamination and dismantling of the nuclear equipment between 2006 and 2011. In 2002, the SICN Annecy factory of metallic uranium fabrication was finally shut down. The dismantling of the factory began in 2008. As an example of the site conversion, the Annecy municipality mandated in 2011 the company IDEX for the construction of a biomass boiled facility capable of providing inexpensive and low carbon heating. This urban heating installation, inaugurated in 2015, uses 85% wood fuel.

6.2

Large buildings

Industrial buildings are highly adaptable. Because they were constructed to house large-scale processing systems and machinery, they are endowed with vast internal spaces to be adapted for various new uses, such as cultural events, permanent museums and showrooms, libraries, theaters, etc. These vast interior spaces should be seen and valued as major assets (University of Texas, n.d.). During the 1980s and 1990s many old industrial buildings were converted into individual dwellings. There have been, however, many adaptive reuse projects in more

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recent years that have turned older, sometimes heritage protected buildings into public buildings and spaces. For example, railroad workshops have become performance facilities. In this way, adaptive reuse projects represent a major cultural shift from an industrial and manufacturing economy to one centered on services, education, and cultural expressions at large. The large size of the industrial complexes makes it almost impossible to find a single new function for them. There are many definitions referring to different types of multiuse buildings. By and large they are “centers that accommodate more than one of the three main functions of human life: work, recreation and inhabitation.” Recreation may consist of shopping, theater, education, culture, health, and entertainment. In a well-planned multiuse buildings, the different functions do not only have a good internal integration, but they also harmonize with the context surrounding the building. This integration is “just as important, as multiuse buildings must draw on a vital context for their existence.” They “bring people together at different times,” resulting in efficient use of the space, which makes multiuse buildings cheaper to manage in the long run (Van Gendthallen Amsterdam, 2015). Several redevelopment projects (a few are described in more detail in this book) are collected and briefly summarized in Curbed (2017a,b). And yet, perhaps it is high time we should look at the large, empty spaces of industrial spaces per se, not just with a view at filling them in. A somehow provocative approach on this point is given in Arch Daily (2018a,b).

6.2.1 Power plants As one typical feature that favors reuse, older power plants’ large turbine-generator halls provide vast open spaces to house new building uses. These turbine-generator halls are an appealing building feature due to their versatility in new functions. Preservation and adaptive reuse are still innovative for NPPs, but there are many examples that show opportunities and advantages. The following are both nuclear and nonnuclear examples and highlight that flexibility and imagination are required in this field. In general, adaptive reuse for buildings is more appreciated by new users when they require room to expand within an existing building. The reconfiguration of space is often a more effective solution than relocation, especially because reuse is less disruptive. Success, however, depends to a large extent on the adaptability of the building spaces. Buildings with low versatility are of less value than a more adaptable alternative because they require technically difficult and costly refits to incorporate spatial changes. Conversely, buildings that are more adaptable to space changes require less frequent and less costly refits and remain sustainable over longer periods (Bullen and Love, 2011). The Hanford B Reactor site may be viewed as a preservation model (Fig. 6.6). The reactor was built to produce plutonium for the US Defense Program. It operated for over 25 years. The site is owned and maintained by the DOE, and since 2002 has allowed limited site tours. Later on, the B Reactor was planned for entombment, but many supporters of the site insisted on maintaining public access, including

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Fig. 6.6 The inside of B reactor, Hanford site, WA, USA, now open to visitors. Credit to US DOE.

historical guidance. A public opinion movement, led by the B Reactor Museum Association, called for the preservation of this cultural site. This movement managed to prevent the removal of the reactor. The Hanford B Reactor was proclaimed a National Historic Landmark in 2008. This designation does not guarantee the reactor will never be dismantled, but it opens the gate for continuing public tours and for becoming closer to a museum status. B Reactor is included in the Manhattan Project National Historical Park, consisting of historic facilities at Hanford, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge, which was approved by the US Congress in December 2014. A memorandum of agreement between the National Park Service and the DOE has been drafted to define their respective roles in managing the park. BRMA (2016) tells you the story of the National Park Service, status of B Reactor, schedule of public tours, etc. The B Reactor case suggests that this approach can be applied at commercial NPPs. Nonnuclear sites provide a different model. Gasworks Park at Seattle, Washington is an 8-ha site, which has incorporated both preservation and adaptive reuse, while providing access and entertainment to the public. The Gas Plant produced gas from coal and was later modified to process crude oil. The plant closed down in 1956. The city acquired the site in 1962 and opened it to the public in 1975. The redevelopment concept incorporates pieces of the industrial plant as relics, and the reuse of portions of the structures. For example, the former boiler house was reused as a picnic shelter and the former exhauster-compressor building was adapted as a children’s play barn. The transition from industrial to new uses was not a trivial task and the public debate was heated. Gas Works Park remains a rare and intelligent case of adaptive reuse, a

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remarkable landscape design, and certainly one of Seattle’s most loved places. It encompasses careful consideration of industrial structures and heritage of the site, while inventing new uses and experiences. This approach could be applicable to NPPs as well. A small case is described below (Fig. 6.7). This gasworks was used for supplying the near Lighthouse (invisible in the photo) and Keepers houses. The Sambro Island Lighthouse guided Halifax Harbour’s marine traffic for well over 200 years. The Gas House, which provided refined petroleum to the light, marked a switch from the practice of using oil for lighthouses. The shingled building of simple design sits on a prominent platform of large granite blocks near the water’s edge. Its simple, rectangular massing is of interest, with a gable roof and small gable porches. The utilitarian placement of windows and doors is in line with the functional character of the site and should not be modified in reuse. The wood-shingled roof is aligned with the materials of the site. The sidewall shingles are much weathered and will require replacement. Careful attention should be paid to ensuring that the openings are weatherproof and that roof intersections are properly flashed to keep water out of the structure. The brick chimney with simple corbelling at the upper courses merits masonry conservation expertise (Canada’s Historic places, n.d.).

6.2.1.1 BONUS NPP, Puerto Rico The Boiling Nuclear Superheater (BONUS) reactor was developed as a prototype NPP to investigate the technical and economic feasibility of the integral boilingsuperheating concept. The reactor first achieved criticality in 1964. It was tested at various power levels, first as a boiler and later as an integral boiler-superheater.

Fig. 6.7 Gas House detail, Sambro Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. Credit to Dennis Jarvis.

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Operation at full power (50 thermal MW) and full temperature was achieved in 1965. BONUS was permanently shut down in 1968 because of technical difficulties and the high cost of the needed refurbishment. The operator decommissioned the reactor between 1969 and 1970. All nuclear fuel and some highly activated components were removed, the piping was flushed, the reactor vessel and all components inside the biological shield were entombed in concrete and grout, and the systems external to the entombment were decontaminated. Many other contaminated and activated materials were placed within the entombment structure. General decontamination to unrestricted use was carried out in all accessible areas. The BONUS reactor dome was repainted in 2014. Beginning in 2019, DOE Legacy Management (LM) will perform inspections of the site every other year. Visual inspections are performed to evaluate the structural functions of the buildings and entombment structure and the conditions of the areas open to the public. Moreover, LM will maintain site records regarding the design, construction, operation, decommissioning, and postdecommissioning monitoring of the BONUS structures. A museum on the main floor of the BONUS building is open to the public, including displays about the site history and the development of nuclear energy. Everything inside the reactor building has been remodeled to give the impression of an operating reactor. A computer learning room with 12 computers stations has been installed in the former Health Physics Office. DOE produced an environmental assessment in 2003, which indicated that no unacceptable risk to human health or the environment was induced by the use of the main floor as a museum (DOE, 2018).

6.2.1.2 Fort St Vrain and SM-1A NPPs, USA Construction of Fort St. Vrain (FSV) NPP commenced in 1968. It was the first gascooled reactor in the USA, a model that was later abandoned. The first commercial power was distributed to the electric grid in July 1979. The plant had a generation capacity of 330 MWe. Commercially, the plant was a failure. Being a prototype, it was subject to a number of technical issues that took time and money to fix. Eventually, after a last incident, the plant was prematurely shutdown in August 1989. The operator’s initial task was to find a storage location for the spent fuel. The operator had a contract with the USDOE to ship FSV spent fuel to the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), and all previously removed spent fuel had been shipped there. However, Idaho legally blocked further spent fuel shipments to INEL, and the operator built an onsite independent spent fuel storage installation (ISFSI). By June 1992, all reactor spent fuel had been transferred to the ISFSI. Later on the DOE accepted to take title to the spent fuel, including reimbursement of ISFSI construction and maintenance expenses to the operator. The ISFSI license was transferred to DOE in June 1999. The decommissioning strategy involved flooding the Prestressed Concrete Reactor Vessel to provide shielding and contamination control: divers were extensively

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employed in the dismantling (Fig. 6.8). Physical decommissioning was completed in March 1996, and the final radiation survey was completed in October 1996.The duration of physical decommissioning work was 43 months, which in comparison with subsequent NPP decommissioning projects lasting 10 years or more can be considered a major achievement. FSV was the first commercial US NPP to be decommissioned. The nuclear reactor and associated systems were demolished and turbine, condensate systems and associated buildings were reused as part of a gas-fired power plant with the addition of a “topping turbine” (a separately fossil-fired boiler system to generate high-temperature steam and turbine). The first gas combustion turbine was installed in April 1996, just 1 month following the completion of physical decommissioning; the final radiation survey was still underway at the time. Incidentally, this is a good example of planning and implementing conversion in parallel to decommissioning. In 2001, two more turbines were added to the plant. The current combined-cycle operation is based on the following principle: the waste heat from the gas turbine is utilized to produce secondary steam, which runs the original plant’s steam turbine to produce extra power. As quoted by (HPS, 2003) the electric capacity of FSV increased to 710 MW (HPS, 2003). The Army Corp of Engineers is planning the dismantling of Fort Greely’s SM-1A, the only NPP ever installed in Alaska. The SM-1A plant provided steam and electricity to the Army base between 1962 and 1972. It was one of eight projects to test the use of small NPPs at remote locations. SM-1A was eventually shut down because it was costlier to operate than a conventional diesel power plant. After shut down in 1972, the Army placed it into safe enclosure. The spent fuel and waste were shipped away and the radioactive components of the reactor were encased in cement.

Fig. 6.8 Decommissioning job at Fort St. Vrain NPP. Courtesy of NRC.

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The Fort Greely base was closed down in 1995 as part of a US-wide base closure and realignment program. It came back to life several years later, however, and since 2003, the site has hosted a number of US Ground-Based Midcourse missile interceptors. One special challenge of decommissioning SM-1A is that the steam plant formerly powered by the nuclear reactor is still in use, although powered by a diesel-fired power plant. This condition is similar to Fort St Vrain’s (USNEWS, 2018).

6.2.1.3 Shoreham NPP, NY, USA Shoreham was a BWR located at Long Island, NY. The plant was built in 1973–84 and soon faced considerable public opposition, especially after the 1979 Three Mile Island accident. There were large protests and local antinuclear groups fiercely opposed the plant. Indeed, the plant was born under an evil star, as its entire history shows. In 1983, it was stated by many parties that the island could not be safely evacuated following a severe accident. The NY Governor ordered not to approve any emergency plan—so eliminating any chances for the plant to operate at full power. Construction was completed in 1984 and the licensee received federal permission for low-power tests. Following continuing protests, the licensee agreed with the NY state in 1989 not to operate the plant; in return, the local residents were charged with the plant’s installation cost. In 1992, the plant ownership was ceded to a new licensee (established for the only goal of closing and decommissioning the plant). The nuclear part of the plant was dismantled in 1994 but most structures remain. There were some attempts to reuse the remaining structures and the site. A gas turbine plant (100 MW) was installed in 2002 onsite utilizing the existing switchgear. In 2004, the Long Island Power Authority installed two 50-kW wind turbines. Regardless these achievements, the Shoreham redevelopment remains incomplete. Over the past 24 years since Shoreham was closed, ideas for its reuse have been flocking by the dozen. Some suggested a ferry terminal. Others felt that a nonnuclear power plant would be more suitable to the site. Other ideas included a marina with restaurants, a boatbuilding factory, a museum, or an educational facility. Others yet proposed to demolish the buildings and set up a 24-ha waterfront park. Because of reciprocal vetos or simple inertia, no decisions were taken. The property is zoned light industrial, so it ought to be re-zoned for housing. The only use that is out of the question is another nuclear plant because this is legally forbidden. To this day, the buildings are idle and vacant. Local residents still pay off the debts incurred in constructing and shutting down the nuclear plant. One of the latest proposals for redevelopment is mentioned here as one example. Actually this is not a new idea as it has been proposed from time to time. The site’s straight shoreline and underused waterfront would be fit for a multi-faceted port. This concept will also offer the opportunity to link Long Island to New Haven via ferry service in under an hour. To use this opportunity, the new structures should not only serve a cargo port, but a multi-faceted port that includes passenger ferries: this

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according to the proponents would ensure that the site will be financially viable. A more detailed analysis of this proposal is given in Long Island Press (2015).

6.2.1.4 Never operated NPPS Zwentendorf was the first and only commercial NPP built in Austria. Although its construction had been completed, the reactor never started operation due to a general referendum. The licenses for the plant site, some infrastructure, and other main grid installations were reused for two newly erected blocks of coal-fired power plants nearby at Durnrohr. For many years, the unused plant served as a stock of spare components for three German NPPs of the same model. In 2005, Zwentendorf was purchased by Austria’s Energieversorgung Nieder€ osterreich (EVN), who installed a training center onsite: nuclear operators from Germany could be trained to operate a reactor in a realistic environment and in areas that are normally inaccessible in an operating reactor. In 2009 a Solar Power Plant was commissioned at Zwentendorf: since then, 1000 panels have contributed some 180 MWh per year to the electric grid. In association with the Vienna Technical University a photo-voltaic (PV) research center was installed at Zwentendorf. This center includes 190 KW PV equipment in two modules and solar trackers. EVN allows visits to the complex, for example, for filming, photography, and other events (EVN, 2010). The Vienna-based company RIENTEC, in cooperation with EVN, has established this plant as a training center that offers unrestricted and radiation free accessibility (including the reactor itself ), which is not available in an operating NPP. Zwentendorf provides training in the areas of management, operation, maintenance and technical support of a NPP to the international nuclear community including classrooms and hands-on activities (RIENTEC, 2018). The Philippines had completed the Bataan NPP in 1984, at which point testing of systems began. In 1986, the government supporting the project was overthrown and, as a reaction to the Chernobyl accident that year, the new government had the plant mothballed. The Bataan NPP has been maintained since then, but was never fueled for operation. The uranium was removed by 1997. Due to the high cost of maintaining the plant, the government announced in 2011 that the plant would be converted into a tourist attraction. The tour includes the use of an adjacent private beach, which has some accommodation and recreation facilities (BBC, 2011).

6.2.1.5 Berkeley NPP, UK to host a college South Gloucestershire and Stroud College (SGS) has secured funding for a new college campus at the decommissioning NPP at Berkeley, UK. The Gloucestershire Renewable Energy, Engineering, and Nuclear (GREEN) project has been awarded £5m from the UK government as the first phase of an anticipated £40m investment. Additional to a £5m investment from the college, these monies will be spent to develop 6 ha of the delicensed part of Berkeley site and turn it into a state-of-the-art campus.

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The buildings were part of what was once known as Berkeley Labs, a testing and engineering center used in the 1960s–80s mainly in support of the commercialization of nuclear power. SGS Berkeley GREEN opened in September 2017 after the conversion of existing buildings into a purpose-built training center. The center is to provide specialist high-quality vocational and academic education for learners with a strong interest in Advanced Manufacturing and Digital Technologies including Cyber Security. The redevelopment also brings about new business opportunities, offering 28,000 m2 of commercial floor space including offices, workshops, laboratories, and conference halls (NEI, 2014).

6.2.1.6 Chester Power Plant, PA, USA In 1916, the WWI need for electricity resulted in a large power station at Chester, Pennsylvania. The 3.7-ha building exhibited imposing Doric columns and a 35-m high vaulted ceiling. A former brownfield deserted since the 1980s, the plant was later redeveloped by adaptive reuse. In 2000, the Pennsylvania Electric Company sold the abandoned plant for a nominal fee to Preferred Real Estate Investment, which took care of removing asbestos, lead and other hazardous waste. The cleanup work resulted in 10,000 t of scrap metal; 20,000 t of concrete and brick were recycled as fill. At that point in time, the new owner hired a specialist contractor to convert the space into a corporate headquarters. The existing industrial features were kept as intact as possible and gaps were left between old and new elements. The contractor did not modify the ceiling, columns, or bronze sconces in the turbine hall. The architects also kept a 60-t crane that serviced the turbines during power operation and had proved of great help during the giant rehabilitation. In the middle of the hall stands a glowing glass box containing a staff caf
e, training rooms, and a data center. On top of the box, a carpeted deck, a mezzanine accommodates up to 800 people attending conferences. Moving adaptive reuse further, the company even formed an event-planning offshoot to rent out the venue. This is the reason why there is not only a row of four large projection screens but also a stage, dance floor, lounge, and a bar. Every workstation in the office area, once the boiler house, is open to daylight and offers panoramic views. The project, which has produced hundreds of jobs in the former shipbuilding town, won the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia’s Grand Jury Award (Electrical Contractor, 2007).

6.2.1.7 Liverpool Power Station, NSW, Australia A former heritage-listed power plant—Tonkin (2000)—may have interesting similarities with the world-famous Tate Modern, London. The plant had become too small to be economic and was shut down. The City Council held a referendum about what to do

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with it. Their goal was to convert it into a depot and they thought the local community would want it to be a sports hall, quite easy to fit into a power station. Surprisingly people voted for a cultural center. The budget was minimal, the uses were quite community-based, and the architects worked on a kind of loose-fit, low-tech, maximum flexibility, retrofit of this plant, preserving its patina which they thought was essential to the structural charm. The renovation grant included the conservation of the stack, which had no real use even in a cultural center, but everyone thought it was vital as an advertisement for an industrial relic. The architects preserved the major interior volumes, cleaned up the outside, and did beautiful artwork on the windows facing the railway line. To make it with the tight budget, they cheapened building finishes so as they could pay for some artworks. Some 5% of the budget went into establishing trunk services to the building because it had no electricity and all the sewerage used to go into the George’s River. The major turbine hall became a flexible party venue, theater, exhibition space, corporate function room, and wedding space for the local community. In conclusion, one could not build a new structure with the limited budget available, and certainly not gain in a new building the same atmosphere the old building possessed.

6.2.1.8 Santralistanbul, Turkey The Silahtarag˘a Power Plant was the Ottoman Empire’s first urban-scale electrical power plant. It was Istanbul’s sole electricity provider from 1914 to 1952. The plant was decommissioned in 1983. The 11.8-ha plant site comprised engine rooms with turbine generators, boiler rooms, administrative buildings, workers’ quarters, and large coal yards. It is today one of Turkey’s industrial heritage sites. Converting the Silahtarag˘a Power Plant into Santralistanbul was carried out with most of the original elements being retained. Work began in May 2004 and was completed in September 2007. Currently Santralistanbul serves as a center for education, culture, and arts (Santralistabul, n.d.).

6.2.1.9 The Trojhalı´ site, Czech Republic The former industrial area Trojhalı´ is situated near the center of Ostrava, Czech Republic. Trojhalı´ has two indoor-type objects, the former electric switchboard and the power plant Karolina. The set of buildings is a unique industrial monument, pointing out at the glory of a past industry. The complex covers around 60 ha. The power plant Karolina was built in 1905. It is a single-nave rectangular hall with a gable roof with a central projection and a steel support frame. The building is an architectural composition with the axial articulation of facades, plaster surfaces, and decorative colored glass blocks. The power plant was shut down in the 1980s. The energy exchange no. III is situated behind the hall of the power plant. The large two-nave hall was constructed in the late 1920s. It served as a blower into the furnaces of a smelter, where gas as a by-product of metallurgical production

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was used. The subtle steel riveted construction lined with bricks is supported on a reinforced concrete retaining wall. On the front facades there are symmetrical windows. The space between the naves contains pillars and there are skylights across the mansard roof. Many decades of heavy industry operation caused large-scale contamination of the buildings. The situation improved in 1997 when the Government provided funds for the decontamination of the Karolina site. Decontamination ran until 2005. Afterwards the area was monitored for three more years until the success of the process was definitively announced. The volume of removed soil totaled 794,000 m3. A good deal of modern rehabilitation technology was employed, with the surrounding population density being a complicating factor. The redevelopment of Trojhalı´ began in August 2012. Both buildings were redeveloped in parallel. The architect conceived the whole area as an axis between the historical center of Ostrava and the lower Vı´tkovice areas. The entrance corridors of the objects follow this axis and allow visitors to go through. The building of the former energy exchange no. III serves as a covered square, and the hall of the power plant Karolina was converted into a multipurpose sport center with a bar. By removing some construction details, the buildings were brought back to the original state. The usable area amounts to 10,500 m2. The soil around the power plant building was removed up to the original level of the surface, with the aim to expose the ornate bases. Public space consisting of residential stairways and gallery was installed around. The bricks were chemically cleaned and impregnated with a hydrophobic substance. Damaged pieces were replaced. The sport center required a new roof with thermal insulation. The existing windows were replaced with aluminum ones. Instead, the walls required no heat insulation due to their 90-cm thickness. A connection was installed between the two objects. To this end, a new basement area was installed, which is now used as a communication junction with a reception and sanitary facilities. Both objects are barrier free. From the basement a large ramp gets to the cathedral-like naves. According to the notion of a roofed square the inner space was restored to a simple construction with no specified use. The supporting structure of the building consists of steel riveted framework, which is kept in good condition. During the reconstruction the corroded surface was sandblasted. Before project implementation, the redevelopment of the entire site of Karolina was envisaged, but it was found out that the soil in the area was highly contaminated. It was then necessary to excavate the contaminated soil, which escalated costs considerably. The project had also to consider the tilt of the buildings due to mining subsidence. More details of the building redevelopment project are given in Perinkova´ et al. (2014). The conversion of Trojhalı´ into public spaces and sport facility will enable continuing use of the objects for a long time. The conversion can be regarded as a prime example of redeveloping industrial hall buildings in the Czech Republic. Besides, it highlights the conservation of a historic monument dating back from the industrial era in the Ostrava region.

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6.2.1.10 Electricity Museum and other redevelopments at Lisbon, Portugal A building classified as a Public Interest Project, the Electricity Museum lies along the perimeter of the old thermoelectric plant—the Tagus Power Station, which provided electricity to Lisbon for most of the 20th century. The station was constructed in different phases and styles ranging from art nouveau (low pressure section) to classicism (high pressure section). Over time, adjacent lands and buildings became part of the great industrial complex. The station generated energy until 1975 when it was decommissioned. Its opening as a Museum took place in 1990. Due to its state of conservation, the Museum underwent renovation work between 2001 and 2005 to consolidate its structure, renew its facades and interior machinery and, with a new museum project, transform it into what it is today. The museum reopened in 2006 fully renovated and with new objectives. Today, thanks to its multicultural objectives, visitors can enjoy either the Museum’s permanent collection, where the operations of the old power station are shown in their original environment, or temporary programs, or educational and entertaining activities (e.g., solar power demonstrations, concerts, conferences). Details of the conversion process and the current room-by-room state of the plant are given in Electricity Museum (2019). It should be noted that due to the location and cultural meaning of the plant, several bodies cooperated with the owner (Energias de Portugal) in the conversion process, including the Municipality of Lisbon, the Administration of Lisbon Port and the Portuguese Institute for Archaeological patrimony. An Art Space next to the existing museum was opened in 2016 to host a wide range of exhibitions. It is called MAAT—Museum of Art, Architecture, and Technology. The former electrical equipment factory of the Standard El
ectrica Company was built 1945–48. At present, it belongs to the municipality of Lisbon, and is listed as a public interest building; it hosts the music school and headquarters of Metropolitana (the subway company), the Luiz Villas-Boas Jazz School and a restaurant. The building initially had a reinforced concrete structure and scarce compartmentalization, which was the main challenge to create new uses. Actually, the major works focused on compartmentalization through lightweight partitions. Two auditoriums, rooms, and offices were established. Special care was given to the coverings of floors, walls, and ceilings to ensure good acoustics. Former Companhia de Fiac¸a˜o e Tecidos Lisbonense (Lisbon Company of Wirings and Fabrics) Factory was built in 1846–1849. In 2007, when the industrial use of the building was abandoned, the owners rented it to LX Factory—Property and Real Estate Administration and Development, which was intended to get a profit from the site. Currently, the facilities are used as a multipurpose rental space for various temporary activities. The central construction consisted of a five-story volume and a single-story one. Both had wide spaces before the conversion. Their structure is

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metallic, with circular columns. The initial conversion did not include structural works: it consisted mainly in the creation of compartments by using lightweight partitions. In accordance with a heritage prospect, the existing manufacturing machinery was kept and exhibited in the corridors. The initial conversion was followed by partial renovation projects, focused on the activities of resident companies. Napolitana Factory was constructed in 1909. It remained in operation until 1970, when its buildings were converted into offices. Today the facilities host the Auchan headquarters in Portugal. Facilities include several buildings arranged around a courtyard, each one originally aimed at a specific use: grain grinding, silo, pasta production and machinery house. The building conversion did not require structural rehabilitation. Waterproofing works were effected on the roofs and the interiors were compartmentalized by lightweight partitions. The silo was the building that suffered the biggest changes in its adaptation to office use. Old silo’s outlets were coated, thus concealing these key elements of heritage. No machinery was retained. However, the door decorations with geometric motifs were conserved. The Pedro Alvares Cabral Building was a former cold store, built in 1939 and abandoned in 1992. It was later converted to the Museu do Oriente (Museum of the East), opened in 2008. The building was listed as public interest monument in 2010. The original building consisted of three volumes with independent structures and vertical accesses: the eastern volume was used for codfish storage and the west volume for fruit and vegetables. There were some challenges to the conversion, for example, the small number of windows and the high density of columns. The structural works fitting the museum’s functions consisted of the redefinition of vertical accesses and movements (people and services) and on distribution of functions in different floors. The need for natural light prompted the insertion of a glass lift in an old light-shaft and of a skylight at the auditorium’s and grand hall’s atrium: new glass surfaces were installed on the facades. The demolition of a column by a previous architectural project had necessitated structural reinforcement with a horizontal tie-rod system. Structural works included also column strapping and jacketing with metal sheets and the building of new concrete slabs. In regard to ventilation, the constraint imposed by the low ceilings was obviated by the installation of a peripheral gallery, circulating air to exhibition areas. The air-cooling equipment of the cold store was removed, thus leaving no industrial machinery for heritage purposes. The former Lumiar (Lamp) Factory was built during the 1930s. The abandoned building was rehabilitated in 2001–04, with the goal of converting it into housings. The main challenge to conversion was due to ceilings being higher than 5 m. The solution found benefitted from the building features, and 77 lofts were installed, with minimum compartmentalization and insertion of mezzanines. The history and a critical analysis of these projects are given by Dabraio da Silva (2013).

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6.2.1.11 GES2 Power Plant, Moscow, Russian Federation Italian architect Renzo Piano was contracted in 2015 by Russian arts group V-A-C Foundation to turn the 2-ha Moscow’s power stations into a center for contemporary arts and culture. GES2 Power Plant was built between 1904 and 1908. Mr. Piano is renowned for his work on several famous art museums. Like Piano’s previous works, the redeveloped GES2 power station will be using sustainable technologies, for example, solar and geothermal energy sources. Mr. Piano will restructure the site into a 150 m x 150 m square and retain the industrial identity of the original building. By using the power station’s tall ceilings and large size, the contemporary art center will be lit by natural light. A series of exhibition galleries are set around a 100-m-long and 23-m high Central Nave. The site will be split into three main sections: a visitor orientation area, exhibition spaces, and education facilities. Visitors access the site through an entrance plaza with a sculpture garden; for temporary art exhibitions indoors there are a library, lecture halls, cafe, auditorium, and additional space. GES2 will retain its metal framework and chimneys for natural ventilation. The educational facilities include an artist residency block, classrooms, and outdoor amphitheater, and will also permanently host Moscow Curatorial Summer School. Birch groves will be planted around the building creating a green, calm and sustainable space. In short, the venue will be an artistic hub that will cultivate Russian art and provide a bridge between artwork and the public. Construction is expected to be complete by 2019 (Inhabitat, 2015)

6.2.1.12 Battersea Power Station, London, United Kingdom Battersea was once a fossil-fired power station, situated on the River Thames, London (Fig. 6.9). It includes two power units in one building. Unit A was built in the 1930s, Unit B in the 1950s, with an almost identical design. The station was shut down in 1983, but over time Battersea four-chimney layout became a London icon and is Grade II* listed (see Glossary, Listed Building). The station’s fame is much due to a number of popular culture events, e.g., the album art of Pink Floyd’s Animals and of Beatles’ movie Help! Battersea is a huge brick building renowned for its rich internal Art Deco. Following shutdown, the structure remained a long time abandoned and its conditions deteriorated to such extent that English Heritage listed it in the Heritage at Risk Register. Since Battersea’s closure, a number of redevelopment concepts were proposed by consecutive owners with poor outcomes. For example, one buyer had to withdraw due to its financial status being found unsustainable for the renovation works. The combination of existing debts, the need to make a substantial participation in the planned expansion of the London Subway, requirements to preserve the structural shell, and the interference of a waste transfer plant and a cement plant rendered redevelopment a real challenge. In 2012, the plant administrators stipulated an exclusive agreement with a Malaysian company to redevelop the site. The sale was completed in September 2012. In January 2013, the first group of apartments were available for people to buy.

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Fig. 6.9 Battersea Power Station. Photo by M. Laraia

Apple will locate its London headquarters at Battersea Power Station, becoming the largest office tenant with 1400 staff across six floors in the former central boiler house. The overall project site covers an area of 17 ha of which 7.3 ha will be public space and 2.4 ha will establish a riverside park. In addition to the construction of over 4000 homes, the redevelopment also includes the rehabilitation of the power station itself, which will generate clean energy by using renewables. As the project’s chimneys are now complete, phase II is expected to be finished by 2018 or so. Phase III is deemed to be the most difficult with more complex architectural designs, for instance, many new apartments are being constructed above the Northern Line underground station. Phase III includes the construction of 1300 apartments and 3.25 ha of retail and leisure space. The entire site is planned to be fully redeveloped in 2025. The project is expected to create more than 20,000 jobs from its onset in 2013 (Open House London, 2018).

6.2.1.13 Reuse of buildings within decommissioning projects During implementation of decommissioning activities, installation of new buildings is expensive and it can be complicated to obtain construction licenses within the frame of a decommissioning license. Therefore, during the planning phase, when strategical decisions are taken, the reuse of existing operational or auxiliary buildings should be considered to save time and money. Regardless of postdecommissioning uses, a number of buildings have been reused during nuclear decommissioning for purposes inherent to, and instrumental in, the decommissioning process itself. Typically,

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following de-planting, the large spaces of the turbine building are often used as interim radioactive waste stores during decommissioning (Fig. 6.10). One such case is the adaptation of Turbine Building for the decommissioning of Jose Cabrera NPP, Spain. Firstly, the turbine and its auxiliary systems were dismantled, and the building was reused as a Decommissioning Auxiliary Building (DAB). The purpose of the DAB was to treat and condition the radioactive waste coming from dismantling activities inside the containment building: to this end the waste was transferred through a tunnel linking the two enclosures. The turbine building is equipped with a decontamination workshop, radioactive waste conditioning facilities, and areas for interim storage of waste containers, before they are shipped to the low- and medium- level waste disposal center at El Cabril (NEI, 2013). Details of the building conversion are given in Nieves and Ondaro (2013). At Greifswald NPP site, waste and materials handling is an essential component of decommissioning. Various waste and materials management (i.e., storage, conditioning, and packaging) stations are required. To this end, former auxiliary buildings were converted: for example, the former spare parts store was reutilized as a free release center and the former warm workshop was turned into a new treatment and decontamination center (IAEA, 2011). Fig. 6.11 shows the equipment used for measuring waste drum inventories: it is located within the material release building, formerly a mechanical workshop. A huge space, covering 35 m2 in Hinkley Point NPP’s de-planted Turbine Hall, was reused for the De-planting Mock-up Simulator (DMS) from November 2007 on.

Fig. 6.10 NRC Chairman Stephen Burns (right) examines the turbine building of Darlington NPP, ON, Canada. Courtesy of NRC.

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Fig. 6.11 Greifswald NPP Material Release Building, formerly a mechanical workshop. Photo by M. Laraia.

The model was brought about by a similar scenario-based simulator built at US Rocky Flats Environment Technology Site. The simulator allows managers and workers to acquire knowledge of the environments they will encounter during various decommissioning operations. It creates conditions that include noise, heat, and working with live tools. Simulations can involve working at heights, in trenches and within soft-sided spaces (Magnox, 2008). Likewise, the new Hinkley Point Water Treatment Plant, which was procured during the plant decommissioning period, fitted well into a previously redundant building and was installed there (Water Technology, n.d.).

6.2.1.14 Reuse of nuclear canyons Although not part of nuclear power plants, nuclear canyons—such as those used at fuel reprocessing plants—have certain features that make them suitable for reuse after decommissioning of their original plants. One remarkable example is provided by Wills et al. (1993). The T Plant Complex was built in 1944, and was the first chemical processing plant at the Hanford Site. Initially, T Plant was used to extract plutonium from spent reactor fuel. T Plant processed the first fuel from the Hanford B Reactor, producing material that was used to fuel the Trinity device—the first nuclear weapon in history—and the bomb known as “Little Boy.” Improvements in fuel extraction made T Plant redundant after a decade, and it was decommissioned in 1956. In 1957, T Plant restarted operation as a decontamination and repair workshop for Hanford site components. The equipment would be shipped by rail to T Plant, where it was disassembled, decontaminated, and repaired. This new use continued for a period of some 35 years,

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during which parts of T Plant also served as a sodium research laboratory and a spent fuel store. In 1992, the T Plant was selected over other Hanford facilities as the centralized decontamination facility for the Hanford Site. A canyon facility like T Plant is particularly fit for solid waste treatment for the following reasons: heavy shielding (concrete walls from 1 to 1.5 m thick), a large open work bay (250 m
12 m), a 75-t overhead crane with a shielded craneway, and rail access. In addition, the T Plant canyon had been decontaminated in 1956 and had low levels of residual contamination.

6.2.1.15 Electrical substations Substations are places where electrical lines are linked and switched and where the voltage is changed from high to low, or vice versa. Outdoor structures consist of wooden poles, truss towers, tubular frameworks etc. If there is plenty of space and visual appearance is not an issue, truss towers are normally installed to support electrical lines. Instead. low-profile substations may be required where appearance is more critical. For example, the surfaces of urban substations can be polished to give an attractive appearance and better fit with city buildings nearby. A few redevelopment cases follow. Built in 1924, Electricity Substation No. 109 is an example of the original network of over 360 substations built by Sydney Municipal Council from 1904 to 1936, which first supplied electricity to Sydney. The period and location of the substation reflect the growth of Sydney’s electricity network. Visually, the building exhibits the characteristic modest form, quality of design, and construction for Sydney’s substations, which were designed to a higher standard than strictly required for their functions in order to alleviate community resistance to the intrusion of new technologies and harmonize with urban streetscapes. Electricity Substation No. 109 is a specimen of typical architecture of the 1920s applied to a utilitarian building including the heavy masonry construction, vertical emphasis, asymmetry, roof form concealed by parapet wall, contrasting face brickwork and render, piers dividing the fac¸ade into bays, stepped skyline, piers projecting above the parapet, multipaned timber windows, original signage, and elegant curved architrave over the entrance. The dual street frontage is uncommon for substations in the local area, which typically have an open transmission yard to the side. The substation remained in service for almost 70 years. The property was eventually sold in December 1994. The building was briefly used as a timber store and carpentry workshop before 2012. The adaptive reuse of this building for commercial uses has conserved its architectural integrity as a recognizable former substation (City of Sydney, 2015). An outdoor project is described in Architecture and Design (2017). The project transformed the main campus of a Californian utility company, Burbank Water and Power, from an industrial legacy into a sustainable use. The masterplan key feature was a regenerative green space, including a number of sustainable landscape technologies.

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The company had served Burbank for over 100 years, but with age came high operating costs and a lack of communal green spaces. The landscape architecture studio AHBE created one of the longest green streets in Southern California. Using five different types of sustainable water management technologies—infiltration, flowthrough, detention, tree root cells, and rainwater capture—the green street works basically as a filter before runoff enters the storm-water system. While local laws prescribe that projects must mitigate runoff, in fact this project is a zero-runoff site. A staggering feature of the new campus is the Centennial Courtyard, a green space located within the footprint of a decommissioned electrical substation. A portion of the industrial structure still stands, a large latticework that merges industry with nature. In the early 1900s a number of electrical substation buildings were built across Chicago, IL, USA. These purpose-built structures were designed to be assets to the communities nearby and to present the utility (Commonwealth Edison) in a favorable light: therefore, they were constructed to be beautiful, and adhered to various architectural styles, including Prairie School, Art Deco, and Classical Revival. These substations were designed to house heavy electrical equipment and were constructed of durable materials. They represent now a unique heritage. However, while many Chicago electrical substations operate in conditions ranging from good to poor, others are vacant and in disrepair. One substation, in particular, faces a threat of demolition by neglect. The Washington Park Substation at 6141 S. Prairie Avenue is an outstanding example of the many substations constructed across Chicago. This substation is larger than most as it was meant to distribute higher voltages to other substations. Constructed between 1928 and 1939, it features unique power-related ornament, including carved limestone light bulbs on its facade. Preservation Chicago recommends that the City of Chicago seek a Landmark Designation for significant substations. The best examples of different periods and styles should be identified and protected. Also, the city and utility company should strive to find adaptive reuses for substation buildings that are obsolete or unused. As one reuse example, the von Holst substation located at 924 N. Clark Street in Gold Coast was beautifully renovated and converted into a single family home and was on sale for $13.9 million in 2014 (Preservation Chicago, n.d.). However, this project can be controversial. This 1400 m2 luxury home was constructed utilizing the facade of the old electrical substation, but all the rest is new. Inside, the finishes are clearly top-notch, and the home features a fitness space, huge wine storage room, a four car garage and a rooftop greenhouse. There is also an outdoor space that features a slim grassy lawn and a pool. One wonders whether this is a case of “facadism” rebutted in Section 2.3 (Curbed, 2014)

6.2.2 Nonpower plants This section deals with buildings that did not originally belong to power plants (although some of their features can be found in a number of power plants). Many industrial buildings of this type are eligible for conversion to residential units. The conversion of abandoned industrial buildings into dwellings is only effective when the outcome meets the needs of potential users. To evaluate the suitability of the

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industrial buildings to dwelling requirements one should first define the architectural criteria affecting the quality of housing spaces. Type of dwelling, size, and spatial and functional arrangement are key criteria for each target group. Petkovi
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Garages can be converted into music halls, bars, or retail space Warehouses can house commercial kitchens to support local food trucks, segmented artist studios, or start-up office space for entrepreneurs Industrial properties with high ceilings and abundant natural light can be converted into attractive office space Factories can be converted into production or testing facilities for a range of technology or biotech industries.

Building spatial capacity

In regard of the dimensions and layout of the existing industrial buildings, the most favorable for conversion to housings are those where the ratio between the built and the unbuilt parts is not too big. A lower percentage of the built area allows better daylight use and natural ventilation. To reduce this proportion, it is possible to remove secondary building if any. However, it is critical to preserve the industrial landmarks, such as chimneys, old equipment or access gates. The low occupancy level is also favorable in terms of parking spaces for residential purposes. A lower occupancy level offers also a chance of increasing the building footprint and in this way meeting the housing needs of more and different users. However, upgrading the spatial capacity of a building should take account of new esthetics of the redeveloped construction, which should not deny its historical value. Natural lighting and ventilation

To allow the conversion of a building which was not originally designed for residential use, adequate natural lighting of the interiors should be available. The large dimensions of industrial facilities tend to favor conversion into residential buildings, but this can become a drawback for the daylight needed for such new uses. When the dimensions of the building are too large, one solution is to position all the technical and secondary facilities in the unlit central part of the building, arranging the sunlit parts as living spaces. For very large buildings it can be necessary to insert atriums into the central part of the structure. The atriums provide additional natural light for the whole building and improve natural ventilation of the interiors. Smaller buildings however, having been designed to maximize the efficiency of the workplace, provide much natural daylight. In converting these structures, the natural daylight can be re-adjusted to the new uses. Abundance of daylighting provides pleasant working or social environments.

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As old industrial buildings were designed prior to air conditioning, natural properties of ventilation and shading were maximized to create as comfortable indoor environments. This opportunity should not go wasted in reuse. Addition of open spaces

To achieve adequate living standards in old buildings originally not intended for housing it is necessary to install all the amenities that one expects of new buildings. Open areas in the form of a loggia, terrace, or balcony, will greatly improve the living standards of converted facilities. The best solution is to attach light, individual elements to the existing structure along living spaces. Another possibility to provide more open spaces is the installation of a roof terrace: this approach can be readily taken in buildings that already have a flat roof. While upgrading the housing value, these strategies must not spoil the historic identity of the building. Functional quality of the newly planned housing spaces

Contemporary and dynamic lifestyle imposes several requirements on the organization of the housing spaces. Flexible living spaces that can be customized to different users increase the value of the property. Thanks to the intrinsic favorable structure of industrial buildings, it is generally possible to achieve a high spatial flexibility of housing spaces by using the “open plan” approach. The design of undefined, multiuse housing spaces avoids too stringent a differentiation of functions, for example, a division based on day and night zones. The apartment would then have a fixed and a variable part. The fixed part includes traditional assets, such as kitchen and toilet, while other parts of the apartment are adaptable to unpredictable changes in use. New vertical and horizontal communications

One problem with the adaptive reuse of industrial buildings derives from the required vertical and horizontal communication spaces. In large buildings, it can be necessary to provide more elevators and stair shafts additional to those existing, for example, due to fire safety requirements. The need to introduce more communication spaces reduces the inner housing spaces. This problem can be solved by the installation of communication spaces attached to the original structure. In general, windmills are rarely capable of conversion, although this might not be true of their annexes. Watermills, warehouses, factories, and workhouses tend to have numerous existing openings and can accommodate a wide range of alternative uses. The following points require consideration (East Staffordshire, 2010): l

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Unfortunately, not all building types can readily be converted to alternative uses without major changes to their existing structure and plan form which often would completely alter their character and that of their setting. The provision of an appropriate level of private amenity space (e.g., off-road parking and onsite sewage disposal) could be a significant requirement for any proposal to convert a building to independent residential use. However, the extent of any domestic yard should be carefully controlled to limit the potential for inappropriate alteration of the building setting.

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Care should be taken in the design to ensure that adequate provision is made to meet present and future needs for storage, garaging, and the like within existing building as far as practicable. The erection of new outbuildings where the intention is to demolish sound existing structures that could serve the same goal is unlikely to receive support. Critical additions unlikely to receive support or at least needing specific negotiations include: unsuitable new openings, roof-lights, chimneys, or pipework; the erection of additional buildings (garages, sheds, etc.); the over-prominent siting of alarm boxes and satellite dishes, etc. Care should be taken to ensure that historic materials and detailing are not damaged or lost during reuse works. A methodology demonstrating that the works will be carried out properly may be required. Large, multi-storied industrial buildings dating from mid-18th century onwards tend to be of “fireproof” construction. This can mean that headroom to each floor is limited and any internal alterations, including the routing of services, become major structural engineering problems. Where existing windows would rise through proposed inserted floor levels the floor at these points should be set back and a light-well formed. Details relating to internal lighting arrangements and colors to trimmers, etc. should be so designed as to have the minimum visual impact on the exterior. Where existing windows have a defined horizontal division (traverse) the inserted floor should be ideally aligned with this. Any new floors or partitions should be kept to a minimum. They should also be located so as to retain a substantial part of the original arrangements. The building’s original purpose, form, and development should not be hidden by new work.

A study conducted in Lithuania reviews typical options for disused industrial buildings: preservation of industry; establishment of industrial and technical museums; or conversion of industrial buildings into residential buildings. Based on a questionnaire, private citizens expressed their views about factors they felt important to buy industrial properties converted to homes (Dauksˇys et al., 2012). As shown by numerous examples given in this book, the trend toward reusing industrial buildings for private housing is global: after Lithuania, one could quote New Zealand here. The new Botanica Heritage building is a 14-apartment development from a 1900s-industrial building in Mt Eden. A prominent Auckland building conversion is the former Baycorp building, which was redeveloped into apartments in 2013. Factors cited for this trend in New Zealand include the lower costs of converted buildings in comparison to new construction and the “character” (i.e. charm) of ex-industrial structures (Stuff, 2016).

6.2.2.1 Mills, sheds, other factories Injecting new uses into a historic context can be hard. The low ceilings of many mills and factories, built in the late 1800s, render them unsuitable for industrial and other current uses. Moreover, the placement of pillars every 2 to 3 m is a design challenge. Concrete slab floors can be difficult to adapt. Old wiring and plumbing will normally have to be removed. The roof and windows can often by repaired rather than replaced. The addition of extra stories to the external side can be problematic if the project is subject to design review. Solutions include building an addition that

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is not visible from the ground (depending on the building’s roof type). Some large complexes can be difficult to adapt since they might have serious structural problems. However, mills built in more recent times may have high ceilings and large open spaces, which favor redevelopment. In fact, there are not many cases where the adaptive reuse of an industrial building is discarded; on the contrary there are many design opportunities associated with such projects. Factories, and especially mill buildings, are highly adaptable. Their short spans, masonry construction, ornate detailing, and large windows results in naturally lit interiors with unique characteristics. The craftsmanship of historic industrial buildings can even be better than modern construction. Due to the large machinery in old buildings, the floors were designed to withhold heavy loads. As of late there has been a shift toward lofts or condominium apartments with high ceilings, tall windows, and visible structural elements such as original wall and floor surfaces, exposed bricks, beams, etc. which can save costs if these elements are part of the project esthetics. Mills converted to museums

Not all historic mills can be readily transformed into museums: this conversion has been viable only with the most significantly historic structures. One example is given below. The Massachuseets Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) is located in a former factory. It is a large center for contemporary visual art and performing disciplines. The buildings were initially constructed in the late 19th century and used for printing cloth. The owners operated the site until 1942, when closure became inevitable due to competition and the economic impacts of the Great Depression. Another company then purchased the complex to produce electrical items. The company managed also a major R&D program, which was engaged in work for the atomic bomb and space flights. Eventually the production of cheaper electronic components in Asia and technological evolution led to the shutdown of the factory in 1985, and to its listing as a Superfund (NPL) site. The development of MASS MoCA began soon. In 1986 a Museum of Art near MASS MoCA was attempting to find spaces suitable for large works of contemporary art that would not fit in traditional museums. The museum eventually opened in 1999 with 19 galleries and 9300 m2 of exhibition space. It has expanded since, including Building 7 in 2008 and Building 6 in 2017. Besides managing art spaces the museum makes commercial spaces available for rent. It hosts the Bang on a Can Music Festival where international musicians create new music and deliver concerts in summer. Details on the redevelopment project are given in Dezeen (2017c). The Wile Carding Mill was established in 1860 and remained in use until 1968. Reportedly, it carded a week’s worth of wool in one hour! The mill is one of few remaining carding mills in Nova Scotia, Canada and the only remnant of Bridgewater’s 19th century industrial area that included seven water-powered industries. The Des Brisay Museum, owned by the Town of Bridgewater, is set in the Woodlands Park. The Heritage Gallery and Exhibit Area cover natural history,

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Fig. 6.12 The Wile Carding Museum, Nova Scotia, Canada. Credit to Dennis Jarvis.

early settlement, and the local cultural and industrial growth. The Museum also operates the Wile Carding Mill. The Wile Carding Mill was officially designed by a municipal heritage property by the Town of Bridgewater in 2013: in this way its integrity and historic character are protected under the Heritage Property Act of Nova Scotia (Wile Carding Museum, 2017) (Fig. 6.12). Mills converted to residential uses (apartments, hotels, etc.)

The transformation of the Granary on Vienna Handeskai, Austria, into a luxury hotel can be partly viewed as a failure. The colossal Granary was constructed in 1912–13. It was shaped as a reinforced concrete framed building, a design reflected in the facade with its grid of vertical supports and horizontal beams. The Granary remained operating until 1982. It was only the high cost of demolition that saved the building and led to its reuse. On one side, the conversion to a luxury hotel did mean the survival of the giant structure that dominates on the Danube, but the new buildings added to the original construction, the selection of materials, surface finishing, and execution details created a substantially new appearance. The preservation of the building as an industrial monument was lost to the constraints of new use (Stadler, n.d.). Nadler Hotel is situated in a former engineering works in Liverpool, UK (Historic England, 2019a). The reuse was selected because of its location, in the middle of an area designated for regeneration. It opened in June 2010. Nadler Hotel was in 2015 the number two rated hotel on Trip Advisor in Liverpool (October 16, 2015).

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The architect Ricardo Bofill picked up the dilapidated site of Spain’s largest cement factory, at Sant Just Desvern, near Barcelona, in 1973. The factory consisted of a series of stone silos and contained chimneys, wide underground tunnels and a furnace from the early 1900s: it was indeed a cold and unattractive building. And yet Bofill viewed the plant ideal to transform “the ugliest thing” into something beautiful. The result, a striking renovation resembling a castle or cathedral for its mix of monumentality and comfort, serves as a model in reinventing a space and an example of adaptive reuse. The transformation process began with the demolition of 70% of the 5000-m2 facility to leave hitherto concealed forms visible, as if the concrete had been sculpted. Once the spaces had been defined, cleaned of cement and embellished by new greenery, the adaptation process began. Eight silos remained, which were converted into offices, a models laboratory, archives, a library, a projection room, and a huge space nicknamed “The Cathedral,” used for exhibitions, concerts, and a whole range of architectural functions. The landscape was enriched with olive trees, cypress, and other plants. The reshaped interiors include experimental and surrealist designs. Bofill calls La Fabrica a “ruin that has been remade and restructured,” ready for almost any reuse. Much of the living space suggests the building’s industrial past. This project proves that imagination can adapt any space to a new function, no matter how different it may appear from the original one (Curbed, 2015). Mills converted to mixed use (retail shops, offices, restaurants, theaters, museums, apartments)

There are numerous advantages in converting a site to mixed uses. Having mixed land uses for commercial, housing, recreational, and educational purposes allows residents to meet and interact with one another. This will create active and diverse communities. Besides, a mix of uses increasing the number of people on the street and a wider commercial base will increase the vitality and security of an area, and will convey substantial fiscal and economic returns to the community. Commercial uses in the vicinity of residential areas often raise local tax revenues, and increase the property values (EPA, 2014). The comprehensive redevelopment of Lister Mills is considered to be one of the key projects for the Bradford District, UK. This iconic building, once a symbol of Bradford’s industrial past, had become a symbol of its industrial decline, until the Council partnered with the developers of the Mill, Urban Splash (Yorkshire) Ltd., to deliver a phased redevelopment of the site. The original Mill built by Samuel Cunliffe Lister in 1838 was destroyed by fire in 1871, but had been reconstructed by 1873: this is the current Grade II* listed building. Once the world largest manufacturer of silk and velvet textiles, with a peak staff of over 11,000 people, the Mill closed in 1992 due to the general decline of the textile industry in the UK. The buildings gradually deteriorated. Finally acquired by development specialists Urban Splash in 2000, plans were prepared first to revitalize the 4.45 ha South Mill Site through a mixed residential and commercial scheme. Initially the large size of the site, its ruined condition, stringent

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Listed Building status and depressed state of the local property market impaired the financial viability of redevelopment plans. Subsequently a Joint Venture was established between Urban Splash, Bradford Council and Yorkshire Forward, which involved private investments and public subsidy: in this way, redevelopment works began in 2004. The first phase of the redevelopment, the Silk Mill, was completed in September 2006 with the delivery of 131 apartments and 1500 m2 of community and business spaces. The entire investment was some £14.5m ($19m) including £6.3m ($8.3) contributed by the public sector funding. The second phase, the Velvet Mill, has provided a further 190 apartments, including a new two-story roof top extension, community and commercial space on the ground floor. The beautiful stonework was cleaned up and repaired. The window openings were retained but with new windows that respected the original design by minimizing metal frames and maximizing the penetration of daylight (Sheeran, 2017). Trencherfield Mill was a textile factory near Manchester, United Kingdom. Constructed in the early 1900s, the Mill changed hands a few times. It operated a giant 1.86 MW triple-expansion four-cylinder engine, which was shut down in 1968. As part of the Wigan Pier redevelopment program, Trencherfield Mill was redeveloped into commercial, retail, leisure and residential spaces. The local administration eventually declined to house an art center within the Mill premises. The machinery has been conserved and refitted. The operating mill engine can be visited as a touristic attraction on scheduled dates (Industrial Archaelogy News, 2007). Ditherington Mill spun flax to make linen cloth. It was the world’s first multi-story building to have an iron frame—and its nonflammable structure gave it a major advantage over earlier textile mills with wooden floors. The building still retains its original structure. The building is 53-m long and 11-m wide inside. The construction dates from 1797. The Mill closed in 1886. Around 1897, it was converted into a malt house. Since then, the building was used for malting until final closure in 1987. It has been Grade I listed since January 1953. Disused after its closure, the mill deteriorated and was placed on the Heritage at Risk list. English Heritage bought the building in March 2005. In November 2010, planning approval was granted for the mixed-use (public access, residential, and commercial) redevelopment of the Ditherington complex (Timelines, 2017). The 19th-century grade II listed Little Downham’s Tower Mill, UK, was in ruin with no sails, windows, or cap, but has now been incorporated into a modern ecologically friendly home. The new house is situated at a small distance from the mill and joined by a simple glazed structure which allows the mill to retain its visual dominance. The main building features details such as a glazed viewing area and mezzanine which provide unrestricted views over the surrounding landscape. The building has been designed with a principle of energy efficiency: related details include a biomass boiler, rainwater-collecting system, and a mechanical ventilation system, which keeps

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the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer and reuses most of the heat. To improve the mill’s energy budget, there are also 10-kW PV roof panels, triple-glazed windows, and well-insulated walls (Wisbech Standard, 2017). The Himmelreich & Zwicker Cloth factory was built at Linz, Austria, in 1908 as a cotton spinning mill. After it was closed down, some entrepreneurs purchased the site and turned it into a cloth factory in the late 1930s. The Linz Himmelreich & Zwicker factory was profitable for several decades, but eventually closed in 1980. For a few years thereafter, the ownership changed hands repeatedly with no success. In 1986, a public opinion party managed to rescue the factory from dismantlement. Lengthy negotiations finally obtained that a revitalization project was selected in 1991. The integration of a church in the former factory is a persuasive and remarkable new approach to reuse. The main entrance to the church is rightly situated in the main facade flanked by two towers, with the trade name “Himmelreich & Zwicker” well visible in the tympanum (Stadler, n.d.). In 2002, the Lanitis carob mill factory, Limassol, Cyprus was transformed in 2002 into an exhibition space and a venue for different social events. The Carob Mill Museum displays the technology and equipment used to process carob beans. The lower and upper floors of the former factory still retain old British equipment, such as conveyor belts used to clean and process the fruits, weight scales and others. Original drawings and descriptions tell the story of the industry before mechanization. The site hosts many restaurants (Fig. 6.13) (Cyprus for Travelers, n.d.).

Fig. 6.13 Former carob mill, Limassol, Cyprus. Photo by M. Laraia, 2012.

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The Manufaktura complex at Ło´dz´, Poland was once a five-story spinning mill and ancillary plant, completed in 1878. The former industrial site was used as the film set of Wladislaw Reymont’s book, The Promised Land. Next to the textile industry, several industries and services expanded, for example, machine repair and construction, ironworks, a foundry, a locomotive shed, gas-works, a fire department, warehouses, railroad track sections, worker houses, and the mill proprietor’s residence. Currently an art institute, shopping center and entertainment complex, Manufakture opened in May 2006, after 5 years of planning and four more years of construction. The total site area is 27 hectares. The redevelopment was intended to preserve the historical atmosphere of all buildings, consisting of the original industrial architecture with exposed red brickwork. The Manufaktura can be entered through the monumental archway of the former spinning factory. A top-class hotel was inaugurated in 2009. One exception to the site’s preservationist approach is the new glass-and-steel shopping hall. However it was designed to be lower than the adjacent old buildings in brickwork, and is invisible from the outside. The wide square inside Manufaktura exhibits the longest fountain in Europe (300 m). In addition to stores, restaurants, cafes, pubs etc. Manufaktura hosts -among others- car parks, two museums, and a leisure center (including a multiplex theater, bowling lanes, a gym center, etc.) (Manufaktura, n.d.). Pending projects (at the time of writing)

The Brunel Goods Shed, Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK was built in 1845 as part of the Stroud Railway Station infrastructure. It is a specific example of industrial architecture in Tudor Gothic revival style with fine buttresses, stonework and arches. Until 1966, the Goods Shed was a busy interchange for transferring goods to road vehicles. When it fell out of use, the building was open to vandalism and deteriorating. In 1984, British Rail removed the slate roof which had become dangerous to the public. The building was listed Grade II in 1985 on request of Stroud Preservation Trust. This elegant, industrial building had been considered a good preservation project soon after Stroud Preservation Trust was founded. In 1986, after 2 years of complex negotiations, the Trust agreed a 40-year lease with British Rail. Major repairs and improvements, including a new slate roof, stonework repairs, and installation of some services, were carried out in 1988. By that time Goods Shed had been rescued from abandonment but needed a user to secure its future. It has taken years to find a promising future for the building. Numerous proposals were assessed but they all proved either expensive, impractical, or unacceptable to English Heritage (this is a registered charity that manages the National Heritage Collection, over 400 of England’s historic buildings, monuments, and sites). Proposals included, among others, a theatre, a restaurant, a Music Resource Center, a museum and a Real Tennis court. By 2000, all proposals were hindered by a new transport interchange planned in the station area which would have entailed major redevelopment. Throughout this time the building, which was on English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk list for many years, had been vandalized by graffiti, fires, and stone quarrying. In 2010, Stroud Preservation Trust decided to secure the building with roller shutters to

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both protect it and make it more appealing to prospective users. A raised floor was created over the platform and track and an external platform removed and replaced with a smaller balcony. In 2011–12 further improvements were performed including the installation of internal electricity circuits, toilets and drainage, and improvements to the offices, and car park. Now a secure building with light, water, and drainage, the Goods Shed could be removed from English Heritage’s Buildings at Risk list. On November 18, 2014 the Network Rail lease for the Brunel Goods Shed was officially assigned to Stroud Valleys Artspace. SVA is, a registered charity with a good record of achievements in Stroud including the restoring of their own warehouse as artists’ studios, developing the Open Studio trail since 1998 and running innovative exhibitions and events (Stroud Preservation, 2014). Temple Works (or Temple Mill or Marshall’s Mill) in Holbeck, Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK, is a former flax spinning mill: it was built in 1836–40 by the architect Ignatius Bonomi for John Marshall. The design of the building had a distinctly Egyptian style and even the original chimney was an Egyptian obelisk. Unfortunately, this cracked and had to be replaced by a more conventional Victorian stack. During the first half of the 19th century there was a craze for all things Egyptian, so Marshall and Bonomi wanted Leeds to join in Templeworks (n.d.). The roof was covered in soil to insulate the building against extreme temperatures and grass was grown on the roof to control the humidity and prevent the linen thread from becoming dry and hard to work. A flock of sheep maintained the grass by grazing it. Inside, the main flax mill was based in a very large room yet it is very light. That light floods in from numerous huge glass skylights in the large roof. The room contains many pillars but their main function is not load bearing but to conceal the drainage system. When John Marshall died, his flax business went into decline and ceased trading altogether in 1886. Within the building is a series of offices, a canteen, and kitchen. From 1953 until 1981 it was the northern headquarters of the mail-order catalogue company Kay’s. In late 2008 a column of the facade fell down. A large slice of gritrock fell on the sidewalk and the roof balustrade above the column gave up. These events highlight the risk to successful redevelopment posed by the structural weakness of old structures, However, from 2009 Temple Works Leeds has been a thriving cultural hub that is given over to 20% heritage and education, 40% location shoots and in-house studio events, and 40% public events. In 2015 plans were disclosed whereby the building would be reused for manufacturing purposes. But the Brexit events suspended, and eventually cancelled the initiative in 2017. The building was sold to developer CEG a day before it was due to go up for auction (BBC, 2017). The Volponi’s kiln is an historic brick factory situated at the Urbino city gates, Italy. The first factory in the area dates the second half of 1800, but only in 1908 there is news of the acquisition by the Volponi family of a “kiln with a square in order to

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make bricks and accessories.” The production of the Volponi’s kiln lasted until 1971. After 30 years of being in disrepair, the 1400-m2 large building appeared in serious deterioration, with some collapses of the structures and cave-ins of lofts. The kiln is key to the understanding of the landscape that extends from the city, a birthplace of Renaissance, to rural areas nearby. The sight of Urbino is remarkably marked by the kiln, which points its chimney toward the ancient city walls. The eye-catching chimney and the sloping walls of the gallery that one can see from the outside through a double grid of pillars, make this building both beautiful and highly visible. The survey and characterization work described in Agostinelli et al. (2007) highlights the possible recovery of history events that are well entrusted to the memory of the local community. The fate of the decaying building has been debated for many years. The International Lab of Architecture and City Planning (ILAUD) committee of 1977 suggested that the reuse of the kiln site should be founded on the understanding that the city of Urbino was mostly based on the University and tourism, and that its territory was mainly agricultural. Hence they proposed a cooperative for advanced agricultural research and environmental education. From a technical standpoint, the structure of the building was complex, especially regarding the joint of spaces and the lack of outer walls. A later (1993) ILAUD study, however, considered the site as part of a big hollow, an amphitheater where the imposing chimney of the kiln visually linked the observer with both the city and the St. Bernardino church. The place was viewed as a theatrical scene. In this approach, the kiln was not identified as an object per se but as an element of the landscape, and part of a background larger than its borders. The latest news available to the writer is that the abandoned Volponi kiln collapsed under the weight of snow in 2012. The Central Mill of Piracicaba, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil, was one of the first modernized sugar production facilities in Brazil; today, it provides an interesting case of a former industrial site under redevelopment. The sugar factory and refinery were active between 1882 and 1974. The main reasons for the termination of sugar processing at Piracicaba were the increasing urbanization and real estate development near the plant, which created difficulties to the industrial activities. By the end of the sugar production, the owners had sold its agricultural properties and almost all of the nearby land was redeveloped through a project called Mill Lands. This undertaking resulted in the formation of a city district known as New Piracicaba. The workers’ dwellings, which had already been incorporated in the city of Piracicaba, were also sold. The industrial site, which includes the factory buildings, warehouses, offices, a house for the general director and a guesthouse, had been maintained through an agreement with the city. The remaining assets were restricted to a group of brick-masonry buildings spanning over 1.78 ha arranged in an area of some 7.6 ha. In 1985, the first master plan for Piracicaba was approved by municipal authorities. The whole area was defined as institutional zone, which allowed only activities of public interest. In August 1989, the former industrial complex (the factory buildings, warehouses, offices, the general director’s house, and the guesthouse) received a municipal heritage designation and statutory protection from the Board of Protection of Piracicaba Cultural Heritage. A month later, the area was declared of public interest, and the long

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process of expropriation (compulsory purchase) began, together with several rehabilitation projects. In February 2012, more than 22 years after the expropriation process began, the city of Piracicaba announced payment of the final instalment. This ensured the municipality’s full ownership of the former industrial site. In 2014, the site was designated by the State of Sa˜o Paulo as a site of historical, architectural, artistic, touristic, and environmental heritage. It was stated in the designation that the factory was
an ‘icon of the so-called Belle Epoque and its history is directly linked to the abolitionist, immigration, and Republican movements in Sa˜o Paulo.’ Among the most recent developments are a theatre that opened in 2012 and a project for the Museum of Sugar, which is still in progress. Several redevelopment plans have been proposed for the adaptive reuse of the site and buildings by the most famous architects in Brazil and are discussed in detail in Campagnol (2017).

6.2.2.2 Water pumping houses A disused water-pumping house was situated in a green suburb of Berlin, Germany. The building had been unused since the early 1990s because its location failed to attract businesses and developers. The structure was legally protected but nobody knew what to do with its lofty main room—built for the giant machinery that had pumped water since the 1920s—and the four stories at the back without a secondary exit. Eventually the preservation concept was relaxed a bit and more staircases and rooftop windows were allowed to be installed. Two artists, who had been looking for a convenient live/work space for some time, eventually came across this building and purchased it at a cheap price. Then architects were tasked to convert the pump house into a home. The outcome includes two distinct living areas, a large kitchen, and attic living room, along with wide areas that can accommodate a range of workspaces. This case highlights clearly that absolute integrity (preservation) can be impractical for a realistic redevelopment project (Arch Daily, 2009). Unlike the above-mentioned Berlin case, Papplewick Pumping Station, UK, represent a preservationist approach. This beautiful place was designed in the early 1880s to pump fresh water to the fast growing population of Industrial Nottingham. The style of the buildings was Gothic Revival. Two early models of steam engine were located inside. Except for minor modifications, the machinery remained as installed until the plant was shut down in 1969. A Trust was formed in 1974 to conserve the site as a static museum, but the plans soon developed to include the refurbishment and regular steaming of the engines. A major renovation was completed in 2005. Now protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, the highest preservation order that can be given to a site in England, the Pumping Station holds regular steaming events, wedding ceremonies and educational visits (University of Nottingham, n.d.). A former machine factory in Hengelo, The Netherlands, originally constructed in 1902 and enlarged in 1928, was redeveloped under the name of ROC van Twente, a regional educational institution, in 2008. The reuse project shows a relationship to the existing structure that is very different from Halle Pajol (Section 6.7.5.1). Although some parts of the complex have been demolished, the atmosphere of the past has been preserved in the remaining hall, regarded as the most valuable part of the complex.

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For example, corroding parts of the construction have not been renovated. To preserve the past atmosphere of the place, peeling layers of paint and even old cables have not been removed or repainted. Where an improvement was really needed, only new elements have been added to the construction, and nothing has been replaced (Van Gendthallen Amsterdam, 2015).

6.2.2.3 Industrial silos RE-MUSE is an adaptive reuse project situated on the former Imperial Sugar Refinery in Sugar Land, TX. The reuse is meant not only to minimize the impacts on virgin land, but also to prolong the duration of the existing structures. The museum re-purposes the iconic silo and a contiguous warehouse. The silo houses the heritage museum, and the warehouse houses the Fort Bend Children’s Discovery Center. These two buildings are joined by a common lobby. To preserve the aesthetics from the site’s industrial past, the lobby and the other elements of the project site use recycled steel and aluminum. A large canopy covers the lobby between the two buildings and create an open air passageway. The canopy is designed to offset any addition of impervious surfaces by harvesting rainwater. To lower energy consumption major paths of circulation are placed north of the building to allow for day lighting and to minimize heat gain (RE-MUSE, n.d.). Gemini Residence is a residential building on the Islands Brygge waterfront in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a reference to the twin silos that have given the building its shape, Gemini Residence takes its name from the astrological sign Gemini (The Twins, in Latin). Danish Soybean Cake Factory was a soybean processing plant established in 1909. It produced oil and animal feed and was eventually the largest employer in the area. The two seed silos were built in 1963. After the plant closed in the 1990s, the area was redeveloped to a new district with both residential and office buildings. The conversion of the two seed silos into Gemini Residence was carried out from 2002 to 2005. The silos were raw concrete cylinders, 42 m in height and 25 m in width. The hollow insides of the silos are used for stairs, elevators, and hallways. The two silos are connected on each floor, giving the building a basic layout looking like the infinity symbol (∞). The circular spaces are capped with a Texlon roof for natural light, creating a lobby area as tall as the building itself, within which people can move up and down. This project initially intended to install apartments inside the structure. But it was later determined that the structures were not strong enough to support all of the holes that would be needed, so instead the apartments were clipped to the outside. The apartments have full-height windows and balconies along their whole length. At the bottom the raw concrete has been left uncoated to highlight the industrial origin of the structure (Gemini Residence, n.d.) (Fig. 6.14). The conversion of “Silo d’Arenc” (now simply called “Le Silo”) has been a significant part of the large-scale redevelopment of the Marseille port, France. The redevelopment program was necessitated by the decline of port activities and the general desire of maintaining and redefining the historical links between the city and its port.

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Fig. 6.14 Gemini Residences, Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by M. Laraia.

Built in 1927 to operate as a corn silo and closed down in 1984, this industrial building situated on the waterfront was not far from demolition. Public protests made reconversion possible: the silo has now two functions, a concert hall with 2000 places and an office area (4000 m2). In the ground floor the port activities continue to work, mainly allowing the cross traffic in the area. The inside of the Silo has been rented to a partner for 50 years and since its opening in 2011 it has become one of the main concert venues in the city (La Croix, 2014). Another noteworthy project concerned the former sanitary station (used for processing and disinfecting immigrants). The 1948 building had long been derelict and—despite being listed as an historically significant structure—was in use as a squat. Museum Regards de Provence, a private collection of Provencal artworks from the 19th and 20th century, is now on display in the old sanitary station (Metropolis, 2013). A surprising, almost shocking proposal for conversion of two disused grain silos is described by Dezeen (2016b). In this proposal by architecture students at the University of Lund, Sweden, one silo would be converted into a crematorium and a columbarium (a structure of vaults lined with recesses for cinerary urns): it will be called House for the Dead. The second silo would be a housing development—called House for the Living. The two areas of the scheme are differentiated by a change in materials. For the crematorium, the industrial concrete is conserved and the machine towers are reused for the cremation. The housing silo instead is equipped with insulation and cladding. A park designed to look like a forest would link the two ex-silos. Indeed, the students’ statement “We hope that through our project we can prove that what is unthinkable today can become the reality of tomorrow” sounds true (though a bit provocative…).

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Several more conversions of industrial silos are illustrated in Inhabitat (2014). I have arbitrarily selected two quite innovative examples. The two dilapidating silos of the former Guangdong Float Glass Factory in Shenzhen, China were converted into a venue for the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism and Architecture in 2013. The 27-m-high complex was transformed into an exhibition space with spiraling ramps and glass floors, and was used as a venue for the event. Interestingly the company in charge of the renovation project has its own studio an old beer factory in Guangzhou built in the 1960s. Silo 468 at Helsinki, Finland was originally built in the 1960s to store 16,000 m3 of oil. The company responsible for the redevelopment of Silo 468 had hundreds of holes punctured into the steel facade and then filled them with LED lights. So by night the building looks like a modern lighthouse. In honor of the city’s selection as the 2012 World Design Capital, the project is a permanent wind-controlled light art installation that creates a new public space on the water. The building is open to the public right before nightfall and shortly afterwards. Its lights remain on until 2:05 in the morning, creating an enthralling effect as the winds display ever-changing light patterns. More silo redevelopment projects are quoted by Momtastic (2011). Silo Restaurant in Lewiston, NY is a converted coal silo on the edge of the Niagara River. The massive concrete structure was located there—with a beautiful view, which was once ignored—because the coal stored was to power the Great Gorge Railway. The silo was rescued in 1997 and transformed into a restaurant where guests can sit on the round deck and contemplate the water. Two sewage treatment silos in the Zeeburg district of Amsterdam, the Netherlands were subjected to a contest in 2009 to give the structures a new, more positive identity. The architects turned the silos into a recreational complex for sports and culture. The huge Grain Silo Complex, situated at Cape Town’s Victoria & Alfred (V&A) Waterfront, was once the tallest building in South Africa; it had been disused since 1990. It has now been converted into the Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa. The museum was officially opened on 22 September 2017. The nine-story structure is housed in 9500 m2 of customized space. The galleries and the atrium at the center of the museum have been shaped out of the silo’s dense cellular structure of 42 tubes that fill the building. The redevelopment has 6000 m2 of exhibition space in 80 galleries, a rooftop sculpture garden, storage and conservation areas, a bookshop, a restaurant, and reading rooms. The museum ambience could hardly be more spectacular: placed on the rim of a natural, historic harbor, with the Table Mountain as background, and panoramic vistas of the ocean, V&A Waterfront entices up to 100,000 people a day (Arch Daily, 2017). The countryside architecture, as it can be widely seen in central Italy, generally includes vertical annexes such as dovecotes silos (i), grain stores (ii), or tobacco drying kilns (iii). Nowadays, those towers appear in neglect due to agricultural decline: however, many of these are designated as Environmental and Historical Heritage sites. A form of adaptive reuse was applied to a decaying silo at Sant’Apollinare (Marsciano, Perugia) by turning it into a mini-biogas plant. The selected structure changed from agricultural use to energy production: it can generate renewable electric energy from agricultural and forestry residues. The project proved

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to be sustainable not only in terms of energy and the environment, but also from an economic standpoint as it profited from recent legislation and incentives for renewable energy generation (Manni et al., 2017).

6.2.2.4 Blast furnaces “A blast furnace is a large structure in which iron ore is heated under pressure so that it melts and pure iron metal separates out and can be collected “(Collins Dictionary). The heritage value of blast furnaces built before 1900 has been recognized already for a long time, and most preserved installations from the 19th century are now museums or are anyhow open to visitors. However, the recognition of more recent mass production blast furnaces as industrial heritage is relatively recent. Until recently it has been pretty normal to demolish blast furnaces after their deactivation and either replace them with newer models, or to clear the entire site for redevelopment. The first modern blast furnace not to be dismantled is situated at Starachowice, Poland (shut down in 1968), followed by the last blast furnace of Yahata Steel Works at Yahatahigashi-ku, Kitaky ush u, Japan (shut down in 1972) and the “Carrie Furnaces” at Homestead, PA, USA [shut down in 1978 (Abandoned America, 2018)]. One of the two blast furnaces at Neunkirchen, Germany (shut down in 1982) was the first blast furnace to be not only preserved as-is, but refurbished for the purposes of preservation. The installations built in the last century were normally part of large industrial compounds where multiple blast furnaces were in operation side by side to improve efficiency. Raw materials were delivered to the site by freight trains and loaded into the furnaces by external elevating mechanisms; the trains carried off the smelted pig iron in ladles. In many cases, the preserved sites have been despoiled to minimize maintenance costs; besides, many blast furnaces have been dismantled. The policy was to keep only one or two furnaces and related installations at each site: this was deemed enough to explain the mechanical and chemical processes to visitors. Currently, most preserved furnaces are used as museums. Typically, colorful light installations brighten these furnaces at night. A comprehensive description of the redevelopment of a blast furnace site is given in ICOMOS (2007).

6.2.2.5 Postindustrial living in Milan, Italy Long ago there were actual factories inside Milan. Alfa Romeo’s manufacturing plant “Portello” was well within the city borders until the 1970s. There were factories producing everything saleable: car parts, air conditioners, electronics, pharmaceuticals, household appliances, furniture, etc. They were encircled by a vast network of stores and workshops, and a population of workers and their families who lived close to their businesses. As of today, the factories have shut down or relocated far outside Milan. Some of the old industrial districts have been demolished and replaced by tall residential or office buildings. But some factories—or their remains—survive, and attract real estate developers, both professionals and amateurs.

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A typical example is the Navigli, a former industrial and working-class district, visually impressive with its canals, bridges, and barges. Students and artists started moving to Navigli in the 1960s because it was cheap and “rough.” But as of late it became the heart of fashion businesses and is now as expensive as the classy districts of central Milan. During the postwar, difficult years Milan authorities promoted the establishment of factories and workshops in Via Varesina area. Today, some of these properties have already been converted into loft apartments and studios, and more are awaiting their turn. One example in this area is the Pagani factory: until 2003, it was still producing headlights and other items for scooters. It includes a dozen interlinked buildings— mostly long, low workshops and warehouses—served by private roads and a couple of wide squares. In 2003, a group of investors bought the whole factory. Part of the land was used for The Chedi, a hotel of the Singapore-based GHM chain, together with a block of short-term service apartments. The rest of the old buildings were split into lofts of various forms and sizes and sold individually. Most of the Pagani residents bought an empty, unfinished space, which they completed on their own. In addition to some 100 residential lofts, the complex houses a theatre workshop, a small television studio, a fashion exhibition hall and the studios of a painter and a photographer. More details on these redevelopments are given in FT (2007).

6.2.2.6 Rome industrial buildings The heart of the Rome industrial district was the Magazzini Generali (general warehouses), built in 1915: a couple of enormous warehouses from which several metal structures sprout imposingly and extend to the Tiber. Abandoned in 1945, the site now hosts the Fire Brigade Training Center, with classrooms, training spaces, caf
es, a conference room and company lodgings. Private entrepreneurs built their factories here. To name a few: Mira (first producing chemicals and fertilizers, then candles and glycerin, later soaps, and detergents) whose buildings now host the Teatro India (a theatre offering experimental events); Molini e Panifici Biondi (grain grinding and floor refining), which now has been reconverted into stylish lofts, the Societa’ Anonima Lavanderia (Laundry) Roma, whose building now hosts the Literature Faculty of Roma Tre University and the Vetrerie Riunite Bordoni (glass-making), now hosting the office of Roma Tre University’s Chancellor. Some mention should be given also to Ex-Mattatoio (former slaughterhouse): this vast complex of wings and pavilions covers an area of 2.5 ha. Designed in 1888 it distributed meat until 1975 when it was abandoned. Now it hosts a police office, the Architecture Faculty of Roma Tre University, the contemporary art museum Macro Testaccio, La Pelanda, another important contemporary art venue of the capital and a squat place called Villaggio Globale (Global Village). From 2007 in this space there is also the Citta` dell’Altra Economia (town of a different economy), a project devoted to themes such as fair trade, organic food, recycling, renewables, etc. The Rome Gas Holder mentioned in Section 6.2.4 is also situated in this area (Romeing, 2014). This “Gasometer” is quite popular in the city: Fig. 6.15 shows a bracelet inspired by this landmark.

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Fig. 6.15 Gasometer cuff, gold-plated bronze, Rome. Photo by M. Laraia, 2018.

Museums are usually crowded places that fall silent when the doors close at night. But one museum in Rome’s eastern suburbs has no working hours: it is home to 200 squatters, including many children, who live among and protect the artworks. In March 2009, the former building of the salami factory Fiorucci, located in Rome’s eastern suburbs, was occupied by homeless migrants with a dual purpose: solving housing problems for many people on one side and as a demonstrative act against a giant construction company, on the other side. In 2011, curator Giorgio de Finis began to organize art events and performances there. These, in collaboration with the inhabitants and artists, grew spontaneously into the Museum of the Other and the Elsewhere(Museo dell’Altro e dell’Altrove di Metropoliz, or MAAM, in Italian). It fast became one of Rome’s most important contemporary art spaces, with murals, paintings, and installations by more than 300 artists from all over the world. Many of them embed relics of the site’s former use as a slaughterhouse or, seeking inspiration from its residents, address themes of discrimination, xenophobia, and nationalism. A room once used for stripping carcasses displays a huge mural of hung-up pigs. Livestock cages serve as representations of the lives of prisoners and migrants. All artwork is donated in support for the illegal museum that works cost-free. But visitors often express more interest in MAAM’s residents than in its art. Since occupying the abandoned factory in 2009, the migrants (from such countries as Morocco, Peru, Sudan, Eritrea, and Ukraine as well as several Roma families) have converted factory buildings into homes, painted with murals.

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The MAAM residents, most of whom are poor and unemployed, maintain the museum together with curator de Finis. To protect their privacy and lest the police displace them, they open the museum only on Saturdays and for special events. Entry is free, though a donation is welcome. Rome had already experienced the insertion of art in a place of death with the Macro of the former Testaccio slaughterhouse (see above), which for decades had fed meat to the people. But inputting” life” inside a museum and the other way round, as MAAM does, is something unique (MAAM, 2017). The case described below is similar to the Testaccio slaughterhouse. The Matadouro slaughterhouse at Porto, Portugal was once a major economic contributor to the city. But since its closure in 1990, several developments—including the football stadium and a busy highway—have been constructed around the building, isolating it from the rest of the city. The disused slaughterhouse will now be converted into a cultural center, including art galleries and a library among other amenities (Dezeen, 2018c). Adaptive Reuse: Brief Stories of Success An earlier tramshed in Glasgow, UK was converted into a contemporary art venue: it opened as Tramway during Glasgow’s Year of Culture in 1990 (Arnesen, 2006) The Fakenham Museum of Gas and Local History, Norfolk, United Kingdom is the last complete non-operational gasworks left in England. Established in 1846 to provide gas lighting for the town, Fakenham Gas Works ceased production of gas in 1965 after the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea. The museum is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, providing an insight into cultural, social, and industrial heritage. The museum is run entirely by volunteers and members of “The Friends of the Museum.” (http://fakenhamgasmuseum.com/) Old Cheddar’s Lane pumping station, Cambridge, UK, was built in 1894 to house two steam engines and pumps to pump the town’s sewage to the treatment works 3 km away. Household rubbish was burned as boiler fuel to raise the steam to drive the engines. The site closed in 1968. It is now the Cambridge Museum of Technology (Historic England, 2019b). The Berengo Center for contemporary art and glass is located in Murano (Venice, Italy) inside the rehabilitated complex of former Domus Vetri d’Arte (House of art-glasses). Murano is the ancient Italian center of art glass-making (Berengo Studio, 2015). The Molino Stucky is a Neo-Gothic building in Venice, built from 1884 to 1895. It was first built as a flour mill supplied by boats across the lagoon and also operated as a pasta factory. It began to decline in the 1910s before being permanently closed in 1955. A rehabilitation project began in 1998. The owners went into partnership with the Hilton Hotels chain in the mid-2000s, with a plan to convert the building into a hotel and conference center, a rooftop swimming pool and a conference hall for 2000 attendees. Rehabilitation work was in progress when a major fire hit on 15 April 2003, causing extensive damage. The complex eventually opened in June 2007 (Daily Mail, 2017) The Cantoni Cotton Mill, Venice was inaugurated in 1883. Partially destroyed by fire in 1916, the cotton mill was rebuilt. It remained in operation until 1960, and then was abandoned for 30 years before rehabilitation in the 1990s. The main building now houses an important part of the university: classrooms, the “Archivio Progetti” (including a data bank for architecture and industrial design techniques, and a study room with nine consultation seats), the exhibition hall, a main office, and a deposit (IUAV, n.d.).

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The Cassino Museum of Contemporary Art (CAMUSAC), Italy is a structure for contemporary art, created in 2013 with the rehabilitation of the Longo industrial buildings, near the ancient Abbey of Montecassino. The aim of the Museum—which holds a private permanent collection—is to contribute to the cultural growth and development of southern Lazio, which already has many sites of archeological, historic, and religious interest. CAMUSAC is another cultural instrument alongside the University, the State Art School, the Fine Arts Academy of Frosinone and other institutions nearby. Besides the Permanent Collection, CAMUSAC organizes exhibitions of works by important contemporary artists. Along with the exhibitions, it offers conferences, research seminars, conventions, workshops, and guided tours (CAMUSAC, n.d.). A cylindrical silo in Quebec, Canada which is 20 m high and 11 m wide with 70-cm thick concrete walls, formerly housed a Van der Graaff particle accelerator. When the accelerator was decommissioned, the facility was converted into a high-performance computing cluster known as Colossus (Data Center, 2009). In 1987, the Reykjavik National Gallery of Iceland (Listasafn Islands in Icelandic) moved to its current venue. The main building had been built in 1916 as an icehouse and redeveloped (Listasafn, n.d.) (Fig. 6.16).

6.2.2.7 Tobacco factories The Tobacco Factory at Bristol, UK, was built between 1898 and 1901. The building was used to process tobacco until 1985–86 when the owners relocated production. The building fell into disrepair until September 10, 1993, when George Ferguson, architect

Fig. 6.16 Reykjavik National Gallery of Iceland formerly icehouse. Photo by M. Laraia, 2015.

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Fig. 6.17 Yenidze Factory, Dresden, Germany. Photo by M. Laraia.

and former mayor of the city, bought the building with the plan to regenerate it as a creative, mixed-use community building. It is now houses Thali Cafe, animation and performing arts school, lofts, a caf
e bar, offices and a theatre (Tobacco Factory, 2018). The Yenidze Tobacco and Cigarette Factory, Dresden, Germany, was a tobacco company, which imported tobacco from Ottoman Yenidze town (now Genisea, Greece). This Dresden factory was built between 1907 and 1909. The “Oriental” style of architecture, which borrows design elements from mosques, recalled the exotic origins of the Oriental tobaccos and functioned as advertising for the firm (Fig. 6.17). Today Yenidze is used as an office building. It has 600 windows of various styles; the dome is 20 m high. The history of the factory can be found in Yenidze (n.d.). Although not a tobacco factory, the Vienna Zacherlfabrik should be quoted here because, like Yenidze, it was built in the style of an Arabic mosque (Fig. 6.18). Zacherlfabrik is a former factory for insecticides. The Oriental-style factory was built between 1888 and 1892. Business started to decline after WWI and, despite endeavors to diversify production, eventually in 1958 the company was cancelled from the registry of active enterprises. The pseudo-mosque of the Zacherlfabrik remained mostly unused; parts of it fell into disrepair, others were let to companies, others yet served as storage space. A new beginning for the Zacherlfabrik came to light only a few years ago.

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Fig. 6.18 Zacherlfabrik, Vienna, Austria. Photo by M. Laraia.

In 2006, the last heirs of the Zacherl dynasty started a collaboration with the Art Grant of the Jesuite monastery in Vienna. They refurbished the Zacherlfabrik, removed floors, and merged them into a hall that was used for art exhibitions and in summer for music performances (Zacherlfabrik, n.d.). Unfortunately, due to financial reasons, this support came to an end in 2013 and the fate of Zacherlfabrik is currently uncertain. A not-so-successful redevelopment case is described by Vrusho (2015). Unlike most other cases discussed in this book, this redevelopment project at Durres, Albania was carried out cheaply due to the economically disadvantaged conditions of the country at the time. A three-story industrial building had been built in 1950 and served for 45 years as tobacco warehouse. The adaptive redevelopment of the building for housing requirements was carried out in 1995. The new tenants were former tobacco workers. The structure remained unchanged. Interventions primarily consisted of floor reinforcements, installation of dividing walls, reconstruction, and repairing of the ceilings. Floor reinforcements were made by adding 6 cm of reinforced concrete. The internal apartment walls were made using 10-cm hollow bricks, whereas the dividing apartment walls were 20 cm thick. All wall plastering, internal and external, was remade using standard plaster and lime. The building was not plastered from the outside. The building is 15.3 m
66.4 m and covers an area of 1000 m2. The reconstruction was based on small 1 + 1 apartments (one bedroom and one living room, around 60 m2 each). To exploit the available area to the max the apartments were placed along both sides of a long corridor. The common areas were left with only 6% of the construction. The building contains now 12 apartments and some 95 inhabitants.

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The environmental quality of the building is poor. The apartments have high ceilings (3.75 m) with large light openings due to the existing building structure. The height of the apartments makes it difficult to heat them in winter. The windows used for reconstruction were single glass aluminum framed and not of a good quality, Energy conservation is very poor because of the low insulation of the materials used. The inhabitants made a lot of spatial changes to their apartments: they closed loggias to use them as bedrooms, and altered interior walls to connect dining with living rooms (these changes were due to being the existing interiors insufficient for large families); they added tents at the facade to shield direct sunshine; and they installed air conditioning or wood stoves for heating purposes. Many families had their apartments oriented to north and complained for the high humidity: they also complained for insufficient lighting. Due to the wide use of hollow bricks many complained about noise. This case study highlights that adaptive reuse of industrial buildings for residential purposes should be done with proper materials and allocating sufficient living spaces. The artist Alberto Burri founded the Fondazione Palazzo Albizzini “Collezione Burri” in 1978 in Citta’ di Castello, Italy, as a tribute to his birthplace. Since 1990, part of his collection has been exhibited in what were the drying sheds of the tobacco factory. Alberto Burri used these sheds as a laboratory for the production of large works from 1978 (Umbria Tourism, n.d.). A tobacco factory was built at Krems, Austria in 1922. The reinforced concrete framed build is noteworthy for its “third baroque” style, and its enormous size makes it a Krems landmark. When the production ceased in the late 1980s, the local council utilized the empty spaces for the Provincial Scientific Academy. The grid-like ground plan facilitated the conversion. The project was finished in 1995 and the 15,000-m2 floor space began to host a number of Departments of today’s Danube University (Stadler, n.d.). The following story has a bit of irony in it. At Winston-Salem, NC, a factory that once produced almost half of the cigarettes in the USA has been converted into Wake Forest Biotech Place, whose mission is to cure diseases. The 2.25-ha Biotech Place had been two tobacco facilities once owned by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which donated the dilapidated and unused properties to Piedmont Triad Research Park, who later sold them to Wexford Science & Technology, LLC. (The building is leased back to Wake Forest.) Redevelopment of the buildings was done in 18 months and was financed through the North Carolina Mill Rehabilitation Tax Credits program and the federal New Markets and Historic Tax Credits. The buildings were gutted and stripped to the core on the interior (one wonders whether the principle of preservation was really complied with…) and then refurbished with new mechanical, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), electrical systems, fire protection, and goods-lift systems to upgrade them to current standards. Biotech Place comprises 80% labs and 20 and office space. It has a 700-m2 glass atrium that illuminates the building’s center, is five-story high on the south side and three-story high on the north side. The south end of the building was built in 1937 with a distinctive glass block exterior, which had to be retained as historic heritage. Each glass block was individually surveyed to decide which to retain,

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repair, or remove. Luckily, there were onsite several pallets of the original blocks that could be used as replacements. The northern side has a brick facade and was completed in 1962. The building also offers conference halls, an auditorium, and a cafe. The area in front of Biotech Place was planned to become a public park offering concerts and night movies. An old rail line behind the facility will be converted into a trail that will connect with existing trails totaling some 50 km of walking or biking pathways (Politico Magazine, 2016).

6.2.2.8 OPEC 1 and 2, Casaccia Research Center, Rome, Italy Since 2003, at the Enea Casaccia Research Center, SOGIN has been managing the nuclear decommissioning of OPEC plant (an acronym for Operazioni Calde—Hot Operations), including the management of both operational and decommissioning waste. OPEC consists of two units, OPEC 1 and 2. OPEC 1 started operation in 1962: it was the first plant in Italy to conduct research and postirradiation investigations on UO2 fuel elements. The operations consisted of surveys and destructive analyses of fuel elements inside three in-line screening cells. Since 1990, the OPEC 1 deactivation process have involved encapsulation of the spent fuel, dismantling of the equipment and decontamination of the hot cells. In 2008, the structure was given to storage and management of radioactive materials. OPEC 2 was constructed in the 1970s: it aimed at furthering research, controls and analyses being performed at OPEC 1, especially for “alpha seal” management of highly irradiated fuel. The plant, including two high-activity and five medium activity cells, never went operational. Today, the plant is being restructured to turn it into an interim store for the radioactive waste generated at the Casaccia Plutonium Plant. Between 2012 and 2014, at the OPEC plants, a number of safety-driven activities were carried out addressing: the control of the ventilation systems, transformers, electrical substations, emergency compressed air systems, intercom, liquid tank workshops and monitoring system. At OPEC 1 the underground tanks (Waste A and B), formerly used for collection of radioactive liquids, were taken offsite for processing. The next phase involves reclamation of the structures housing the tanks. In 2014, removal of nuclear materials from the plant within the scope of the GTRI (Global Threat Reduction Initiative) agreement stipulated between Italy and the USA was completed. The removal of nuclear materials and spent fuel under the GTRI has been conducive to the safe and cost-effective decommissioning and release of Italian nuclear plants. The OPEC decommissioning activities will end between 2023 and 2027 (a range including the uncertainties due to the prototypical character of the works). At this stage, the radioactive waste, already conditioned and stored in the interim stores onsite, will be ready for shipment to the future National Repository (SOGIN, 2017).

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6.2.2.9 Automobile plants The Ford Assembly Plant, in Richmond, California, was the largest assembly plant to be built on the US West Coast. The plant is part of the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Built in 1930 during the Great Depression, the plant spans over almost 4.65 ha. The factory was a major stimulant to the local and regional economy and was an important development in Richmond’s inner harbor and port plan. It is an excellent example of industrial architecture designed by architect Albert Kahn, known for his "daylight factory" design, which utilized large extensive window openings. The main building is composed of a two-story section, a single-story section, a crane-way, a boiler house and a shed canopy structure over the railroad track. During WWII the Richmond Ford Assembly Plant switched to assembling military vehicles. The last Ford was assembled in February 1953, with the plant being closed in 1956. In 1989, an earthquake severely damaged the plant. After the earthquake, the City of Richmond repaired and prepared the Ford Assembly building for rehabilitation: Orton Development was selected as the developer of the rehabilitation project. Currently the historic plant, a mixed-use property called Ford Point, houses businesses, a restaurant, light industrial, and entertainment spaces. Inside the imposing building, SunPower assembles rooftop solar racks. Down the hall, Mountain Hardwear designs and sells outdoor gear. The Craneway Pavilion—a giant, glass-enclosed space where cranes once hoisted completed vehicles onto train cars—now hosts a range of cultural and entertainment events (SFGATE, 2010). In Allen Park, MI, Ford developed Fairlane Green, a retail and recreational center on a site formerly used as Ford industrial waste landfill. The development includes retail stores and restaurants, a park and some 5 km of trails. Fairlane Green was built as a green (i.e., sustainable) property. Energy-efficient heating and cooling equipment and roofing was installed on site buildings. The former Ford Tractor Division R&D operation in Troy, MI, was redeveloped into Midtown Square (condominiums and shopping center). Former operations at the 30-ha facility included performance, emissions, calibration, and durability testing on diesel engines and tractors, as well as solvent degreasing, machining, painting, sandblasting, and welding (Michigan DEQ, 2007). General Motors (GM) cooperated with the US Postal Service (USPS) to redevelop a 30-ha GM facility in Pontiac, MI. The former facility, dating back to the early 1900s, consisted of a foundry, engine plant, and assembly plant. In 2005, construction began on a 7-ha USPS distribution center. The distribution center regrouped six area postal facilities, allowing USPS to move mail more efficiently. In Pontiac, MI, GM redeveloped its obsolete Central Manufacturing and Assembly Facility. The property was converted into an engineering center for the GM truck Group, including offices, laboratories, GM supplier facilities, three hotels, restaurants, and a daycare facility (Keppler et al., 2008).

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6.2.2.10 Custard Factory, Birmingham, UK The Custard Factory (CF) complex, built in the early 1900s, covers a vast area in the heart of Birmingham, United Kingdom. At its peak, some 1000 people worked there. In 1964, the production relocated and the factory fell derelict. The redevelopment of the CF could commence when a significant grant was assigned to the initiative by the city of Birmingham (1992). A larger financial support was provided by private investors and allowed the refurbishment of a number of buildings. In this way well over 100 spaces were assigned to creative businesses. The project was run in two phases. Phase one created an arts and media quarter. The former loading dock was converted into a pond surrounded by a dance studio, shops, art galleries, a cafe´ and bar, sculptures and fountains. A 220-seat theatre was also installed. In 2002 the second phase, which created a hundred studio/offices, lake side stores, art galleries and restaurants was completed. In March 2007, the regional development agency, Advantage West Midlands, announced new funding for the Custard Factory of £9.6 m ($12.3 m), to open 100 new office and workspace units. The result was a restored grade II listed building, which opened in May 2010. CF now provides workspaces to about 1000 people. Five factors are quoted by Arnesen (2006) to justify the success of this regeneration project: l

l

l

l

l

CF is a place to work. There are studio spaces which are flexible and suited to small creative businesses; CF is a place to live. Student flats are established (cheap rents was a prerequisite of the redevelopment project); CF is a place of commerce. There is a variety of shops, caf
es, and consumption-led creative industries; CF is a place to learn. There is a MA course in Fine Arts; dance, crafts, and theater classes are well established; CF is a place of physical regeneration. New life has been injected into a dilapidated, derelict area.

6.2.2.11 Clementhorpe Maltings, York, UK The Clementhorpe Maltings was a 19th-century malthouse used until the late 1950s. It had been unused since deactivation; in fact, the site had been doomed to demolition. It was listed grade II, which implied that reuse was the preferred option. The maltings has been converted into six houses, which is a rare conversion case, since most malting installations are converted into apartments. The selected approach, however, allowed the party walls of the houses to work as structural members to stiffen the timber and cast iron framework. This meant a cost saving in that otherwise the maltings would have had to be stabilized prior to being converted. Moreover, the conversion to houses made the building harmonize with the contiguous houses of that district of York. There are several malting features which are hard to conserve, for example, the soaking cistern, the grain dressing machinery, and the bucket elevators. Kiln furnaces can also be a problem but they are normally kept as a room feature. At Clementhorpe

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all these features were conserved, some in situ like the dressing machine and the kiln furnace while the bucket elevators have been moved to the main entrance hall. The doors to the grain containers were also kept but moved elsewhere. In general, the conversion project retained as many of the original features as possible. Most floors were arranged in section to account for the available ceiling height, with bedrooms, bathrooms, and utilities in the lowest areas, and living rooms in the higher ones. Little use was made of new materials, and new windows, while intentionally noticeable, are not invasive (Industrial Archaeology, 2017).

6.2.2.12 Dairy and Ice Factory, Berlin, Germany The founder of the dairy factory, Carl Bolle, paved the way for Berlin’s economic boom in late 1800s. In contemporary Spree-Bogen area, Bolle installed production areas and workshops, accommodation for thousands of his workers, coachmen and milkmaids, social facilities, stables, and carts. Today’s event spaces originally served as a ballroom and factory chapel and later became a margarine production area. Then the building became one of Berlin’s first cinemas. Later on, it became a theatre. Between 1913 and 1924, the factory was enlarged to include three cooling houses and a boiler house with an engine room close to the river. In 1914, enormous ice generators and cooling machines were installed. At the end of the 1920s, the factory’s entrance gate was enlarged to allow the transport of ice on railways. The ice blocks were loaded onto wagons from the cooling house ramps and transported to the freight terminal of the railway station. The production of ice blocks declined after WWII and completely ceased in 1991. Over the next 20 years the former ice factory buildings deteriorated and some of the cooling houses were demolished in 2010. Today, the existing buildings are protected by the Berlin conservation authorities. The building underwent extensive renovation in 2013–2014 in line with strict conservation requirements. During these renovation works, the special flavor of the industrial architecture was emphasized and modernized. Ceilings up to 8 m high, bare brick walls, tall steel-framed windows, cast-iron pillars of this listed building make it typical of Berlin’s industrial architecture. The newly extended roof terrace and the former cinema projection room converted into Bolle’s Bar are two new highlights. The building now houses several event halls, a bar/ restaurant, a four-star hotel and shops. The enlargement toward the Spree is characterized by a series of brickwork and steel-and-glass structures. Other parts of the site are planned for redevelopment at the time of writing (May 2018) (Berliner Zeitung, 2015).

6.2.2.13 Kurashiki Factory, Okayama Prefecture, Japan A former masking tape factory in Kurashiki City, Japan was recently converted into new uses. For 90 years the building was used for mixing the paste used in the manufacturing of the masking tape. To be converted, the building was stripped back to its concrete frame and a new roof added, supported by slim steel columns running

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through existing floor voids. The architecture is purposely simple, with crisp new cladding and minimally detailed display cases playing off the grungy concrete frame. The converted building is now used as a museum documenting the history of the company, a dining room and conference space (Architectural Review, 2012).

6.2.2.14 Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy The history of Hangar Bicocca is closely linked to that of Breda, the company that moved it to the Bicocca district of Milan, Italy in 1903. Such renowned companies as Pirelli, Falck, and Marelli followed Breda, so turning the area into an important industrial center. In the new 20 ha factory, Breda manufactured railway wagons, electric, and steam locomotives, boilers, agricultural machinery and, during WWI, military equipment. One of the factory buildings was Pirelli Hangar Bicocca, which at the time was divided into blocks of different types and size. The huge building called today “Le Navate” in Italian (“The Aisles”) was constructed in the early 1960s for the assembling and testing of transformers. The building, which has retained its original dimensions to this day—9500 m2 with a height of about 30 m—has a “nave” and two aisles. In the early 1980s, the historic industrial areas began to be decommissioned. The Bicocca district was subject to a full urban redevelopment (Fig. 6.19). The 1986 Bicocca Project led to the establishment of university buildings, administration centers, and private houses, as well as to the redevelopment of the old Pirelli factory buildings. After many years of neglect, it was decided in 2004 that Pirelli Hangar Bicocca was to be converted into an exhibition space for contemporary art (Hangar Bicocca, n.d.). Since 2004, one of the building aisles has housed The Seven Heavenly Palaces, a piece of contemporary art by the German artist Anselm Kiefer.

6.2.2.15 Officine Grandi Riparazioni, Turin, Italy The 20,000-m2 redeveloped Officine Grandi Riparazioni (OGR, “Large Repairs Workshop) opened up to the general public in September 2017. The OGRs located in the heart of Turin, Italy, were founded in late 19th century and later nicknamed the “cathedral” of Turin’s industrial history. The initial assumption of the redevelopment, which only considered “rendering the structure secure”, evolved into a broader and more ambitious project encompassing the multiple use of the new OGRs (2018). The redevelopment project has been a major step from former workshops for the repair of trains to new laboratories of contemporary culture, innovation, and business. Over three years of work and €100 million investment were needed to establish this center of creativity, culture, and performance for public use: High-tech solutions, environmental sustainability, preservation of historical values, flexibility and modularity of spaces, maximum usability, and accessibility to all have been the factors inspiring the full-scale redevelopment of the OGRs.

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Fig. 6.19 .Hangar Bicocca, Milan, Italy. Photo by M. Laraia.

Within walking distance from the Porta Susa High-Speed Train station, the Politecnico (the Turin University), the Energy Center, several private research areas, excellence institutions and the future congress center are now the nucleus of the new OGRs. The urban restructuring of this part of the city includes also the creation of two public squares, functionally connected to the OGRs but accessible to the public for relax, meeting people and socialization (Fig. 6.20). The Corte Est square has openair artwork while the Corte Ovest square has a garden displaying the old water tower and a stage conceived for open-air events, shows, dining, etc. From the architectural and construction standpoint the project secures the perception of large-scale volumes and significant heights. The works also have had minimal impact on the original structure, they are reversible and recognizable through the use of new materials, colors and detail. Another detail of the OGRs (Fig. 6.21) introduces the concept of railway conversion, which is discussed in more detail in Section 6.2.3.

6.2.2.16 Manufacturing buildings reused for biotech, medical and chemistry facilities, and supportive uses Redundant facilities of this kind have begun to attract buyers that can profit from existing infrastructure (e.g., cleanrooms and power). Besides, advanced technology manufacturing facilities can be bought at a fraction of their initial cost, and biotech

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Fig. 6.20 Inner spaces within the OGRs. Photo by M. Laraia.

Fig. 6.21 OGRs former nave for movement of locomotives and the like. Photo by M. Laraiaon the occasion of the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy, 2012.

facilities are much less expensive when they reuse existing spaces than when they are installed into new builds. Thirdly, reusing existing facilities means that the biotech facilities can save several months in startup time.

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The experience quoted below arises from the nonnuclear sector, but it can be readily exported to large radiological laboratories and radiation research facilities. In 2004, Peace Health bought Sony’s former CD and DVD manufacturing facilities in Sprongfield, OR, converting the 3-ha facility into laboratory and support area for hospitals and clinics in the region. Peace Health would have paid about three times more if they had built similar space. In August 2003 KBI Bio Pharma, Inc., acquired Mitsubishi’s 3.16-ha former semiconductor building in Durham, NC, for $15.5 million. The site ceased wafer fabrication operations in 1998 due to company’s restructuring and has stood empty ever since. Mitsubishi originally spent $270 million building and equipping the campus in the early 1990s. The former semiconductor plant contains 4700 m2 of cleanrooms and 450 m2 of laboratories. The complex also includes 12,500 m2 of office space, as well as a cafeteria and stores. The buildings came equipped with complementary infrastructure used both in biopharmaceutical and semiconductor manufacturing, including systems for producing highly filtered water and air. The Mitsubishi plant had also 0.5 ha of cleanrooms (these are controlled environments that have a low level of pollutants such as dust, airborne microbes, etc. Cleanrooms vary in size and complexity, and are used extensively in either semiconductor manufacturing or pharmaceuticals and biotech). It was estimated that in reusing existing facilities rather than building new spaces, KBI spent half of the money needed. An additional benefit to KBI was an available workforce that included hundreds of former Mitsubishi staff already trained to work in a cleanroom environment: as noted elsewhere in this book the availability of skilled labor is a bonus common to many cases of nuclear redevelopment (Biopharm, 2005). A table given in Alchemy (2005) compares typical features of biotechnology vs semiconductor facilities: this could serve to illustrate the potential for adaptive conversion of one category of facilities into the other. A different reuse is given in the following. In Wake County, NC, USA, the conversion of an office and scientific research facility into a school is a story with four exemplary ingredients: good timing, smooth teamwork, one prime contractor, and cooperation among parties. In 1998, the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) embarked on the adaptive reuse of the unused American Sterilizer Company facility. The 1.4-ha complex included an architecturally impressive glass and granite office building and an adjacent scientific R&D building within a broader 9-ha site. Initially the complex did not look like a school, but the conversion did work. In 1997, Apex High School was going to be renovated the following year, displacing 800 pupils. Transferring them to other crowded schools was not possible, nor was using trailers. The American Sterilizer complex fulfilled preliminary criteria for adaptive reuse, namely: a new school building was needed promptly; the proposed facility was well built and well located; and it was available and affordable. Once a feasibility study confirmed the building’s suitability, the project was put on a fast track. In Wake County, a typical school construction project takes about two and one-half years—a year for design, school district approval, and the selection of multiple contractors; and 1.5 years for execution. Instead, this project had to be finished in 9 months.

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Selecting and coordinating multiple contractors would take a long time, and local contractors were already overextended. Therefore, the project acquired one prime contractor who could be focused on the project and select subcontractors. WCPSS began at once a comprehensive assessment of the American Sterilizer complex, which included a structural and architectural analysis as well as roof surveys and inspections of the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems. WCPSS collaborated with state and local government agencies supervising funding, zoning, authorizations, and safety. Public meetings were held to gather suggestions from pupils, teachers, and community members on the design of classrooms, laboratories, and common areas. While the architect completed renovation plans and specifications, demolition contractors removed asbestos and gutted interiors. In parallel, the school team hired a construction contractor committed to high standards of quality and to the fast-track schedule. The land and buildings cost $7.5 million; design, demolition, and construction added about $13 million. Although the project’s final cost was similar to a new construction, its faster completion (9 months vs 2.5 years) provided facilities in time for the new school year (NCEF, 2003). Similar to other US cities in the so-called Rust Belt, Toledo, OH was severely hit when manufacturing plants and businesses relocated away from downtown. A project of our concern involved the adaptive reuse and expansion of a landmarked steam plant built in 1896, and designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham. The project also included the conversion of a 1981 brutalist concrete building into of a new parking garage. ProMedica formerly had offices scattered around the city and managed to unite its staff in one building. The new downtown campus is meant to increase ProMedica visibility while aiming to revitalize an ageing downtown neighborhood. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the steam plant sat idle for 30 years before it was purchased by ProMedica. The 7300-m2 building has red brick walls and two tall steam stacks, which were preserved. The interior was converted into a four-story office building with ample communal areas and a sunlit atrium. On the side of the building facing the river, the architects added a three-story structure of some 4200 m2. Its facades consist of glass and terracotta. Original elements in the steam plant were preserved as much as possible, including steel roof supports and a 13-t bridge crane, which now hangs in the atrium. Inside the addition, the team used a minimal palette of materials in order to keep the focus on views and to respect Burnham’s vision. The brutalist structure, called the Junction Building, originally served as headquarters for the Toledo Trust Company. It was later occupied by KeyBank, which relocated in 2015. The 9500 m2 triangular building was fully renovated inside. Office space takes the uppermost three floors, while the ground floor hosts two restaurants. A gym is situated in the basement (Dezeen, 2018e). Unlike the other projects described in this book, there are examples of conversions from a nonindustrial to industrial use. The former Balmoral Curling Club, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada was originally built in 1957 and remained vacant since 2007. The new use of the structure is a research and academic facility that hosts

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University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services teams working on medical isotope research, and the production of isotopes used to diagnose and treat patients with cancer, heart, neurological and other diseases. The structure includes a cyclotron, laboratories (clean rooms, radioisotope, chemistry, R&D, instrumentation), materials handling and administrative offices (HFKS, 2017). A nice example of adaptive reuse can be seen in the renovation of 20 Washington Street, Princeton University, NJ. The building, built in 1929 with several subsequent additions, contained large laboratory classrooms, offices, and mechanical spaces. It housed the Department of Chemistry until the new Frick Chemistry Laboratory nearby opened in 2010.Then the former chemistry building became obsolete. However, its central location and “iconic collegiate gothic structure” 20 Washington Street was too significant to demolish. Thus, the university decided to convert the building into the new venue of the Department of Economics and other university’s international programs and services. The renovation focused on “[striking] a delicate balance between preserving the most appealing features of this building—its stone walls, wood-beamed lobby, leaded windows, and collegiate-gothic flourishes—and transcending its limitations—a gloomy interior, mazelike corridors, and a woefully inefficient mechanical system.” Basically, the project involves maintenance of the gothic exterior, with a remodeled interior, which is light, airy, and fulfills today’s needs. Primary interior spaces were also preserved. The project meets state-of-theart standards for the reuse of a historic structure, including reuse of materials such as the stone exterior and interior woodwork, use of sustainable materials in finishes, storm-water management, and energy efficient temperature, lighting, and plumbing systems. The project is noteworthy as a great combination of sustainability and preservation (Campus Plan, 2016). Another project involving a university building can be quoted here. Situated in the old north campus of NC State, University, Raleigh, the Park Shops building is a historic, three-story masonry structure built in 1914 to house the Mechanical Engineering department. NC State joined with architectural consultants to preserve this historic building while creating an industrial design esthetics that merges old and new. The adaptive reuse of the Park Shops building has resulted in a contemporary, multiuse building housing anthropology and archaeology laboratories, classrooms and video-conferencing facilities, a caf
e, and office spaces. The project included a full renovation of 4450 m2 of existing space and an addition of 80 m2 for a new glass-enclosed entrance canopy. To accommodate the new videoconference facilities, an area of existing wood floor had to be removed and replaced with a new steel and composite concrete structure to create an unobstructed space and for better acoustics. Classrooms are located under existing clerestory windows to maximize the exposure natural daylight, and laboratories are situated under existing roof trusses and are supported by the new floor structure. The masonry shell of the building remains a central motif for the design (Clark Nexen, 2013). The redevelopment of the Integrative Biosciences Center (IBio) at Wayne State University (WSU), Detroit, MI, was faced with an enormous task—transform a 1920s auto dealership into a state-of-the-art biomedical research facility.

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The redevelopment team was also time-pressured: they had only 5 weeks to do it, rather than a more typical 5 months, due to administrative deadlines. In addition to its main task, the project also had to accommodate the historical building’s physical disconnection from WSU’s main campus and potential partner facilities, catalyze the redevelopment of the area, and coordinate with adjacent development efforts such as a new light rail line. Now IBio offers 19,000 m2 to support research themes, including biomedical engineering, cardiovascular, diabetes, and metabolism, behavioral science and computational biology. “Two-thirds of the final building is restoration of a derelict 1927 Albert-Kahndesigned auto dealership, 75% of which remains. The building was structurally unsuited to lab planning, with a host of existing conditions in desperate need of correction or repair. Portions of the original building were not constructed properly in the first place, requiring remediation of unreinforced concrete and inadequately supported columns…By renovating a 90-year-old abandoned structure, IBio represents a second century of usable life for the building. The new layout is designed to be as adaptable as possible, featuring open space, movable casework, Quick-Connect fixtures, and perimeter-run lab systems (water/air/vacuum) to facilitate access as needs change. This approach primarily is intended to facilitate continually evolving habits among multidisciplinary researchers, but it also should extend the building’s life even further by accommodating future, unanticipated needs.” It is interesting to note that this project envisages future redevelopments, which is fully consistent with the circular economy sketched in Fig. 4.1. The design includes flexible office and wet/dry lab space to permit multiple themes to collaborate on similar projects, while allowing single groups to shrink or enlarge as needed. All of the wet lab casework is moveable to allow for prompt reconfiguration without reconstruction. Placing the wet labs in the existing building meant that ceiling space was quite valuable—an assortment of terminal heating and cooling equipment was used for space conditioning, such as chilled beams in the dry lab and administrative areas. The dry labs are an open work environment in a new addition to the building and around the wet lab core on the north side of the building—this preserves daylight and views for the researchers, and none of them occupies an outside wall (Lab Design News, 2017). Experience at the University of Connecticut’s Cell and Genome Sciences Building proves that it is possible to completely repurpose an old laboratory building from the 1970s to a state-of-the-art biological research facility. The project was challenging. What was formerly a privately owned toxicology-focused laboratory with largeanimal holding spaces would have to be converted into a core research facility for quantitative cell biology, genomics, and human stem cell biology. In other words, the project had to convert a building that was once 50% vivarium to a facility incorporating both bench and computational science. Budget, however, was the most serious challenge. The price for the project was around $2000/m2, which is half an average budget for new construction. Incidentally, as stated many times in this book, success of this project proves the inherent economic advantages of conversion over a new build.

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Initially, the University planned to build a new research tower next to the main University of Connecticut’s Health Center (UCHC), but logistics, funds, and a lack of space at the proposed site forced planners to consider an existing vacant building. This was basically a suburban archetype: a big-box, one-story, and windowless building. It had been constructed “with a ‘bunker’ mentality. They really didn’t want anybody to know what was inside”. In addition to cost savings, the redevelopment of an old building presented some other advantages. The isolation from other research facilities at UCHC was at first considered a disadvantage, but the proposed role of the new research facility compensated for this potential problem: actually the building was transformed into a selfcontained, full- service laboratory. In addition, the project would cause no disruption to ongoing activities elsewhere on campus. These conditions allowed a significant freedom to the conversion design. “The goal was not merely to create an annex, but also to create a center of excellence, an attractor. The idea that this lab needed to be a magnet, tailored to magnet users, meant that the entire facility had to be self-sufficient.” One significant problem was that some drawings were incomplete. Besides, the isolation of the building meant that the project had to include a dining facility. In addition, the absence of any windows meant that designers would have to carefully use the budget for bringing light into the building. Daylighting is essential in research work. In these venues, researchers work long hours and need now and then to get a glimpse of the world outside. Letting daylight into the old building was not easy. Many interior locations, for example, were more than 15 m from a perimeter wall. This issue was first addressed by putting 140 m of skylights all up and down the corridors, but this was not enough. The project required to cut out the roof, lift it up, and build a centralized atrium area that would become the focus of the laboratory activity. Blank exterior walls were opened with windows. The basic steel structure could accommodate a multitude of changes. External consultants were hired to adapt the structure to seismic code with additional diagonal bracing, but the underlying structure was preserved. An unexpected challenge was the discovery of oil in the site soil, which was neutralized in situ and the presence of asbestos, which was removed. “Another major change was the replacement of a constant-volume, low-pressure mechanical system with a modern variable air volume system that reduced the energy load on the building while still supplying the necessary ventilation. The elimination of large areas of ductwork allowed designers to eschew ceilings in corridors and perimeters. Another creative use of space was the addition of “cloud” ceilings to certain dry labs and conference rooms to maintain a sense of space while also managing acoustics. Energy use was also trimmed with the addition of new boilers, chillers, cooling towers, air handlers, and lab water and gas systems” (Livingstone, 2011).

6.2.3 Railway stations and ancillary installations This type of facilities exemplifies a range of buildings and accessory structures not unlike some that can be found at nuclear sites.

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6.2.3.1 Stazione Leopolda, Florence, Italy Historically, Stazione (Station) Leopolda was the first train station in Florence, Italy. Completed in 1848 and named “Leopolda” in honor of the reigning Grand Duke, the station was the last stop of the first public railroad in Tuscany, which linked Leghorn to Florence. Shortly after the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, all rail traffic was routed to the other terminal named “Santa Maria Novella” and the Leopolda station gradually declined, never again to regain its initial scope. Eventually, after WWII the main remaining feature of Leopolda had a central hall used as a store of railway materials. A few steps away from the very center of Florence, the 6000 m2 Stazione Leopolda is now a place where ancient and modern beauty merge. Over the last few years, it has evolved from the ancient train station into a creativity center including, among others, international conferences and fashion events (The Florentine, 2017).

6.2.3.2 Stazione Ostiense, Rome, Italy The redevelopment of Stazione Ostiense, Rome, tells an entirely different story. For more than 20 years, the glass-domed Air Terminal next to the rail lines of Stazione Ostiense lay semi-abandoned. Squatters occupied most of its spaces, and the surroundings were quite squalid. Then, in 2010, the supermarket chain Eataly began converting the structure into its largest branch. The complex opened in June 2012, exhibiting a wealth of traditional and upper-class Italian food. Within a four-story building. Eataly includes large retail space, restaurants and cafes, a coffee roaster, a brewery, a cooking school, and even a travel agency (NYT, 2012) (Fig. 6.22).

6.2.3.3 Michigan Central Station, Detroit, MI, USA As part of the overall Corktown Campus project, plans are well underway to transform Michigan Central Station into a 46,000 m2 research hub for car company Ford including among others the design of self-driving vehicles. These plans involve the overhaul of the historic building, which has been in neglect for 30 years since the train station was used last (1988), as well as nearby facilities to form a mixed-use redevelopment in central Detroit. The Corktown Campus project is expected to be completed by 2022. Inside the former railway station are marble walls and vaulted ceilings, looking like a Roman bathhouse. A large hall with Doric columns originally housed a ticket office and shops, while central train concourse had brick walls and a large copper skylight. Plans also include restaurant and retail spaces on the ground floor, with residential uses planned across the upper floors (Dezeen, 2018d).

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Fig. 6.22 Outside Eataly, Ostiense Station, Rome. Photo by M. Laraia, 2015.

Adaptive Reuse: Brief Stories of Success (2) Heritage-listed warehouse dating from the 1870s converted to adjacent spaces: a bar and private dining space, and main restaurant (Dwell, 2017a) Former warehouse and auto repair shop in Portland was turned into a venue for live music performances (Dwell, 2017b). Old warehouse converted to artist’s studio (Repubblica, 2014). Mechanical workshop converted to energy-efficient loft (Repubblica, 2015) Madrid 930-m2 brewery building transformed into Museo ABC, Spain’s oldest newspaper still in print, whose foundation is funding the operation, and the drawing and illustration art it houses. Multiple exhibition rooms, family workshops, a restoration lab, and a “floating” cafeteria can be found among the building’s expansive six floors (Buildipedia, 2011). Former Coalport Chinaworks, now a Listed Building and a Museum (Shropshire Council, 2017). Drink Factory converted to supermarket (Repubblica, 2011) A match factory, an armory, and a metal refinery converted to flats (London Lite, 2007) “In Pittsburgh, PA, a city rich in brownfields redevelopment and adaptive reuse examples, a site formerly occupied by Carnegie Steel was cleaned and converted to a successful commercial center, and a former slag dump was converted into a residential development. Another former steel mill was converted into a mixed-used development with retail, entertainment, and housing; and 17-ha Herr’s Island that once held a meat packing and rendering plant and rail yards is now hazard-free and supports recreation, manufacturing, commerce, and upscale housing” (DOE, 2009). “In Atlanta, GA, the 56-ha Atlantic Station Project is a national model for smart growth and sustainable development. For nearly 100 years, this brownfield was the home of Atlantic Steel, which was founded in 1901 as Atlanta Hoop Company to make cotton bale ties and barrel hoops.

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In 1998, the site was sold, remediated, and redeveloped as mixed-use Atlantic Station. The Atlantic Station plan includes homes for 10,000 people, retail and hotel employment opportunities for 30,000 more, and shopping and entertainment. Instead of a dark and abandoned factory, there will be a sustainable community” (DOE, 2009). “In Seattle, WA, the Seattle Gas Works Park is a phoenix rising from the rusted remains of a gas factory. The 8-ha point on Lake Union was cleared in 1906 to construct a coal-to-gas manufacturing plant that later handled crude oil. Production stopped in the 1950s, and the city acquired the site for a park, which opened in 1975. The boiler house was converted to a picnic shelter with tables, fire grills, and an open area. The former exhauster-compressor building, now a children’s play barn, features a maze of brightly painted machinery” (DOE, 2009).

6.2.3.4 Oakland’s Ninth Avenue Terminal, CA, USA Not unlike the Ostiense terminal (Section 6.2.3.2), Oakland’s historic Ninth Avenue Terminal was a point of controversy for some 10 years. Efforts to save this building from demolition have now succeeded in the preservation of the historically significant portion of the building to showcase a maritime museum. The 1.67-ha warehouse was opened in 1930 at the west end of Brooklyn Basin, Oakland’s Port. The main purpose of the building was to handle lumber, steel, and large amounts of other commodities. The building had been in use 1930–2015, ultimately as a cotton storage facility. “It is a rare example of a particular architectural typology; a prewar municipal port building utilized for break-bulk cargo in Oakland with railroad spur tracks on either side, and extensive open platform space along the west side (3DVDT, 2016).”

6.2.3.5 Fulham Broadway, London, UK Fulham Broadway is a London Underground station. It was opened as Walham Green in 1880. In 2003, the street-level station building was closed and a new entrance was opened within the adjacent Fulham Broadway shopping center, which was partly installed above the formerly open-air sections of the platforms. The old station building was redeveloped and occupied between 2005 and 2010 by a restaurant. In the period 2010–2012 the building was occupied by an attractive food market. Currently it has a host of little restaurants with communal tables in the middle of the hall. Most of the initial features and architecture have been preserved, among which the facade in terracotta panels is notable (Fig. 6.23). The pedestrian bridge has also been preserved. The building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 for its architectural and historic interest. In 1998 Fulham Broadway provided the set for the movie “Sliding Doors”. When leaving the train, the two main characters, Helen and James, are seen going up the old steps towards the exit. These steps no longer lead to that exit, having been made redundant by the new above-mentioned ticket hall; however, they remain as a bridge between the platforms (Historic England, 2018).

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Fig. 6.23 Fulham Broadway Underground Station. Photo by M. Laraia, 2018.

6.2.4 Gasholders Already for several decades, gasholders have been gradually made redundant and demolished. This is due to technological progress: gas is now stored in the underground mains network, rather than in huge above ground tanks (see also Glossary). Unfortunately, the demolition program underway in many countries will leave the urban landscape deprived of what, since Victorian times, has been one of its essential features. For example, the London landscape is already altered by the removal of the solid-type Battersea gas holder near the iconic power station described in Section 6.2.1.12 Over the last few years, however, the awareness of the cultural meaning of gas holders has alerted many opinion leaders and environmentalists, and reconversion projects are coming up. “A contest was organized by RIBA Competitions for British gas and electricity network National Grid. It asked architects to develop proposals that could regenerate over 100 of the former industrial sites, dotted across the UK (Dezeen, 2017a). Verhagen and Rodriguez’s proposal sees the wells left behind after the gasholders’ dismantling infilled with telescopic cylindrical blocks, while Max Architects has pitched a housing development surrounding a circular boating pond. Plans by 318 Studio would convert several of the pits to create a semi-subterranean crematorium, and Outpost would encircle a circular patch of landscaping with a mixed-use development housed in individual gabled blocks. Wilson Owens Owens Architects pitched to convert a pair of the wells into an indoor and outdoor sports center, with the latter enclosed by tall fencing, echoing the distinctive steel framework of the demolished gasholders.

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CF architects looked to the future needs of autonomous electric vehicles for its concept two spiraling car parks with charging points and drop-off spots for both terrestrial and flying Old gasholder sites have also prompted a number of other interesting proposals in recent years. Swiss firm Herzog & de Meuron recently unveiled plans to convert Stockholm’s former gasworks into a residential neighborhood”). Among recently completed projects, one should mention the three interlocking gasholders, a distinct section of London King’s Cross industrial heritage. The gasholders have now been cleaned up and incorporated into a modern design, which converts them into a residential complex. The gasholders redevelopment offers a range of open spaces for the residents, as well as such amenities as a gym, spa, rentable work space, and meeting room. The outdoor areas include a spacious terrace with gardens. The project, consisting of concrete cylinders of eight, nine, and 12 stories, originates 145 units including studios, three bedroom apartments, duplexes and penthouses. Although the construction is full adherent to modern standards, it respects the historic features and lies enclosed within the Grade II-listed Victorian iron columns and struts. The interior architecture merges industrial, craft and luxury components. Natural materials such as lye-treated oak, and special details, such as the bathrooms’ cast concrete basins add a measure of refinement. A selection of retail shops will be housed on the gasholders ground level, incentivizing public access to the buildings (Wallpaper, 2018). Construction of the Oberhausen Gasometer (Gasholder), Germany started in 1927: the plant started operation in 1929. During WWII the plant was repeatedly bombed, but managed to continue operation. In fact, when directly hit, it did not shattered, but the gas caught fire and pressure was being slowly lost. The Gasometer was finally shut down by the end of 1944. After being destroyed by fire in 1946 during repairs it was entirely demolished. However, the rupture disc used in operation and the roof were reinstalled during the reconstruction. In the 1980s the use for the Gasometer declined, as natural gas was more economical. Eventually the plant was considered redundant and taken out of service in 1988. A hot debate focused on the fate of the plant. In 1992 the city council voted to take control of the Gasometer and turn it into a cultural space. Conversion and redevelopment were completed in following years. The original rupture disc was blocked a few meters high, while exhibition space was installed underneath. However, the main exhibition area is located above the rupture disc and has a stage and 500 seats. Visitors can reach the roof via stairs or elevators (NRW, 2018). An old idea came up new for gasholder redevelopment. The art of panorama was a popular concept in the late 18th and early 19th centuries: viewers stood in the center of a huge circular painting depicting a panoramic view. A gasholder is an excellent place for a panorama of this kind. Two “panometers” were installed in Leipzig and Dresden, Germany (Panometer, n.d.). Fig. 6.24 shows the idle Rome gasholder, still to be redeveloped (or demolished).

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Fig. 6.24 The Rome gasholder. Credit to Rita Restifo.

6.3

Bunkers, tunnels, and other underground installations

There are varied underground structures at nuclear sites. Underground features considered here might include bunkers, tanks, water supply conducts, fire protection, sewerage, mine tunnels and vaults, etc. Some of these SSCs may require dismantling or remediation. However, depending on the redevelopment plans for the site some of the underground SSCs may even be useful and are left in situ. In general, underground structures may reduce the redevelopment potential of a site for two main reasons: (1) real or suspected contamination, which is often difficult to locate, identify, and remove; and (2) the physical obstacles that existing underground structures may pose to the installation of new structures. Some nuclear sites (e.g., waste repositories or uranium mines) are intrinsically based on underground structures (Fig. 6.25). Economics and politics are behind many of the world’s more extensive excavation projects, from resource mines to missile silos. When mines run dry and silos are abandoned, many of the resulting voids represent significant sunk costs but correspondingly stable frameworks. Therefore, underground redevelopments are normally the products of adaptive reuse, converting existing voids into new functions. Industrial facilities and sites may have bunkers for a variety of purposes. At the time the entire facility or site is decommissioned, bunkers cease their functions as well. In practice, redevelopment experience with bunkers refers mostly to military installations or fallout shelters. Homes in silos are not for everyone, but have drawn the attention of some since the beginning of the Cold War. Their relatively small size, lack of natural light, and vertical orientation makes them unattractive to the general public but their reinforced shells and remote locations can be appealing to survivalist-minded people.

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Fig. 6.25 WIPP underground tunnels. The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) is a DOE facility for the safe disposal of transuranic radioactive waste. Credit to DOE.

While built to last, abandoned silos can pose several problems including mold and a lack of prompt access to active gas, power, water, and sewer services. So while buying a silo and associated spaces can be relatively inexpensive, residential restructuring can be technically difficult and expensive. Many buyers occupy only the auxiliary spaces of the silo and leave the main silo untouched. Some redevelopers, however, have converted vertical silo spaces into multiunit dwellings. These are marketed as shelters in case of catastrophes. For example, Lux ury Survival Condo, near Concordia, KS, USA, contains basic infrastructure for power, water, air, and food. It also offers top-budget amenities, including fitness areas, climbing walls, dog parks, and theaters. The locations of emergency silos are generally secret to avoid people rushing to them during an emergency (99% Invisible, 2016). In general, redevelopment of former military bunkers and silos can be hindered by their typically remote location. However, the numerous examples given in this book prove that the reuse of these facilities is indeed possible and desirable. Since the first cars ventured to explore the world the gas stations have taken multiple functions, for example, as retail shops, refuges for emergency, and petty talk, and symbols of profitable business. More than anything else, the ubiquitous gas station was the emblem of the automobile revolution. Their wide canopies acted as signboards and often included nicely sweeping lines and weightless supports. The pumps and service bays left a strong imprint on the built environment, and

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retailers often adapted their shops to the layout of the station and the needs of the local community around them. However, as gas consumption has decreased, and the cost of land has skyrocketed, many stations are closing. With their large footprint and lack of adjacent infrastructure, gas stations offer now attractive prospects for redevelopment, including art galleries, office spaces, and restaurants (Arch Daily, 2018b). More than half a million underground storage tanks (USTs) in the USA alone store petroleum or hazardous substances. The greatest threat from a leaking UST is contamination of groundwater, the main source of drinking water in the country. In 2015, the EPA issued revised UST regulations (GPO, 2015). Locations of USTs should be carefully researched in preparation to the redevelopment. It was common to have natural gas and fuel oil tanks for powering the boilers in large schools or nursing homes. Fuel oil did not commonly leak, but preparations for site redevelopment in the vicinity should include the removal of such tanks and verification that the site (soil, groundwater) is clean. Developers should also be aware that gasoline tanks, even if they are not onsite, may be somewhere nearby. Gasoline leaks move easily and sideways, meaning that a gas station or paint store may have leaked gasoline onto a redevelopment site nearby. There is abundant literature about environmental risks posed by gas stations and rehabilitation options (Cramer, 2005). The following is a brief description of challenges posed by nuclear underground structures and successful reuse options. The Technical (T) Building at Mound Site, Ohio, is an underground, bomb shelter-type reinforced concrete construction, with a 5-m thick roof, 5-m thick walls, and is supported by a 2.5-m thick slab. It is especially significant for its role in the purification of Po210 for use in nuclear weapons. Polonium was important for its role as initiator (neutron generator) of the chain reaction. The building was constructed in 1947–48 at almost half the cost of all other 16 buildings of the entire Mound Site. The T Building is a five-story building sunk into a hillside, mostly underground, with aboveground towers and an outsideaccessible service tunnel. In 1954, Mound began a program using Po210 to convert nuclear energy to stable electric energy. In 1958, the first polonium-powered thermoelectric generator (RTG) was built. The RTG provided power to a satellite radio transmitter. Plutonium was eventually used as a substitute beginning in the early 1970s. The T Building was also active in tritium applications and is therefore contaminated by tritium (and other radioisotopes). It also housed neutron and alpha source programs. It served as storage for the Mound’s transuranic waste that had no specified destination. After removal of this waste, Mound plans called for the T building to be closed and the tritium contamination to decay in situ for around 100 years (Environmental Law Institute, 1998). However as of 2004 the T Building participated in a USDOE Large-Scale Demonstration Project for Tritium Facilities to identify, demonstrate and evaluate improved technologies applicable to the decommissioning of excess tritium facilities. Due to tritium relatively long half-life (12.3 years) institutional controls would be needed to deal with any tritium contaminated buildings that are left in place; besides, some controls may be needed to deal with the related contaminated seeps until the contamination is eliminated or reduced.

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There is (DOE, 2015) a prohibition against the removal of concrete floor material or the penetration of concrete floors in specified rooms of T Building without prior written approval from EPA, Ohio EPA, and Ohio Department of Health. These activities could result in unacceptable exposures. The basis for this prohibition can be described as follows. During the remediation of the T Building, the contractor encountered bulk contamination of the floor and footings in certain areas. Efforts to remediate the contaminated floor and footer in certain rooms were technically and economically difficult to justify. Following an assessment of the risks involved to the building’s structural integrity if removal of contaminated concrete continued, a decision was made to leave the contaminated concrete subfloor and footer in place, and to add a cap of color coded (red) concrete to provide a margin of safety from the residual contamination. The T Building remains a case of difficult reuse. An example of a large underground military base converted into tourist attraction is given by Worldcrunch (2018). A nuclear base, codenamed “816 Nuclear Military Plant,” had been installed under the mountain in Fuling, southwest China. The size of this installation, which was intended to produce Pu239 for atomic weapons, is enormous. With over 20 km of tunnels and 18 huge caves excavated for the reactor and its systems, the site is regarded as the largest network of underground tunnels in the world. In fact, the site was never used as a military installation. The Chinese government abandoned in 1984 the project, which was 85% complete. Much of the military facilities was converted into factories. In 2010, the government decided to turn the base into a tourist attraction. The base remained closed since while it was being restructured until it reopened for public access in 2017. The City of St Paul, MN, USA requested consultants to study the feasibility of an integrated, district energy system for the 55-ha Ford site redevelopment. The consultants were requested to assess the potential reuse of the former steam plant and steam tunnels. The reuse of industrial buildings has been covered in other sections of this book, so the following applies to the reuse of the steam tunnels. The project was expected to establish a heat distribution system (a.k.a. district heating) through a piping network to a number of buildings. The site has an old steam pipe that runs through a bridge structure from the steam plant to the steep face and from there through a tunnel about 5 m underground to the center of the ex-assembly area. Some 24 m further down there are old vehicle tunnels used until 1959 for hauling cars from the assembly plant to the river (230 m each). There is also an extensive network of sand mining tunnels (some 3800 m total length), excavated between 1926 and 1959, when the plant manufactured glass for vehicle windows with silica mined from underground sandstone onsite. When the glass manufacture was discontinued, the mining tunnels were shut down and the entries closed, but the tunnels were still there. The total length of utility tunnels (for steam, drains, and electric cables) is around 1200 m. A structural analysis will be needed if any of the tunnels are envisaged for reuse. Moreover, as a totally new infrastructure is planned for the site, including ad hoc hot water district heating, the consultants find it difficult to justify the reuse of the sand tunnels for district heating. This reuse option would pose unneeded and expensive

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restrictions on the pipe routing for the district heating. Further on, to fit those tunnels for preinsulated pipes would pose serious design and installation challenges, and the total cost of the network would be considerably higher than in other reuse options. However, if the steam plant is repurposed for new district heating, then the old steam pipe bridge and tunnel would be useful in directing the new pipes from the plant to the site boundary (following a careful structural analysis). In summary, the project consultants highlighted the following conclusions for their clients’ consideration: l

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Depending on its soundness, it can be an advantage to the future district heating infrastructure to reuse the section of the steam tunnel linking the steam plant building to the borders of the Ford site. The sand tunnels do not provide an adequate network for new energy infrastructure to and on the main redevelopment site. They might be envisaged for other forms of reuse (St. Paul, 2014).

Another relevant case is the Battery Street Tunnel in downtown Seattle, WA, USA. Local authorities wanted to use it as a disposal site for the rubble of a demolished viaduct; however, local residents loved the old structure, and wanted it converted into a mushroom farm, recycling center or wastewater store. It was also proposed that the site could become a park, an exciting ride (e.g., a roller coaster) at an amusement park or a mix of several uses. For example, the tunnel could hold almost 50,000 m3 of water. Some sewer pipes pass right above the tunnel, and some below. The vision was to create a key piece of ecological infrastructure, and not just a container. A plant for capturing and filtering sewage could be installed in the tunnel. Or better, the water filtration could be combined with industrial uses of the filtered water. The promoters of the tunnel reuse launched a campaign to freeze any project for the tunnel until a productive use can be found. The debate was still open in November 2017 when the article quoted by Crosscut (2017) was written. Unfortunately, a few months later, as reported by Seattle (2018) the City Council voted that the tunnel will be filled with viaduct demolition debris and sealed off. It was reported that the main driver for this outcome was the cost of doing seismic upgrades and other rehabilitation work on the tunnel, which could cost from $75 to $100 million, depending on the adaptive reuse selected. Apparently, the use of the tunnel as a waste dump does not require these expenses. The site described in Zillow (2013) and converted into a home is designed to withstand explosions, earthquakes, and nearly all natural disasters thanks to its thick concrete walls. The site in question is a relic from the Cold War, when the US were developing the Atlas missile system and installed the missiles in bases throughout the country. In the late 1960s, these sites were decommissioned and sold to be private dwellings or for other uses. In this home, the missile was placed in an underground silo linked to the missile launch control center. The silo is 55 m deep
15 m in diameter and could be adapted to the buyer’s desires. For example, it could be converted into an organic vegetable farm, hydroponics, precious metal vault, scuba diving school, or a test facility. Wichita Eagle (2006) reports a number of different reuses for underground facilities of this type. It also indicates a potential redevelopment issue, that

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is, the contamination from substances like trichloroethylene, a clear liquid used to clean the metal parts of rockets engines. A range of bunker reuses, including schools, museums, etc. are also described by Recycle Nation (2010a,b). In the UK, a bunker outside Twyford, near Winchester, was created out of an old water reservoir, and was designed as a communications base for Southern Water staff to restore a safe water supply after a nuclear attack. In the 1980s, water was considered essential to maintain, especially the deep underground wells which would have remained uncontaminated by fallout. The building has 2.5-m thick concrete walls and a 15-cm thick steel door. The Twyford bunker was completed in 1990 when the Cold War had already started to fade away. As the engineering contract had already been committed to the bunker remained operational until 1997 when it was decommissioned. Since then, it had been used by computer companies for data storage. Expected problems for the sale as a home included environmental permits and the need for extensive re-flooring, rewiring, etc. However, advantages included uniqueness and the prestige image; besides, the bunker had good ceiling height. Anyhow, the redevelopment needed a lot of imagination. The bunker was eventually sold in late 2008 for £240,000 (BBC, 2009). Once a dark and secretly used structure, the Commonwealth’s Communications Center (nicknamed “the bunker”) is now a naturally lit open space for the staff of the Australian Greenhouse Office. The bunker’s refit was based on an environmentally sustainable design. The underground location of the Communication Center had provided already a naturally insulated, energy-saving environment. Originally steel-lined to provide electronic security, the ceiling was drilled to make courtyards, skylights, and reflective light shelves. New water efficient systems were designed and installed to keep the building self-sufficient in an average rainfall year, with gray and black water from showers, basins, and pans reused in toilets and for irrigation. Other measures include an energy efficient lighting control system, recycling stations to decrease waste production, and environmentally friendly materials. However, the building’s heritage was conserved during the refurbishment, including a 1970s foyer, a graffiti wall, a light wall, and a mural painted by a native Australian artist (Australian Government, 2004). Architects have recently converted a former military bunker in Seoul, South Korea into the Peace and the Culture Bunker, a cultural center for the local community. Situated on the route from North Korea to Seoul, the bunker was built in 1970 as a shelter for tanks. Its main defense installations were located on the ground floor, with accommodation for soldiers constructed above to appear as an ordinary residential block. The 250-m bunker included a row of five C-shaped units; tanks would be placed in these units and would fire through openings in a thick shielding wall. The three stories of apartments deteriorated and were eventually demolished in 2004, but the tank units were kept. The structure was used as a warehouse before a decision was taken to turn it into a public amenity; the decision was prompted by the structure’s contiguity to a park. During renovation, some old parts were removed except for the C-shaped spaces, and spaces with steel structures were added for the purposes of the new cultural center.

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The redeveloped bunker now has exhibition spaces and lecture halls intermixed with open-air courtyards. New units added to one side of the structure host offices, artist studios and a restaurant. There is also a rooftop garden. A 20-m-tall observation tower was constructed in front of the building to provide visitors with a vista of the adjacent park (Dezeen, 2018b). During the 40 +-year communist rule Albania, over 700,000 bunkers were built in the country—an average of 24 bunkers per km2. The bunkers were abandoned following the collapse of the regime in 1990, but they are still seen everywhere in Albania. Most are still abandoned, but some have been reused for a range of functions such as residential dwellings, caf
es, storehouses, and shelters for animals or the homeless (Atlas Obscura, 2013). The "Diefenbunker" structure in Canada (Fig. 6.26) was designed and built during the Cold War to shelter key political and military personnel. The bunker was used as the hub of a communications network and civil defence system until its closure in 1994. It is now Canada’s Cold War Museum. The bunker appears in one scene in the 2002 film Sum of all Fears. A number of former military bunkers are used as museums. A selection of sites includes: l

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Dienststelle Marienthal (Government bunker), Ahrweiler near Bonn, Germany, was constructed in the 1960s to house the West German federal government in case of nuclear war. It was installed inside two railway tunnels beneath 110 m of slate rock. When the Cold War ended, the bunker was dismantled: today only 203 m of the original bunker remain, which were converted into the Government Bunker Documentation Site Museum. Atombunker Harnekop (Nuclear governmental shelter), 65 km from Berlin, is one of the East German relics of the Cold War. The bunker was ready for a war as the underground

Fig. 6.26 The "Diefenbunker" structure, Canada. Credit to Dennis Jarvis.

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command of East Germany’s Ministry of National Defense. It can be visited upon tour registration. Object 825 GTS (Balaklava submarine base), Crimea. Top-secret military constructed during the Cold War inside a mountain, today naval museum complex. F4 Object (Ra´kosi bunker), Budapest, Hungary. Several km long, formerly a secret nuclear shelter, 45–50 m below central Budapest. Exact number of entrances is unknown. It is stateowned and managed by the Budapest Transport Company. D-0 ARK, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Konjic. A 61 m2 bunker secretly constructed 1953–1979 at Konjic, 50 km from Sarajevo, to shelter Marshal Tito, members of the Yugoslav government, etc. Excavated 300 m into a mountain, since 2011 it houses the D-0 ARK Underground Biennial of Contemporary Art.

The cobalt irradiator “PANOZA” was designed and built by the Czech Nuclear ˇ ezˇ. It is located underground in a massive rock of a former civil Research Institute R defense shelter. The irradiator floor is about 3
3 m. From three sides it is shielded by rock, its front wall is made of lead wedge bricks fixed in a metallic frame embedded in the rock tunnel and welded to the steel plate that forms the horizontal floor. A rod-like cobalt source of about 50 TBq is the basic component of the irradiator (Podlaha, 2011). The Czechoslovak government installed in 1935–38 a system of border fortifications as a protection against anticipated attacks from Germany. Construction was fast and by September1938 (the Munich Pact), 264 “heavy objects” (blockhouses, casemates or artillery forts) and over 10,000 “light objects” (pillboxes) had been installed. However, this barrier did not stop the Nazis. During WWII the Germans took away much of the armor e.g. domes and crenels. A few fortifications were hit by German shells or subjected to explosive testing and consequently were much damaged. Soon after WWII most of the armor left was removed due to loss of its military worth and the growing steel market. In the early Cold War, a new defense system was based on the reuse of the prewar permanent fortifications, repaired and provided with new weapons. After 1950, due to the increased tension between the Eastern and Western Blocs, a more advanced system of fortifications was built. While the prewar heavy and light objects were designed as monoliths of reinforced concrete, the new Soviet-type bunkers were more like reinforced field fortifications, built from stone and prefabricated concrete elements. Today a few “heavy objects” can be visited, others are leased or on sale. A few more were converted into museums, others became storehouses. The “Hanicˇka” fort was refurbished in 1979–1993 for protection of the Ministry of Interior staff, but soon after was made redundant. A museum was established here (Ricky, 2013). In 2016, the New York’s City Hall gave approval to the Lowline underground park. The Lowline was conceived of as a complement to the Highline (Section 6.7.5). Either project reuses old railways; while the Highline runs along elevated rail tracks, the Lowline occupies an old underground trolley terminal. While the conception of Lowline may look dreary, solar arrays will channel natural light down from the surface. And in New York, where real estate is exceedingly expensive and new public space hard to get, all sorts of exotic opportunities are explored. Just like old buildings, underground spaces have both drawbacks and advantages. On the negative side one could

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quote HVAC challenges, accessibility, and emergency egress issues, but on the positive side there are natural weather-proofing, thermal mass, stability, and security (Dezeen, 2016a). As well known, Tate Modern is a modern and contemporary art gallery located in London on the River Thames. The building is an adaptive reuse of the former Bank side Power Station. More detail is given in IAEA (2011). For the purposes of this section, some more information is given on the Tanks at Tate Modern. The Tanks were previously used to store oil when the gallery was a power station. These giant circular spaces in the foundations of the Building have kept their rough, industrial feel. The Tanks produce new possibilities for artists and audiences. These three raw, industrial, subterranean spaces, each measuring over 30 m across and 7 m high are the world’s first museum galleries permanently dedicated to exhibiting live art, performance, installation, and film (Tate, n.d.). Not every mine is readily repurposed. Many are polluted with toxic tailings and/or acid mine drainage. They also can present a risk of explosion—for example, from remaining methane pockets—or structural collapse. The 2015 spill of toxic sludge from the Gold King Mine near Silverton, CO, exemplifies these challenges. In that case, a contractor working for the EPA inadvertently discharged during cleanup operations some 12,000 m3 of polluting sludge from the old mine, which had ceased operations in 1922. The spill polluted rivers in three US States (NBC News, 2015a). Although abandoned mines can notoriously be identified with their environmental problems, innovative businesses are creating ways to inject new life into old excavations. Innovative uses include electronic data storage, green energy, tourist, or recreational attractions. A number of cases are given below; more detail can be found in NBC News (2015b). A biotechnology company that produces engineered plants for medical purpose needed a nursery where the environment could be closely checked and sealed off from predation or contamination by other plants, fungus, or bugs. He found all these conditions that in an abandoned copper mine in White Pine, MI. The company occupies a “decline mine,” meaning that the entryway is a sloped ramp rather than a vertical shaft to the nursery area over a 100 m underground. The underground beds offer many benefits. The plants thrive in a controlled environment—with a year-round ambient temperature of 11°C, which reportedly allows to save about 10% in electrical costs over above-ground facilities. The network of underground tunnels and rooms also has much more space than the company could ever need. A former gold mine in Lead, SD, houses the Sanford Underground Research Facil ity, a vast underground physics lab where scientists study among others dark matter and subatomic particles. To convert the mine into laboratory space, water was drained before lining the mine tunnels with concrete walls and epoxy floors. The 1460-m-deep mine is at a constant temperature of about 24°C. US DOE covers the roughly $15 million a year to run the facility, which includes operational costs as well as the expenses of pumping out the accumulated water. Building the laboratory that deep underground is the only way to shield experiments from the interference of the sun’s cosmic rays (99% Invisible, 2016).

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A network operations center for Banhof (one of Sweden’s largest Internet Service Providers) is housed in a former nuclear bunker and shelter originally originally built in the 1940s to secure vital governmental offices. The place is in central Stockolm. Spread over 1000 m2, the center is equipped with engines originally designed for submarines that produce backup power for the facility. The premises were converted into the “Pionen” data center and opened in 2008; Bahnhof has used the facility since. Some portion of Wikileaks’ servers have been moved to “Pionen” (Search Data Center, n.d.). The same reference highlights data storage facilities located in mines (cool temperatures meaning no need for air conditioning), in a Van De Graff silo and at Germany’s Hanau nuclear fuel fabrication facility, which never went into operation. Funny enough, a data center is planned in the Rio Maggiore mine, Trento Region, Italy, next to an apple storage cells: both for apples and electronic equipment the cool temperature is ideal (Corriere, 2015). Digital data are stored in an old limestone mine installation at Boyers, PA (nicknamed Room 48). Digital storage is a challenge because the machines generate much heat. Having to continually run high-powered heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems can be expensive when the data are stored above ground. Room 48 uses about 60% of the power a traditional data center would require, thanks to the large, natural lake at the mine’s bottom. After being pumped through the system, the water is discharged back into the lake to cool off and be reused later. Situated in a large mine 30 m underground in Louisville, KY, the Mega Under ground Bike Park makes good use of its unusual location. The park naturally protects riders from wind, rain, and temperature variations. The park’s designers also profited of the tons of soil excavated by the original limestone miners, reshaping it into biking trails, ramps, and jumps. This 3-ha site is the largest indoor bike park in the world. To appreciate this architecture one should consider that a comparable space above ground for the same use would require a huge big-box building shell. In Romania, a mine has been converted into an amusement park. In Ukraine, patients benefit from the air’s salinity in an old salt mine, using its tunnels as a well ness retreat. A limestone mine in Kansas houses a naturally secure and temperaturestable data center. Deep under the surface of South London, UK, a series of abandoned tunnels could lead the way in revolutionizing food production. Here, herbs grow without the need for soil or natural light. If you get off the tube at Clapham Common and then step into a cage-like lift that takes you about 30 m below surface, you will discover growing underground, an urban farm, housed in a network of dark tunnels originally constructed as air-raid shelters during WW II. About 20 different types of herb are cultivated in the former bomb shelters, including pea shoots, rocket, red mustard, pink stem radish, garlic chives, fennel, and coriander. The plants are supplied to markets and wholesalers right across London. This development comes in response to climate changes and ecological objections to transporting food from afar.

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Growing Underground uses hydroponics, a system whereby plants are grown without soil but with the help of low-energy LED lights. This allows each crop to grow in a carefully controlled, pest-free environment, and to produce plants of consistent quality, regardless of the weather aboveground. A high-tech irrigation system allows the water that grows the plants to be treated on-site and recycled (Independent, 2017b). Aldwych Tube Station was inaugurated in 1907 (originally named Strand). Used by thousands of Londoners as an underground shelter during WWII, the station was permanently shut down in the mid 1990s, when the replacement of the elevators was regarded as too expensive for the expected revenues. In recognition of its historical significance, the station is a Grade II listed building. The station, which looks the same as it did when it was closed down, has been used for filming in Atonement, V for Vendetta, Superman 4, 28 Weeks Later and many others. It was also used in a security drill for the London 2012 Olympics. The station is now occasionally open for public viewing. The original lifts are still there, though deactivated. There is also a platform that shows the tracks laid before the introduction of suicide pits common on underground lines today. Part of the tour includes a climb down an old spiral emergency stairs and there is an original underground train still sitting at one of the platforms. The tour includes a platform closed in 1914, which was used as a store for the National Gallery artworks during WW II (Daily Mail, 2012). Adaptive Reuse: Brief Stories of Success (3) Dewar’s Lane Granary was an abandoned industrial building at Berwick upon Tweed, UK. The Grade II listed building had overcome several proposals for its demolition before funding was procured from a combination of public sector, commercial and charitable sources. The refurbishment project was managed by the Berwick Preservation Trust, and the redeveloped building now hosts a Youth Hostel, caf
e and community facilities together with exhibition space. The project has also made a significant contribution to the quality of local living, and has catalyzed further improvements and investment in the town (BPF, 2013). The redevelopment of the former railway area at King’s Cross, London is one of the most important regeneration projects in the UK. The 21-ha brownfield site is partly a conservation area and includes some 20 historic buildings and structures. It is also the setting for two of the greatest monuments to the Victorian age of railway building: St Pancras and King’s Cross Stations. Ten buildings were brought into use. In combination, the transformation of both stations and the redevelopment of the environs has produced an entirely new and modern district in the middle of historic London. The redevelopment has created 26,000 jobs. More details include the granary building converted into new home for University of the Arts and the 8000-m2 new public square (BPF, 2013). In 2018, a British designer opened a new flagship store, showroom, and offices inside a Victorian coal yard in London’s King’s Cross. The transformation of the 1625 m2 building forms part of the redevelopment of the area around the major transport hub in the north of London. The Victorian buildings contain offices for the staff and a gallery, while the flagship store and showroom is located in seven railway arches beneath them (Dezeen, 2018a). See also the reuse of King’s Cross Gasholders in Section 6.2.4. € € Northern Riverside) is an area of approximately 290 ha along the north Norra Alvstranden (NA, € river, opposite Gothenburg’s city center, Sweden. Up until the 1970s NA € was bank of the G€ota Alv

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the site of three shipyards, and it also had cargo handling and port facilities. About 15,000 worked in the yards, and there were some 30,000 who worked for the shipyards as their main customers. However foreign competition was growing, and the oil crisis of 1973 hit hard Gothenburg’s yards. € The area became derelict, and many of the Within <10 years all shipbuilding had stopped in NA. remaining buildings were hard to reuse. The city was also hit hard by the closure of the shipyards. € yards were an important economic center. When the shipyards closed, many jobs disNA’s € therefore, became a long-term strategic necesappeared across the city. The regeneration of NA, € sity. NA was transformed into a high-quality mixed-use district at short distance from the city center, with stylish apartments, high-tech industries, educational facilities (e.g., two university campuses), and an accessible waterfront. In 2008, already as many people as used to work in € and when the regeneration is complete, in about 2025, some the shipyards were employed in NA, estimated 40,000 people will work there (URBED, 2008).

6.4

Contaminated land areas

In the past, many nuclear activities were developed without enough consideration of environmental issues. Operations took place without appropriate or duly enforced environmental laws and regulations. In want of good operating practices, contaminated land areas have been created. Several contaminated sites also resulted by nuclear and radiological accidents. Contaminated sites can ultimately lead to undesired health effects to the local communities. ER aims to reduce the radiation exposure from contamination of land areas or other contaminated media, such as surface- or groundwater. For many years, the IAEA has been instrumental in providing countries with detailed information on remediation strategies and technologies, management options as well as guidance in dealing with nontechnical factors, for example, communication and stakeholder involvement. There are many IAEA publications in this field, which also report successful reuse examples: the following is an incomplete selection of recent publications in this field (IAEA, 2013, 2014a,b, 2015a,b). The reader should note that this book does not address the numerical criteria for a contaminated site to be safely reused, although they are obviously essential to the selection of a reuse option. Risk-Based Land Management The management of contaminated soils is an essential issue in the redevelopment of brownfield sites. Risk-Based Land Management (RBLM) is an integral component of brownfield projects evaluating the cost of environmental remediation, the perceived or real risk and a wide range of administrative and social issues. The site approach chosen should also include reuse of clean/ decontaminated materials onsite or offsite; disposal of materials that are unusable or unsuitable for reuse; and reuse of existing buildings (for which see other sections further). Remediation techniques for contaminated soils have been developed in recent years and some of these techniques have reached maturity; at many contaminated sites, a mix of remediation techniques is used. A sustainable approach includes the identification—during the planning phase—of the appropriate techniques to ensure health and safety of the population, protection of the environment, and minimization of resources. The cost of remediation can be very high. Remediation can result in a

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transfer of contaminants to air and/or water, an intensive use of resources, and the level of cleanup achieved can be unsuitable for the selected new use of the brownfield site. One critical step in the redevelopment process is the selection of assessment criteria that determine the need for and extent of site remediation; the resulting cost—if too high—can be a barrier to the market appeal of a site. Existing buildings and other structures, when not adapted for reuse, are dismantled and can be another environmental issue in terms of waste management. The site clearance, demolition, and remediation phases should be integrated. The redevelopment approach should address environmental protection and land planning issues in a holistic manner. RBLM leads remediation goals, remediation strategies/technologies and pre- and postcleanup site investigation strategies/technologies toward the common objective of site redevelopment (EUGRIS, 2005).

Many factors affect the reuse potential of contaminated sites. These factors and site features include, among others (EPA, 2018a): 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

Site type Site size and configuration Type and extent of contamination Current status of the site Projected use of the site Real estate market conditions

1. Knowing the type of site will help take advantage of revitalization mechanisms and understand the opportunities and barriers to reuse. Some legal, financial, or technical revitalization resources may only apply to certain sites. For example, in the USA Superfund sites on the NPL are normally not eligible for brownfields grants. Depending on the location of the site, zoning restrictions may apply, which would exclude or complicate certain reuse options. 2. The size and features of the site are prime elements of its planned reuse. The sheer size and geographical shapes will determine the expanse and layout of buildings to be constructed, and empty spaces inside and outside them. Accessibility to the site is another key element, with connecting roads and railroads, canals and rivers, docks and piers being all conducive to success of the redevelopment project. 3. A considerable, but unknown a priori, share of previously used land is affected by the contamination resulting from past industrial activities. In some cases, the concentration of contaminants may be so small as to pose little risk (and require no remediation) but other sites may contain contaminants which, by their toxicity and concentration have the potential to cause significant harm to human health and the environment. Remaining contamination may or may not be compatible with the site reuse. 4. Current site conditions affect redevelopment possibilities. Sites may be perceived to have contamination issues, but need to be fully characterized before any concrete action can be taken. Other sites may have partially been cleaned up in the past to address urgent contamination hazards, but more cleanup work will be needed to allow redevelopment. Many sites can be reused during the cleanup work insofar as the owner or user of the site is aware of the restrictions, such as refraining from digging or using ground water wells. 5. Geographical, environmental, and administrative constraints will determine the baseline for the decision-making on possible redevelopment. But a number of other factors will have to

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be taken into account, including financial interests, funding, visual appearance of the reused site, socioeconomic aspects, relevance to heritage, stakeholder concerns, etc. To take a final decision on site redevelopment, all of these elements will have to be combined into an integrated cost-benefit assessment or MAUA (see Chapter 5). 6. The local property market will determine the channels (e.g., to private or public use) and timing (e.g., through an interim use period) of sale or lease of the redeveloped property. In fact, this is an iterative element, which can influence the selection of the redevelopment option.

The following are examples of redevelopment projects for contaminated areas (radiologically and/or chemically).

6.4.1 Former Eternit Factory, Casale Monferrato, Italy On September 10, 2016 a park was inaugurated in the area of the former Eternit factory (a trade name for asbestos-based materials), in Casale Monferrato, Italy. Somehow it tries to reconcile the present with a tragic past, the asbestos contamination that claimed more than 3000 deaths. The area is 3 ha wide, of which 2.4 ha are green spaces with more than 100 trees, and 0.6 ha are playgrounds. There are also cycling and jogging trails, picnic areas, and a 200-seat amphitheater for school shows.

6.4.2 From dumps to parks The number of parks and public recreational sites created on old landfills is huge. Just in the USA there are certainly more than 250, and possibly over 1000. Two famous sites are Flushing Meadow, NY, (site of two World’s Fairs) and the rightly named Mt Trashmore in Virginia Beach, VA. A converted landfill at Berkeley hosts an international kite festival; another in Albuquerque houses a celebration of hot-air balloons. The former Gardner Street Landfill was a dump until 2000. Today the 40-ha Boston’s Millennium Park includes sports fields, playgrounds, an outdoor classroom and amphitheater, 10 km of walking and biking paths, and river access. San Francisco’s Trust for Public Land (TPL) has become a US leader in this field. TPL has launched a national campaign to foster the conversion of landfills into parks. TPL maintains that landfills are so suited for conversion to parks that recreation planners and landscape architects should not wait until the landfills are closed. New landfills could be planned and predesigned as parks even before the first batch of trash is disposed of. The design-for-redevelopment concept has been first presented as DRR in Section 4.4. However, compared to a greenfield site, an old landfill requires more time and planning to convert into a park. Such issues as toxicity, liability, and ground settlement often make local institutions and private investors reluctant to launch such projects. But these issues can be overcome. In a similar manner, the rails-to-trails program in many countries has converted thousands of km of former railways to parks and bike trails (Section 6.7.5). In an urban or suburban area, a former landfill may be one of very few large, open spaces remaining on which a new public park can be installed.

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And this conversion may offer the opportunity to correct long-lasting socialenvironmental discriminations. The case of the Mabel Davis, near Austin, TX, is emblematic of some of the difficulties faced in earlier conversion projects of this kind. The park sits atop a landfill that was closed in the 1950s. The site was converted to a park in 1979, before adequate regulations were enforced. Shortly afterwards the covering began to erode and leachate pollution started to surface. Eventually the city had to close the park in 2000 and begin a large-scale remediation project. This included a comprehensive redesign to bring the park up to today’s EPA standards. Today US law imposes that within 6 months after landfill closure the owner must install an approved cap to minimize water ingress and erosion. The cap must incorporate a 45-cm clay layer and at least 15 cm of vegetated earthen material. There must also be a gas-venting layer and a layer of stone or geo-synthetic material to keep burrowing animals away. The law also requires that the owner maintain the integrity of this cover, monitor groundwater contamination, and manage methane and leachate generation for 30 years. There is also a financial requirement to cover postclosure maintenance and any cleanup should groundwater contamination occur. A review of case studies and technical and legal challenges are given in (TPL, n.d.). For most of the 20th century, Tel Aviv, Israel garbage went to a gigantic open-air landfill eventually containing more than 25 million t of waste; it was locally nicknamed Hiriya Mountain or “shit mountain.” In addition to the sight and smell, it leached toxic runoff into two streams adjacent to the pile, so causing ecological damage; thousands of birds were attracted to the garbage and posed safety hazards to planes bound to nearby airports. This man-induced disaster has been recently converted into the Ariel Sharon Park. The project extends over more than 800 ha of land including ponds, recreational areas, bike and walking trails, wildlife refuges, etc., which makes it the largest urban park in Israel and one of the largest in the world. In 1998, after the landfill was closed, the most urgent task was to contain the waste. The slopes of the mountain were stabilized using concrete debris from construction projects. Then the pile was capped and covered, which allows to collect methane produced by the still rotting garbage; the natural gas is then used to power a textile factory. In 2004, there was a contest aimed to rehabilitate the area; one of the requirements was that the design should not flatten the mountain. Instead, the mountain became the focal point of the project, a symbol that allows the Israelis and foreign visitors to learn from mistakes. Designed by architect Peter Latz (famous for the landscaping of Ruhr territories in Germany, see Chapter 2), the western summit of the mountain shows a beautiful pergola and scenic vista; actually this will be the highest vantage point of Tel Aviv over the Mediterranean Sea (Treehugger, 2013).

6.4.3 Crawick Multiverse, UK Crawick Multiverse is a spectacular artland, visitor attraction and events venue in Scotland, utilizing landscape art to convert a former open cast coal mine into an outdoor enjoyable space. Crawick Multiverse is an astonishing representation of

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discoveries and theories of the universe, linking space, astronomy, and cosmology. A naturally beautiful setting, perfect for theatrical performances, displays, and concerts, the Sun Amphitheater can hold up to 5000 people, with the rest of the site able to hold many more (Crawick Multiverse, n.d.).

6.4.4 Tempelhof Airport, Berlin, Germany The largely unsuccessful redevelopment of Tempelhof Airport highlights some typical difficulties encountered in redevelopment projects. The airport was built by Nazi Germany on the site of a much smaller airport in 1936–41. It was designed to be a symbol of Nazi Berlin grandeur and is enormous. The terminal is 30 ha when you include the hangars. Floor-to-ceiling windows were used to let as much light into the airport as possible. Tempelhof has had diverse uses during its history: it has been used to test some of the world’s first aircraft, house WWII prisoners, and give the people of West Berlin a vital lifeline to the outside world during the Cold War. It is also been used in movies such as “The Hunger Games,” “The Bourne Supremacy,” and “Bridge of Spies.” Relatively few bombs were dropped on the airport during WWII, so most of it remained intact. Although partly because the Germans protected it with antiaircraft guns, it was also because the Allies expected to use it for themselves after the war. When bombs fell on Berlin during the war, the air-raid shelters under Tempelhof would be packed with people. The shelter rooms still show original paintings from the war, which were designed to distract children. In fact, the Nazis never used Tempelhof as an airport. During the war they used it as a factory for constructing combat aircraft and weapons. In July 1945, the Red Army handed the airport over to US forces. After extensive repairs, the airport resumed operation. The Americans occupied Tempelhof from 1945 to 1993. They turned it into a military base, including some training facilities that have since been deserted. The US Air Force also built there a 72-m radio tower for surveillance purposes, which is used today to monitor flight traffic in and out of Berlin. In 1951, the German authorities took over the airport for civil and freight traffic. The American forces made few changes to Tempelhof while they were in charge. In 1962, they removed a 5-m sculpture of an eagle perched on a globe from the main terminal roof and replaced it with radar equipment. The eagle’s head is now on display outside the terminal building. Various other “imperial eagles” can be seen around the airport. Tempelhof’s capacity had reached its functional limits in the 1960s, and its operations were discontinued after Berlin Tegel airport was built in 1975. In 1990, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tempelhof restarted to operate domestic flights. In 1995, Tempelhof became a listed building, meaning it cannot be demolished. Despite demonstrations and a majority voting in a referendum to keep it open, the airport closed on October 30, 2008. In 2011, city planners wanted to build commercial areas and offices, 4700 homes, and a large public library. The planners said they would use no more than 25% of the

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site and stressed that there would be attention to inexpensive housing; 230 ha in the middle would be left free. Despite reassurances, the Tempelhofer Feld initiative gained enough signatures to impose a referendum. In May 2014, 64.3% of voters chose to keep the site unchanged. Distrust was the main factor in killing the city’s proposals, especially concerning affordable housing. The referendum means Tempelhof will remain as is until 2024. The main tenants of Tempelhof are the police. They occupy around 46,000 m2 (15% of the total) and have been renting since 1951, when the US military began renting out parts of the building. In addition to the police, there is Berlin’s traffic control authority, the central lost property office, a kindergarten, a dancing school, and one of Berlin’s oldest revue theatres—to name a few of 100 + companies and institutions based in the former airport. Since it was opened to the public in May 2010, the site has been extremely popular with families, joggers, rollerbladers, kite-flyers, wind-karters, urban gardeners, yoga enthusiasts, and dancers. The airport is also being used as a massive refugee camp. As of early 2018, 1200 refugees mostly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were housed in the airport’s former hangars. The long-term plan is to develop the area with direct community involvement, but there are restrictions on options. Under the current legal regime, new buildings are impossible. However, Tempelhof hosts major events, fairs, product launches, fashion shows, and concerts (one in 2013 where Die Toten Hosen (The Dead Trousers) played attracted 50,000 people). There are seven hangars, capable of holding from 2000–3800 people each (Independent, 2017a).

6.4.5 Mining lands EPA defines mine-scarred lands as “lands, associated waters, and surrounding watersheds where extraction, beneficiation (crushing or separating), or processing of ores and minerals (including coal) has occurred” (EPA, 2018b). A comprehensive review of redevelopment issues and opportunities for mining lands is given in this reference. Reportedly there are more than 500,000 abandoned mining sites in the USA. At mining sites, environmental pollution can derive from mine drainage, waste rock, mill tailings, and industrial activities. Moreover, these sites are characterized by acid mine drainage (AMD, pH < 4), high toxicity of the metals contained in the soil, nutrient deprivation, and scarce, or no vegetation. Radionuclides are frequent ingredients of the toxic mix. Cleanup and redevelopment provide an opportunity to convert these sites into financially profitable or otherwise beneficial land. Depending on location and other parameters, mining sites offer a range of reuses, including recreation (e.g., golf courses), wildlife refuge, grazing land, historic, and scenic conservation, as well as residential, trading, and industrial uses. Complex economic, social, and environmental impacts should be factored in by communities or private investors planning to redevelop these sites. In general terms the identification of relevant factors and the consequent decision-making process on optimal reuse of mining sites is not unlike other sites discussed in this book, but the outcome may be different. Plenty of

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planning, safety administrative, and technological details are given in EPA (2005) and Walker (2015): the following will recap a few case histories extracted from that reference. In some cases, mine sites may present positive features that have been successfully exploited. For example, where the land is generally flat (e.g., in the central USA), vacant surface mining sites often have lakes scattered between mine spoils. If the water quality is acceptable, it is not uncommon for single houses or residential complexes to be constructed on the mine spoils around the lake. The landscape beauty and fishing and sailing opportunities make these sites appealing for redevelopment. The cost of reshaping the land and adding topsoil is offset by the value of the redeveloped asset. Abandoned mining lands can be great locations for wind farms as they are often situated in mountainous areas with prevailing high winds. These sites are near valuable infrastructure, for example, roads and utilities. The large size of many of these sites encourages the installation of many large wind turbines. Wind farms are beneficial to local communities since they enhance economic growth and generate tax revenue. At Finger Lakes State Park, MO, USA, there was practically no need to cap the acidic spoils or to intercept and process the acidic water flowing in the lakes because the main uses of the park are trail bike and jeep trails. The safety hazards to the users resulting from site remaining contamination have been judged negligible. Extensive research has been conducted to improve the conditions of wetlands and lakes situated on mined lands for use by waterfowl, mammals, and other creatures. At certain mine sites, man-made islands have been installed and goose-nesting boxes have been placed on them. This location off the coastline much decreases reduces the predation of eggs and babies. Ducks and geese have been widely using these possibilities. Neutralization of mine spoils and passive AMD treatment were key approaches for the Dents Run Watershed, PA, USA reclamation. The approach includes mixing limestone with the acidic spoils; the resulting material backfilled surface mine pits. Besides, other acidic spoils were isolated and 12 passive treatment systems for AMD were built. Surface drainage controls were installed to minimize infiltration into the acid spoil burials. The postreclamation use is grazing land for elk herds. This is due to the site being a prime location for PA’s elk population. A planting mix suitable for elk grazing was recommended and was used to provide a permanent soil cap after reclamation. The Anaconda Smelter in Anaconda, MT was once a copper smelting facility. The smelter closed, leaving the local community in a heavy economic crisis from the loss of jobs and revenues. The area had been contaminated by the smelter operations. EPA, the community, and the site owners worked together to remediate the site and reuse it as a golf course. Not only has the golf course considerably ameliorated the landscape, it has also provided jobs and has sustained the community in their goal to become a recreational resort. Silver Bow Creek in Butte, MT, was also a copper smelting site. This site joined EPA’s NPL in 1993 due to heavy contamination of area ponds and soils. The site has been remediated, and some parts have been redeveloped as a sports

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complex, including areas to practice baseball, golf, and volleyball. Site’s ponds and wetlands have been restored for fishing activities. Redevelopment plans also include walking paths and a playground. The waste from processing uranium ores is disposed of on the mining sites. This mining waste is very low-level because uranium is one of the least radioactive elements in nature and the uranium concentration of uranium-bearing ores is generally low. This low concentration entails that large amounts of rock have to be mined to extract uranium. The rock is crushed onsite. Once the uranium has been removed, the mining residues contain radionuclides that are the descendants of uranium. All the radionuclides remain contained in the soil, except the radon gas. When a site is remediated, the waste is normally covered by a layer of rock to prevent it from being dispersed by erosion. The cover is also a shield against gamma radiation, release of radon gas, and inhalation of airborne dust. The former open-cast uranium mine at Puy-de-l’Age, near La Crouzille in Limousin, France has been remediated and redeveloped. Part of the site has been converted into agriculture and forestry, and another part has been redeveloped as a lake (radioactivity.eu.com, n.d.). The industrial archaeology of Sardinia, Italy is an outstanding showcase of the island’s cultural past. In particular, this refers to the extraction of minerals, an activity that began in Sardinia in prehistorical times and went on with the Phoenicians and the Romans. In the 1960s, the reduced demand of coal and other minerals, and the high extraction and export costs made the industry decline, and all mines were closed down in the 1990s. What remains of the miming works is so impressive that UNESCO has declared the area of Sulcis-Iglesias-Guspini, the largest mining area, as the Geomineral, Historical, and Environmental park of Sardinia, now a protected area. This meant rehabilitation of these pieces of industrial archeology and the opening of their doors to the public a few years ago. The park is very large, some 3500 km2, divided into eight sections and administratively shared by 85 municipalities. Today, these areas can be visited and some host corporate and other events with the aim of encouraging tourism (not an easy task, given the relative remoteness of Sardinia). In some mining sites in Sardinia facilities and machinery have been salvaged and restored; unfortunately, in most cases the ruins of the miners’ houses, the rusty railway tracks, and the gutted buildings where the minerals were processed look like ghost towns. Beneath these sites there is an underground labyrinth of tunnels, shafts, and passages, which extend long distances. Among the most notable buildings and sites one could quote: the mining headquarters at Montevecchio; the Piccalinna works still exhibiting mining machinery, Saint Anthony mine with its peculiar crenellated tower, and metal forging and tempering workshops. The industrial past of these sites is fully visible and alive (Sardegna.com, 2010). While lacking the shelter of underground mines (see Section 6.3) open-pit mines offer other opportunities The Shimao Wonderland Intercontinental hotel in Shanghai, China spans 100 m down into an abandoned quarry. The open-top space allows in natural light while the rocky walls around provide scenic views (99% Invisible, 2016).

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Many quarries continue to be used long after people have ceased the mining. The Index quarry, midway between Seattle and Leavenworth, which opened in 1904, has been bought and protected by the local rock climbing community. The Index granite was very popular in the early part of the 20th century. But eventually other stones came into the market, and the quarry closed down in the mid-1930s. And then the quarry was forgotten until rock climbers discovered it as a great climbing area. Hundreds of climbing routes were installed over the years. The landowner, as well as the state parks department, were supportive of the climbers but when support began uncertain the Washington Climbers Coalition decided to buy the climbing wall site. Perhaps the most famous ex-quarry is the one shown in the movie Breaking Away. After the quarry flooded, it became a popular swimming site. When Breaking Away came out, so many people invaded the quarry that the owners regretted that they had let the filmmakers there. Access to the quarry is now prohibited. Portland, CT’s brownstone quarry also flooded, initially when the nearby Connecticut River overflowed into 70-m-deep hole. Later, a hurricane pushed water back into the quarry and closed it permanently. The property had been initially planned for development—the plan was to cut a channel to the river and open a marina—but then financial difficulties obliterated the plan. The city of Portland purchased the property, which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Currently, the quarry and its site are open for a range of adventure activities, including snorkeling, mountain biking, and flying foxes. Another quarry reused as swimming pool can be found at Tenino, WA. Some water runs through a pipe above the quarry to form a waterfall into the pool. Just east of the pool area is a stack of big sandstone blocks with splitting holes visible on the edges. All stacked up to form a maze and play area (Williams, 2017).

6.5

Research reactors and other small facilities

There are a number of technical publications that address the regulatory, management, and technological aspects of the decommissioning of large facilities such as nuclear power plants, reprocessing plants, and large prototype and test reactors. There are, however, many more users of radioactive substances in medicine, research, and industry, where the facilities are much smaller in size and decommissioning complexity. Since these facilities generally present a lower radiological risk, the decommissioning objective should be immediate decontamination and dismantling to the required end state. However, the prompt decommissioning and recovery of the premises should be readily conducive to conversion of structures to other functions, with either restricted or unrestricted use being possible. Such facilities are located at research establishments, biological, and medical departments, universities, medical centers, and industrial and manufacturing sites. The reader should note that the notion of “small facility,” though generally related to size and smaller complexity of decommissioning, is quite subjective. Constructing more housing—if possible reusing older facilities rather than exploiting virgin lands- is a priority of many Governments. To foster this approach a recent directive of UK Government allows conversion from

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light industrial to residential builds without planning permission. However, this right excludes situations subject to: l

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6.5.1 Ford reactor and building, MI, USA (U-M, 2015) The 2-MW, pool-type University of Michigan’s (U-M) Ford reactor went critical in 1957. The reactor building consisted of thick reinforced concrete to accommodate its reactor and the 150-m3 reactor pool of demineralized water. After 46 years of incident-free operations, U-M permanently shut down the reactor in July 2003 as it was little used and was costing $1 million a year to run. The cost of decommissioning the reactor and decreasing activity levels to below the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s release criteria was $14 million. In December 2013, U-M’s Board of Regents approved the conceptual design for the $11.4 million renovation and expansion to the four-story, 1600-m2 building. It will be renamed U-M’s Nuclear Engineering Laboratories. The inside of the building will be converted into student work areas, offices, and labs for the engineering school’s nuclear engineering and radiological sciences department. The department intends to use the building for research related to reactor safety and homeland security. For example, a planned thermohydraulics laboratory would simulate the heating around nuclear fuel bars, and new gamma-ray camera equipment would be developed to detect nuclear materials in shipping containers or trucks. To this end, a particle accelerator will be used to produce neutrons and gamma rays for nonproliferation studies. On the historical side, the reactor’s original control console will be on display once the renovation is completed.

6.5.2 Georgia Tech Reactor and building, GA, USA (WM, 2001) Located in Atlanta, the Georgia Institute of Technology is a leading research university committed to improving the human environment through advanced science and technology. The Frank H. Neely Nuclear Research Center, also known as the Neely Research Reactor and the Georgia Tech Research Reactor (GTRR) was a nuclear engi neering research center on the Georgia Institute of Technology campus, which had a 5-MW heavy-water-cooled research reactor in operation from 1961 until 1996. The decommissioning process described here can be split into two phases: the reactor; and the reactor building and peripheral systems. After 30 years of reactor operations, Georgia Tech applied for a license renewal. As a part of the license renewal, the conversion of the reactor from high-enriched fuel to low-enriched fuel operation was planned. Because Georgia Tech was to serve as the Olympic Village and the venue for several sporting events during the 1996 Olympics,

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the Georgia Tech Administration had the fuel removed and shipped to the Savannah River Site in February 1996. In May 1997, the NRC renewed the GTRR operating license. However, shortly thereafter, the Georgia Tech Administration decided not to receive the low-enriched fuel, but to decommission the reactor instead. The administration mentioned several arguments for this decision: (1) approximately $2 million in renovations would be required to bring the reactor up to modern standards; (2) underutilization of the reactor; (3) major public and political attention, and the risk of terroristic attacks, and (4) the cost of continued operation. The reactor decommissioning took 6 years since the decision for decommissioning was taken (almost 8 years after final shutdown). The reactor vessel, concrete biological shield, and lead tank were removed. The NRC terminated the reactor license in Dec. 2003. However, the Spent Fuel and Source Storage Pool, pneumatic lines, the hot cell used for dismantling and packaging fuel elements, and the reactor’s companion facility, where source encapsulation and other broad-scope research activities were conducted, still remained intact. In 2012, the building that housed the reactor (called Neely Building) and the remaining systems were characterized, internally decontaminated and finally demolished. By April 2013 the reactor building had been dismantled to provide space for a new research center (Georgia Tech, 2012).

6.5.3 Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory (GNAL) (McClure, n.d.) GNAL was operated on Dawson Forest near Atlanta, GA by Lockheed Aircraft Corporation from the late 1950s until 1971. The initial research objective was to design a nuclear powered aircraft for the US Air Force. Although this project was not successful, other radiation-related research was performed at GNAL. A 10-MW research reactor was used in the material radiation research from 1958 through 1970. The site was decommissioned and closed down in 1971. Lockheed then sold its property to the City of Atlanta in 1972. The City was anticipating the need for a second airport for the metropolitan Atlanta area and purchased this tract. The land areas formerly used by GNAL have continuously been monitored and studied for detrimental environmental and health effects since 1971. The 1978 Report found residual radiation in two areas and recommended fencing of the areas to prevent public access. The areas were then fenced. Although follow-on studies performed in 1991 and 1997 showed radiation levels to be at or only slightly above “background” in and around the fenced areas, it was decided to maintain the public access restriction. Currently there are two restricted areas comprising approximately 1.2 ha out of the 4100 ha site. The Georgia Forestry Commission and the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) monitor these areas. The EPD posts instruments and checks them quarterly to detect any radiation anomalies. Both the 1991 and the 1998 Reports indicate that the areas used by GNAL on Dawson Forest do not present a health problem for the public. Currently the site is used for horseback riding and hiking trails. The forest is so thick that it is easy to miss the relics of the old GNAL. A walk around the parking

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lot allows one to see the foundations of large warehouses, former offices, and one hot cell that was used for testing irradiated aircraft components.

6.5.4 University of California reactor (Chang, 2017) The building atop the decommissioned nuclear reactor at the University of California at Los Angeles serves as a testing ground for developing wireless sensing technology to connect major segments of the real world to the Internet. Such networks could monitor environmental pollution, fathom at-risk structures, or remotely follow medical patients in real time. Wireless nodes, or motes, are made up of microprocessors, sensors, and radio transceivers to communicate to the external world. The sensors can measure temperature, light, stress, or other parameters. The UCLA building serve as a central hub for scientists in various fields of wireless sensor networking to closely cooperate. Reuse of Decommissioned Research Reactors in the Netherlands (Kers, 2018) In the Netherlands decommissioning must achieve green field conditions. This policy was officially adopted a few years ago. Decommissioned are a few “piles” on the Petten site. They were all experimental and were located in special purpose buildings. The buildings were decontaminated as needed and reused. The Biological Agriculture Reactor of the Netherlands (BARN) or the reactor of the Institute for Nuclear Use in Agriculture (Dutch: Instituut voor Toepassing van Atoomenenrgie in de Landbouw, ITAL), was decommissioned to green field. All other buildings on the site were also decommissioned. The site was situated in the woods. Currently the whole area is a wood. The Kema Suspension Test Reactor (KSTR) was decommissioned to green field. Also the adjacent reactor laboratory was decommissioned. The location is reused and a new office building is established onsite. Recently the Low Flux Reactor at the Petten site was decommissioned. Also the hall where it was situated was decontaminated and partly decommissioned. The hall will be reused for other work, possibly nonnuclear. Currently two cyclotrons are under decommissioning at the Amsterdam University. The site will be decontaminated to green field and is supposed to be turned into a soccer field. At the Eindhoven University a cyclotron was dismantled. The building was demolished and a new building is being erected for nonnuclear purposes. Finally, the Athens reactor (a very small one) at the Eindhoven University will be decommissioned in near future, and its building will be demolished. A new building for nonnuclear purposes will be erected at that location.

6.5.5 Reactor Maintenance, Assembly, and Disassembly (R-MAD) Facility, Nevada National Security Site (NNSS), USA (Primrose et al., 2011) The R-MAD Facility was built to support the nuclear rocket program and was operational from 1959 through 1970. It was used to assemble reactor engines and to disassemble and study reactor parts and fuel elements after reactor tests. The nonradiologically contaminated portions of the facility were demolished in late 2005.

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Demolition of the radiologically contaminated parts of the R-MAD Facility commenced in October 2009, with the funding provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Personnel who formerly operated this facility were also engaged in characterization, decontamination, and demolition. The availability of this experienced staff contributed to thorough and timely work planning. Moreover, the use of a single demolition contractor provided additional bonuses as resources could be shared between projects. Building debris was used to fill the basements, which were then capped with 30 cm of grout/concrete. The remainder of the debris was packaged and transported to the NNSS Area 5 Radioactive Waste Management Complex for disposal. After removal of the building debris, the area was posted for restricted use due to the presence of PCBs and radionuclides in the building pad and basements. Demolition of the R-MAD Facility was completed on July 15, 2010, and demobilization of the workforce was completed on August 31, 2010. Figs. 6.27 and 6.28 show images of R-MAD before and after decommissioning. This example is meant to stress that postdecommissioning reuse in a remote site like NNSS can be of little interest.

6.5.6 Building 305, Hanford, WA, USA (Gerber, 1993) Having been one of the first Hanford installations, already in operation during WWII, building 305 has a long history and modifications and reuses, including reactor operation. For our purposes, it will suffice to highlight some of the plant’s achievements. The 305 Test Pile operated as a reactor until 1972. It performed QA trials on development, mock-up, and testing for much of the graphite used to build N Reactor in the early 1960s and tested Li-6 (depleted lithium) in aluminate fuel targets used to make tritium in N Reactor. From 1968 to 1973 copper silicon preshapes used in the

Fig. 6.27 R-MAD at the onset of decommissioning. Credit to US DOE.

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Fig. 6.28 The site of the former RMAD facility after demolition. Credit to US DOE.

N Reactor coextrusion process billet assemblies were cast and machined in a section of the 305 Building. Thereafter, this function was moved to the 313 Building. During 1974 and 1975, the 27 t of uranium fuel were removed from the 305 Test reactor; the reactor itself was dismantled and buried in 1976–77. In the late 1970s, a large addition was placed on the south/southeast side of 305 Building, and the majority of the facility was converted to the Hot Cell Verification (Fig. 6.29) a cold prototype for the Fuels and Materials Examination Facility. In 1985, the 305 Building was converted again to support mechanical development, mock-up, and testing for the Plutonium/Uranium Extraction (PUREX) Process Facility Modifications Program. In 1993, the structure operated to test radioactive material shipment cylinders, casks, and capsules.

6.5.7 RB-3 Reactor, Montecuccolino (Bologna) Italy (UNIBO, 2012) The zero-power RB-3 reactor operated from September 1970 to December 1989. After being idle for many years the reactor is now completing decommissioning. The reactor hall layout includes: l

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Main structure: a cube 17 m side, with bunker and overheard crane, Annexes: control room, etc. 220 m2, Basement for ancillary systems 300 m2, 0.8-MW electric cabin (suitable for 1 PW laser).

A few years ago, the reactor facilities have been proposed for a conversion to laser research (PROMETHEUS project, an acronym for: PROtons, electrons, and coherent X-ray facility, based on high-power laser for MEdical research, oncological THErapy, bioimaging and radiobiology USes). As of today nothing materialized of that proposal.

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Fig. 6.29 View of the Internal Renovation of Bldg. 305, after Conversion into Hot Cell Verification Facility. Credit to US DOE.

6.5.8 Research Reactor, Garching Munich, Germany (Brenk, 2010) The 4-MW, pool-type Research Reactor Munich (FRM, in German) was the first reactor to be in operation in Germany in 1957. Its unique shape gave it the nickname of “Atomic Egg” (Fig. 6.30). After having been a source of neutrons for physical, medical, and other research, it finally shut down in 2000. The first decommissioning license was granted in 2014. FRM-II was built next to the old FRM as a more powerful source of neutrons. FRM-II commenced operation in 2004. After the old FRM is decommissioned and converted, the reactor building, which is protected as an architectural monument by the Preservation of Historical Monuments Act, will be integrated into the FRMII where it is to serve as an extension to the neutron conduct hall of the FRM-II and so provide additional space for experiments. FRM II is open to visitors. Visits should be registered in advance by email or phone. The visitor needs to be older than 16 years, not pregnant and no cellphones or cameras are allowed during the tour.

6.5.9 Research Reactor, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich (Rehs, 2018) An unusual kind of research reactor reuse can be found at Helmholtz Zentrum, Munich. The 1-MW, TRIGA Mark III reactor (Forschungsreaktor Neuherberg, FRN) operated from 1972 to 1982, when it was permanently shut down. Within

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Fig. 6.30 Garching FRM reactor (the Atomic Egg). Photo by M. Laraia.

the scope of the operating license the fuel elements were removed and shipped to the USA. The decommissioning license of May 30, 1983 comprised the decommissioning of the plant, the dismantling of plant components, and the achieving of safe enclosure of the shielding block with the former reactor pool. With a separate license notice of May 24, 1984 the facility was allowed to remain under safe enclosure. The reactor hall was released from nuclear regulatory control, but the shielding block is still under nuclear regulatory control (Fig. 6.31).

6.5.10 Musashi Reactor, Japan (Musahi et al., 2008) This 100-KW, Triga Mark II reactor started operation in 1963. Reactor operation was shut down on December 21, 1989 due to small leakage of water from the reactor tank. After shutdown, investigations about the incident causes, making plan of repair and discussions on restart or decommissioning lasted many years. Finally, the decision of decommissioning the reactor was made in May 2003. A redevelopment plan is described in Musahi et al. (2008), consisting of the use of the Musashi reactor simulator. The operation console and the control rod drive are decommissioned. Simulated fuel elements and grid plate compose the simulated reactor core. The type and core location of the fuel elements are identified through electric circuits. Core characteristics are reproduced on a personal computer using the actual operation data of the reactor and neutron transport calculations are effected with Monte Carlo codes. Operation of control rod, core characteristics, core configuration, and instrumentation data are mutually linked and controlled by an interface. The software that calculate core thermal power and reactor period was prepared based on a time-dependent diffusion

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Fig. 6.31 Research reactor (FRN) hall, Helmholtz Zentrum Munich. The octagonal concrete structure on the right covers the old decommissioned FRN. Photo by Tuomas Puukko, Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.0.

equation. The actual operation data of the Musashi Reactor such as core excess reactivity, control rod worth, reactivity effect of fuel temperature was incorporated into the software. However, to simulate experiences of criticality and reactivity effect of fuel, reflector and void elements, the actual operation data base was not enough. Neutron transport calculations using the MCNP code were made to provide the core locationdependent reactivity effect of each element. These results were also incorporated into the software. The functions essential to the operation of the reactor are reutilized. These are meters, recorders, switches, dropping control rods (scram), and interlock used during reactor operation. Consequently, one can experience very realistic TRIGA reactor operation through control rod operation and monitoring console panels.

6.5.11 Nuclear Reactor, Sweden (Zublin, 2016) After a few years of basic nuclear research, Sweden built in 1954 a 300-kW (later upgraded to 1 MW) reactor, named Reaktor 1 (R1), in a reactor hall 25 m underneath the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, in Swedish). Today this might appear weird, since some 40,000 people lived within 1 km from the reactor. The 1950s were years of limited attention to nuclear risks; and R1 was very important strategically. On July 13, 1954 the reactor reached criticality. Until 1970, R1 was the nucleus of Sweden’s nuclear R&D. But on that year the reactor was permanently shut down, mainly due to the risk of running a nuclear reactor in downtown Stockolm. R1 reactor hall is now used as an experimental place for art, dance, and media technology. The main objective in planning this redevelopment was to explore how elements of new

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Fig. 6.32 Inside the R1 reactor, now converted to a theater and media center. The numbered grid on the ceiling date back to the reactor decommissioning project, and refer to the free release measurements made at the time. Photo by M. Laraia, 2005.

interconnected media technology, placed in an industrial environment, could prompt emotional and artistic experiences. An interactive theatre was also built onsite (Fig. 6.32). Near the reactor hall is the restaurant.

6.5.12 Korea Research Reactor No.1 (Seong et al., 2017) The radiation dose of the Korea Research Reactor-1 (KRR-1), which had been decontaminated and decommissioned following shut down in 1995, was evaluated in 2017 to assess the safety of reusing the building as a memorial hall. The KRR-1 holds symbolic significance as the first reactor in Korea and is a registered cultural property. Exposure scenarios for visitors and the building keepers were evaluated, and compliance with the dose criteria for unrestricted release of the building was confirmed. It is noteworthy that the decision to establish a memorial at KRR-1 was based on a survey of 800 persons: with a two-thirds majority the memorial option was selected over entombment or unrestricted release. On the technical side, the following details were provided in Lee et al. (2010): l

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The reactor hall will become the exhibition room; this requires some refitting A hard and transparent window is installed on top of the pool.

In Brief: Reuse of Research Reactors DR 2, Risø, Denmark. The reactor has been fully decommissioned and the final report was approved in 2008. The reactor hall is to serve as a handling facility for radioactive items originating from decommissioning onsite (DD, 2010) The JEEP I reactor, Kjeller, Norway, operated 1951–60. The reactor building is used for housing a 60Co irradiator (NKS, 2006). The same reuse option was adopted for Venezuela’s research reactor (Nordion, 2006). TVR at Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics (ITEP), Moscow, Russia. The 2.5-MW HWR was shut down in 1986. The spent fuel was removed for reprocessing in 1989–90. The heavy water (HW) moderator is contaminated by tritium. A decision was taken to build a subcritical multiplier of neutrons in the TVR pool and to couple it with a linear accelerator of protons. This does not require the dismantling of the biological shield. The detritiation of the HW is less urgent because it can be reused in the new facility (Arkhangelsky, 2006). INEEL reactors, USA. At the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), several reactor safety program facilities were decommissioned and reused for new functions. The Special Power Excursion Reactor Tests (SPERT) program initially included four reactors used to test reactor behavior during abnormal operations: l

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SPERT-I was decommissioned in 1964, all equipment removed by 1969 and the building reused to house the Power Burst Facility (PBF) plant protective system equipment. PBF supported national studies of reactor fuel during normal and abnormal conditions. In 1998 PBF was placed in long-term shutdown status. SPERT-II began operation in 1960; currently it houses the Waste Reduction Operations Complex (WROC) Lead Storage Facility. SPERT-III started operation in 1958: it was decommissioned in 1980 and all reactor components removed. Its reactor building now houses the Waste Experimental Reduction Facility (WERF). SPERT IV started operation in 1961 and is currently a storage building for mixed waste (ORAU, 2004).

ZEEP (Zero Energy Experiment Pile), Deep River, ON, Canada). First nuclear reactor outside the US, operating 1945–73, dismantled in 1997. Currently on display at Canada Science and Technology Museum, Ottawa.

6.5.13 BR3 Reactor, Mol, Belgium (Noynaert and Verstraeten, 2007) BR3 was the first PWR built outside the USA. The reactor had a small electrical output (10 MW) but included all the systems and structures of a commercial PWR. The reactor went critical in 1962 and was finally shut down in 1987. It has been under decommissioning since 1989.Most decontamination and dismantling activities have been completed including the reactor pressure vessel and internals. The final decommissioning plan mentioned that the end state of BR3 will be “greenfield” unless opportunities for reuse of its site were manifest. Factors favoring partial reuse include: l

Services to the nuclear industry in the field of decontamination, for example, by maintaining the MEDOC decontamination facility in service

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Facilities allowing cold and hot tests of innovative decontamination or dismantling or waste management processes

Partial reuse assumes that all foreseen activities will be transferred to the Shipping Area and the Auxiliary Building, while all other buildings and areas will be decommissioned to unrestricted release. After cessation of any remaining activities, the entire BR3 site would be released to unrestricted use.

6.5.14 Graz Reactor, Austria (Kainz, 2009) The Reactor Institute Graz, attached to the University of Technology Graz, Austria, operated a low power Siemens-ARGONAUT-Type reactor for education and training. The reactor was finally shut down on August 31, 2004. As the shielding consisted of modular concrete blocks (Fig. 6.33) the dismantling of this reactor was exceedingly smooth. Besides, due to the low power level only very few reactor components were slightly activated and were considered low active waste. The reactor building was rehabilitated in 2006 and used for other laboratories. In the ground floor there is a welding laboratory and on the first floor a flight simulator.

6.5.15 University of Washington Reactor WA, USA (Save The Reactor, 2016) In contrast with many successful redevelopment projects, the University of Washington reactor, Seattle, WA tells a different story. Built the Nuclear Reactor Building housed the University of Washington nuclear program. It was designed by an

Fig. 6.33 The Graz reactor at the onset of decommissioning. Photo by M. Laraia.

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association of architecture, engineering, and fine arts faculty known as The Architects and Artists Group. The Nuclear Reactor Building remained in operation until 1992 when the nuclear program was terminated. In 2002, the building was renamed More Hall Annex to soothe any fear of terrorist organizations seeking nuclear materials. The reactor within the building was dismantled and the site free-released in 2006. In 2008, demolition was applied for by the University. Although considered by many to be ugly and uninteresting, there was also a vocal and vibrant community that valued the building as an emblem of Modernism and the nuclear age. The Friends of the Nuclear Reactor Building, jointly with other historic preservation advocacy organizations successfully managed to get the structure on both Washington Heritage and National Historic registers in 2008. The building’s place on the historic register was secured, “for its direct connection to the development of nuclear energy and as a significant example of the architectural style known as Brutalism.” But preservation of the building conflicted with University’s expansion plans. Then, the University sued the City of Seattle as a means of establishing their independence from the city’s Landmark Preservation Ordinance (LPO). In June 2016, the multi-year legal case between the University of Washington and supporters of the Nuclear Reactor Building, reached an end: the verdict liberated the University from the city’s LPO. In less than a month, the building was dismantled and the University moved on for a new Computer Science and Engineering facility.

6.5.16 Research reactors in operation A few research reactors, still in operation, are open for public tours. Presumably, once decommissioned, these reactors will become museums. A selection of these reactors includes: l

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6.5.17 Building 413 Active Laundry, Harwell, UK (Atyeo, 2010) The building was constructed in 1955. It was a chemical cleaning plant (mostly used for metal degreasing and surface polishing). In 1970, the eastern side of the building was turned into an Active Laundry and the western side into a radiological calibration station. The building remained for radiation uses for 30 years. In 2000, the active laundry was decommissioned. This included de-planting, dismantling and removal of floor surfaces and ventilation ducts. A few areas of low-level contamination were removed. The cost of conversion was relatively low. Factors supporting reuse included:

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There was a use for the building that would result in rental income prior to final removal The building did not need to be removed right away for license termination purposes The underground liabilities were fixed in place The tenants expressed an interest in reusing the building and the reuse proposed was compatible with the structure and was not complicating eventual decommissioning The tenants were from within the nuclear industry, hence there were no undue fear with reuse The tenants would not interfere with remaining contamination The regulators expressed no concern with building reuse The building could not be decommissioned because of funding priorities

In 2003, the building was modified to site carpentry workshop and calibration facility.

6.6

Tall structures

The prevailing height extent (with respect to length and width) of these structures is the critical elements that will mostly determine the reuse option of these structures. Other factors discussed in this book may contribute to the selection of the strategy.

6.6.1 Water towers Supported on brick bases or metal stilts, water towers are common industrial structures worldwide. Local sentiment has saved many of them from demolition after they have become unused for the original purpose. Architects are now devising new ways for their adaptive reuse. Water towers are being converted into holiday retreats, restaurants, or community spaces, each with a special flavor. A selection of water tower reuses can be found in The Spaces (2015). The following describes in more detail a few such cases. Chateau d’Eau is the name of a project by BHAM design studio and consisting of a water tower conversion at Steenokkerzeel, Belgium. The tower was constructed in 1938–41 and was in operation until early 1990s. The works for tower renovation and reuse as a family house began in 2007. Freshome (2012) reads: “the preservation of existing concrete elements such as the main water conduct, concrete ceilings, concrete stairs, and the 250 m3 concrete water basin were essential to preserve the strong identity of the building. Every visible concrete element inside was painted in dark gray in order to mark the old from the new. The program foresees two distinct profiles of users. The private and main user is the client, a couple living at the tower daily. Every room is equipped with the latest IT technology, domotics, and the possibility to install projectors virtually anywhere on the top floor.” The unusual house is 30-m high and consists of five floors. The terrace provides an outstanding view of the nearby village. At 50 m height the Fungo (the Mushroom) in Rome, Italy has an interesting history. It was added late to the EUR development (a model Rome suburb), which was commenced by the Fascist regime in the late 1930s, then essentially completed in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Around that time, the planners in charge of EUR began to envision large green spaces for the EUR suburb, which entailed irrigation. And they were

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also concerned that the proliferation of new buildings nearby was impairing firefighting capacities. The Fungo, a water tower, came up as the solution. A designers’ team produced a tower of reinforced concrete, with eight 5-sided pilasters, and room on top for a restaurant, which, as planned (but not as constructed), was to rotate. A floor just under the restaurant houses the kitchen. Spiral stairs and two lifts run alongside the pilasters. There is also a coffee bar on the ground floor with a cloakroom, services, and stand-by rooms. The construction works were executed in 1957–60. The original restaurant was closed in the early 1980s, and the building deteriorated. The decay was stopped in about 1990, when a new restaurant opened and refits were made. Due to its spectacular view, the restaurant has attracted legions of diners. At least two cult films have utilized the Fungo. Michelangelo Antonioni’s black and white drama L’Eclisse (The Eclipse) [1962], displays the Fungo as a symbol of alienation (a burning subject in Italian films of the 1960s). The building appears again in Adulterio all’Italiana (Adultery Italian Style), a 1966 film. Although the original Fungo was not designed to support advertising, a steel cover was installed atop the restaurant to display commercial advertisements: it is inevitable that some companies want their name on it, well visible from afar but not included in (Fig. 6.34) (Rome, 2012).

Fig. 6.34 Il Fungo, Rome, Italy. Photo by M. Laraia, 2009.

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The Watertower Sint Jansklooster is situated at De Wieden, the Netherlands, in the middle of a protected nature reserve. The water tower was turned into a watchtower. A spectacular architectural path leads up to a height of 45 m. A closed stairway leads to the first floor on 4 m. height. Here is a 24-m-high room. The new stairs that lead through the body of the water tower have been built of wood. This is intended on one side to add a warm element contrasting with the concrete walls of the tower. On the other side it shows an ecological intention in that it uses a raw natural material. Where the old stairs climb alongside the walls, the new stairs zigzag across the tower to reinforce the sense of space. The new stairs lead up to the level of the floor just below the huge concrete reservoir at 28 m height. From there the original stairs went up through a tight space next to the exterior of the tank. Now steel winding stairs depart from the floor below the reservoir and go right through the bottom of the tank. The stairs wind up next to the walls and give full perception of the immense structure. The ‘lid’ of the tank has been partly taken away to install steps up to the observation place. The transparent floor gives to the visitor the impression of being hanging in the middle of the tank. Four large windows have been opened next to the four small existing ones and offer an impressive view of the landscape (Dezeen, 2014b). A water tower converted into a home can be found in the middle of the Brasschaat forest in Belgium. The old water tower had been built to provide a house and service buildings with running water. The tower remained in use until 1937, when new water supply system was commissioned for the Brasschaat municipality. The water company showed no interest in the tower due to its obsolete construction technique. In 1950, the municipality acquired the house and surrounding land. The tower fell into a state of neglect. Eventually, the council had to decide whether to demolish or to sell and repurpose it. The latter approach was chosen and the new owner was fond of the unique properties of the structure. Instead of reconstructing the old structure anew, the conversion project stressed its industrial features: glass substituted for brick, so the metal stairways connecting the floors can be seen through transparent walls, and concrete floors are visible from the outside. The main living area is found at the base of the old tower (Recycle Nation, 2010b).

6.6.2 Lighthouses Lighthouses are not typical features of industrial sites; this section is meant to draw the readers’ attention to reuse options for tall structures such as metereological towers, pylons, etc. For lighthouses, (Atlas Obscura, 2014) reports some redevelopment options concretely adopted worldwide, for example, museums, studios, transmission towers, wildlife refuges, art spaces, luxury hotels. Fig. 6.35 shows the lighthouse “Grebeni” built in 1872 on the cliffs near the entrance to the Great Gate of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Today, it offers luxurious accommodation.

6.6.3 Observatories Originally constructed as a fort, Clifton Observatory, near Bristol, UK dates back to prehistorical times. It has been destroyed and renovated a number of times and is now an English Heritage grade II listed building. In 1766, James Walters integrated a

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Fig. 6.35 The lighthouse “Grebeni” offshore Dubrovnik, Croatia, now a touristic residence. Credit to Dennis Jarvis.

windmill into the Hill Fort which was used for grinding corn, and later snuff (i.e., tobacco). In 1777, the mill machinery was destroyed by a gale that turned the sails too fast and caused a fire. In 1828, the site was rented to William West, an artist, who used the mill as an art studio. On the top floor, West installed a telescope which he later replaced with a camera obscura, which is still working. The camera obscura consists of a convex lens and sloping mirror, and is still working today: it projects onto a white surface inside a darkened room providing a true image of the outside landscape. By 1837, the observatory was completed. At the end of the First World War the Observatory was used to hold celebrations and then as a shelter for the people of Clifton during WWII. In the late 1900s, it was leased to the Bristol Corporation for relief of the poor before it was eventually sold to private owners. The building went for sale (BBC, 2013) and in February 2015 was bought by a local entrepreneur. The renovated Clifton Observatory is now open for private hire from 2018 hosting such events as weddings or conferences.

6.6.4 Industrial chimneys All NPPs and practically all nuclear research centers house chimneys (often called stacks) for the discharge of ventilation air and contaminated gases (Fig. 1.7). Experience on their potential reuse, though, can be mainly drawn from the nonnuclear sector. A considerable number of old chimneys, which formed part of the first industrial installations in many countries, and dates back to the first half of the 1800s and even earlier, remain to this day. Some of which are surprisingly high (hundreds m) and of meaningful architectural design.

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“The problem of the chimney… is surely a typical example of the many ‘emergencies’ posed by our historical buildings. The evolution in the methods employed in its making went hand in hand, in Europe, with a progressive transformation of the urban and rural landscape as a result of industrialization. What’s more, the chimney’s design and construction often reveals the independent cultural roots of a given geographical area—tangible signs of the local artisans’ skill” (Riva and Zorgno, 1995). The remarkable height of some of the surviving chimneys in abandoned industrial areas, and the valid methods used in their making remain surprising. As new types of chimneys emerged, the old chimneys were abandoned and soon aged, often deteriorating to such a point that they were no longer structurally safe. The problem of preservation of historical chimneys must be approached with great attention with a focus on material testing and static/dynamic simulations. But industrial chimneys convey a sense of cultural “belonging,” which should not be disregarded. One example is the area south and west of St. Peter’s Square in Rome, Italy. The soil there is rich in clay well suitable for brick and lime kilns (“fornace” in Italian”). For many centuries kilns have been active in the area as it is proven by local place-names; and some chimneys remained. Fig. 6.36A shows one of these chimneys in isolation in December 2007 and Fig. 6.36B shows the same chimney restructered as museum in August 2018. Over the last decades the need for telecommunications rapidly increased, which made the reuse of disused industrial chimneys a concrete option (Fig. 6.37). Another photo from Vienna (Fig. 6.38) indicates that some industrial chimneys are preserved for no practical use but only for being symbols of a past world. This beautiful chimney in downtown Vienna is encircled by apartment buildings. An innovative concept, where the old chimney is reused as physical support to solar energy generation, is given in SIGUS (n.d.). The concept is based on the following main elements: l

l

l

“TROMBE WALL” with translucent shell around the chimney, captures solar radiation, heats the air, and increases airflow from the main chimney. It also heats the chimney wall for more even continuous heating of air (the heated airflow will be lower by night). “GLASS APRON” is located at the base of the chimney. Air heated by solar radiation is captured under a glass roof and directed into the chimney. The glass apron utilizes a ‘flexible capture’ approach with polycarbonate panels. A secondary use of this expanded structure (the “apron”) could be as a greenhouse. CHIMNEY. Warm indoor air goes up through the chimney and creates a pressure difference at the base, sucking in cold air from openings.

A wind turbine that will have power outputs ranging from 1 MW to more than 10 MW was launched by Eurowind (ASME, 2004). The concept combines up-to-date wind turbine, shipbuilding, and construction technology. The modular design is intended for a number of applications, ranging from offshore to various land installations, in wind farms or standing alone. The machine can be mounted on industrial chimneys and other tall structures, without impeding their normal use. Rather than having a wind turbine that discharges a specific load onto its support structure, the system is designed to adjust the wind turbine—and, therefore, its load—to the known reserve strength of the host structure e.g. the chimney. The interface between structure and turbine would then absorb the stress loads produced by the rotation of the turbine’s blades.

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Fig. 6.36 (A) Industrial chimney, Rome, Italy. (B) Industrial chimney, Rome, restructured as museum. (A) Photo by M. Laraia, 2007. (B) Photo by M. Laraia, 2018. See St Peter’s dome in the background.

A recent application for patent used a similar concept. A vertical axis wind turbine is mounted on the top portion of a chimney. Rotor blades are arranged on the outside of the chimney and the mechanical energy produced by the rotating rotor blades is transferred to a generator by means of a short drive shaft. The blades are rotated using the updraft associated with the chimney (Patents, 2013).

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Fig. 6.37 Old stack reused for telecommunication purposes, Vienna, Austria. Photo by M. Laraia, 2013.

Fig. 6.38 An old furnace chimney in a courtyard in downtown Vienna. Photo by M. Laraia, 2018.

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Table 6.1 The tallest chimneys of the world Name Chimney of GRES-2 Power Station Inco Superstack 4th Chimney of Homer City Generating Station Kennecott Smokestack Chimney of Berezovskaya GRES

Pinnacle height, m

Year

Country

Remarks

419.7

1987

Kazakhstan

Tallest chimney in the world

380.1 371

1971 1977

Canada USA

370.4 370

1974 1985

USA Russia

Tallest chimney in the USA Tallest chimney in Russia

A solar updraft tower is a renewable-energy power plant described in Solaripedia (2011). It combines three technologies: chimney effect, greenhouse effect, and wind turbines. Air is heated by sunshine in a very large greenhouse-like structure around the base of a tall chimney; the resulting convection causes air to go up the updraft tower. This airflow drives turbines, which produce electricity. The Australian Company EnviroMission proposes to build the world’s tallest solar updraft power plant in Arizona. The 800-m-tall tower would be the second tallest structure in the world—only 30 m shorter than the Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The generating ability of a solar updraft power plant depends primarily on two factors: the collector area and the chimney height. The larger is the collector area, the greater volume of air is warmed to flow up the chimney. Table 6.1 (Wikipedia, 2018) lists the tallest chimneys in the world: following closure of the plant where they are situated, industrial chimneys could be reused to generate energy as described above. It should be noted that the chimney at the decommissioned Garigliano NPP in Italy (Fig. 1.7) was dismantled in late 2017 due to seismic concerns and was replaced by a shorter chimney, which will serve the remaining phases of the plant’s decommissioning process. Beginning in the 15th and 16th centuries, tall chimneys elaborately decorated with carvings, niches, and inlays have formed for centuries an impressive element of the architectural ensemble. Taking inspiration from these ancient chimneys, a new trend emerged in recent years, by which chimneys are artistically decorated, coated or wrapped and turned into real art pieces. One example among many is the Church of the Holy Face (Chiesa del Santo Volto, in Italian). The tower of the former chimney of a steel mill was preserved and wrapped with a helical symbolic metal structure on which a series of spikes are mounted to represent thorns; the helical structure conveys a sense of ascension. On top a 60-m silver cross was placed (Design Build, n.d.). A survey of old chimneys “beautified” recently is given in (Web Urbanist, 2009). A remarkable case of “beautiful” chimney is the Vienna incinerator, designed by the famous Austrian architect, Friedensreich Hundertwasser (Fig. 6.39).

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Fig. 6.39 The Vienna incinerator chimney. Photo by M. Laraia, 2018.

6.6.5 Cooling towers Cooling towers have come to symbolize nuclear and nonnuclear power plants. Standing 100 + m tall with a unique hyperbolic profile, cooling towers are massive constructions and finding a reuse after such a plant has been closed down is not easy. Quite recently, some of these towers have exhibited a new side: they have become colossal canvases on which an astonishing variety of art has been bestowed by celebrated artists. The prototypical cooling tower conversion is situated at the Wunderland Kalkar in Germany, near the Dutch border. Kalkar was originally the SNR-300 NPP, which never went online. In 1991, the Dutch entrepreneur Hennie van der Most purchased the property and commenced to re-develop it into a hotel, meeting and leisure complex. Leaving the reactor building and cooling tower in place, an amusement park was opened in 2001. Wunderland Kalkar receives around hundreds of thousands visitors a year. The old cooling tower has the distinct shape that characterizes NPPs around the world, with the addition of a large mural of a mountain landscape painted on it (beautification of this kind seems a popular trend these days). The tower features a 58-m high “Vertical Swing” and a climbing wall. The park also features: four restaurants; eight bars; six hotels; a museum; four event halls; a fitness center; tennis courts; mini-golf; bowling alleys; a go-kart track; and beach volleyball facilities. See more detail in MNN (2013).

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But the main reasons to preserve a cooling tower are historic and cultural. They are a symbol of our past. It is unfortunate that most cooling towers are being demolished. Demolition of Chapelcross NPP in the UK is described in Magnox (2007). A number of environmentalists are active in trying to save cooling towers. One example is given in ADP (2014). A proposal to save the cooling towers at Didcot Power Station, UK from demolition is quoted below in detail. The “Didcot Towers Leisure Park” proposal includes converting three of the cooling towers: it aims at attracting visitors from the whole region and providing high-quality facilities for local communities. “The new ‘Didcot Towers Leisure Park’ proposal includes converting three of the existing towers. The first tower will be converted into a water park experience with some of the highest flumes in the world weaving in and out of the towers. Swimmers will take the external lift up the 99 m to the top of the tower and walk over a glass bridge (not for the faint-hearted!) and into the glass dome covering. When their turn comes to ‘take the plunge’ they will hurtle down from inside the tower out into the daylight as if soaring above Oxfordshire like one of the local Red Kites, before entering the tower once again and plummeting into the darkness. There will be three ‘levels’ of flume, as those who dare progress from a gentler journey to the bottom through to the high velocity thrill that the fastest flume will offer. For those more inclined to relax with an awe inspiring view, the proposal includes a larger than Olympic sized swimming pool installed at the top of the tower, 80 m in diameter and containing 3000 m3 of water. The first tower to be converted will have a large multiplex cinema installed, making best use of the natural darkness within. Screens will effectively be installed up through the tower, with floors retrofitted and lifts installed for moving large amounts of people up through the tower. The multiplex will be a timely addition to Didcot with the planned expansion of the town proceeding at a steady pace. The final tower will be converted into the world’s largest man-made climbing facility. Inside the tower will be ‘starter walls’ to provide training for beginners, while the exterior will offer a class-leading opportunity for experienced climbers to scale the tower using different routes, from intermediate to difficult. There will also be abseiling from the top viewing platform, with users able to descend the near 100 m drop to the ground below. This low cost addition will enable the new leisure park to be economically viable, with the facilities expected to attract climbers from all over the world to test themselves on this unique wall. Underneath the power station there is an existing web of engineering plant that will become a large underground car park, with efficient access to and from the near motorway. The landscaping around the towers will be developed to create a parkland, increasing biodiversity and providing added value for visitors wishing simply to enjoy a walk, observe nature, or have a picnic.”

6.6.6 Air traffic control towers The case of Denver Stapleton airport, CO, USA is possible unique by this time. During the 1980s, this airport was thriving with four US airlines, six runways, and five terminals. But in 1995, the airport was closed and all buildings were demolished—except the 12-story control tower, which however fell into a 20-year disrepair. Denver gradually expanded, so creating the conditions for a tower reuse. Quite recently a

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restaurant and bar chain gave new life to the tower interiors, while maintaining much of its external profile. The new use includes also arcade games, karaoke, and bowling (Stuff, 2017). To the best of the author’s knowledge, the Stapleton control tower is the only converted building of this type that can be called tall. There have been conversions of old air control towers, for example, in the UK, but those buildings were relatively small and comparable to other industrial buildings. Following WWII, RAF Little Walden fell into disuse. Eventually auctioned off, the airport was converted into a memorial park, while the idle control tower was reused as a residential home. The converted tower, now Grade II listed, retains few of its external features, but has nevertheless a historic meaning. Not every conversion of an old control tower has become a residential space. At Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, the old control tower was turned into a hotel inclusive of a large health and fitness center. More of these conversion projects are illustrated in Urban Ghosts Media (2016)

6.6.7 Roofs There is one type of space that has as yet limited consideration in redevelopment terms: rooftops. Although developed mostly for urban contexts, the reuse concepts mentioned below could be readily adapted to nonurban areas, such as those encountered typically in nuclear and other industrial sites (Fig. 6.40). Except for rooftop patios with great views or rooftop hotel pools, roofs remain mostly confined to utilitarian possession, for example, for chimneys, air ducts, and satellite dishes.

Fig. 6.40 Vandellos NPP Spain, Reactor Building Terrace. Photo by M. Laraia, December 2005.

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However, roofs can offer much more than this. For example, they can provide space to grow food, build inexpensive housing, improve the energy budget by installing solar panels, and green up our environment. And all of these could be tantamount to cost-effective design solutions. Added greenery can do much more than create a pleasant oasis. Green roofs can decrease storm-water runoff and lower cooling costs. Larger rooftop gardens can also become farms (greenhouses). Brooklyn Grange runs rooftop farms in several parts of NYC, producing large amounts of vegetables that are sold directly to restaurants and greengrocers. Rooftop farms also reduce transport costs by growing products in the vicinity of consumers. These farms create a biodiverse ecosystem, attracting birds, insects, and butterflies. Moving from here, henhouses and beehives are other innovative additions to rooftops. These developments (including the NYC High Line presented elsewhere in this book) can be viewed as part of the “urban revegetation” trend; innovations like the “Vertical Forest” belong to the same vision (Boeri, 2011). A broad range of state and local governments, community organizations, and private sector interests across the USA are actively assisting residents in establishing gardens in redeveloped areas as a sustainable reuse. However, legacies of historical industrial activities or construction practices mean that residual contamination may exist on redeveloped properties that may be considered for gardening and crop production. Therefore, EPA and other organizations have developed resources to assist actual or prospective gardeners in assessing soil contamination, whether such contamination poses a risk, and what can be done to lower the risk. Berlin architects launched Cabin Spacey to help solve the urban congestion by building tiny homes on Berlin’s 55,000 unused roofs. These cabins—still in the concept stage—can house two people in some 25 m2, and can be fully sustained by solar panels. Unused roofs can be turned into recreational areas. Rooftop pools have long been a feature of luxury hotels, but larger gyms, soccer stadiums, playgrounds, and jogging paths are becoming more common. As the catchment area for rainfall, roofs can be used to harvest rainwater. This ageold method of collecting water can be especially cost-effective in drought-afflicted developing countries. In addition to reusing large amounts of water, this method can also serve to retain storm-water runoff and reduce pollution (Curbed, 2018). Construction of a sloped roof over an existing flat roof is commonly used for one or more of the following reasons: l

l

l

l

Fix a chronically leaky flat roof without having to completely dismantling it Avoid exposing the occupied part of a building to rain damage should rain occur during the construction phase Add insulation to the building structure Correct a difficult-to-vent moisture trap in a flat roof.

More details are given in Inspectapedia (n.d.). Other common reuses of rooftops include bar/restaurants (Rubio, 2016) or open-air cinemas (https:// rooftopcinemaclub.com/)

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6.6.8 Climbing walls Climbing walls have been mentioned in passing as innovative ways of converting cooling towers at former power stations (Kalkar, Didcot). There are many more cases. The rock climbing gym Allez-Up is part of the redevelopment project for Montreal’s Southwest district, Canada. Adjacent to the Lachine Canal, the site and silos of an old sugar refinery have been turned into an indoor rock-climbing facility, one more tourist attraction of the area (Arch Daily, 2014). Five more climbing walls resulting from reuse projects in Germany are described in Climbing (2017). See another case in Section 6.6.9.

6.6.9 Flak towers In 1942, Hitler had decreed that Vienna, Berlin, and Hamburg, should be protected by a series of anti-aircraft towers known as Flakt€ urme (The word Flak is an acronym for FLiegerAbwehrKanone, meaning anti-aircraft gun.) In Vienna three pairs of towers were constructed by the Germans during 1943 and 1944. Each pair consisted of a large, heavily gunned attack tower (Gefechtsturm) and a smaller communication tower (Leitturm). Built of almost indestructible steel-reinforced concrete 3- to 4-m thick, the attack towers were built either as a square fortress tower 45-m high and 60-m square with corner turrets, or as a circular tower 55-m high and 45-m in diameter. The heavy artillery was placed on the roof, with lighter armaments placed on projecting balconies. The towers were also used as bunkers and bomb shelters. While some Flak towers in Germany were successfully demolished, those in Vienna resisted demolition. Soviet troops tried to blow up one attack tower but managed only to produce a crack around the top and to dislodge part of the balcony. The other towers were too close to surrounding buildings to allow demolition with explosives. So Vienna was simply rebuilt around the towers, which have now for more than 70 years been reminders of Vienna’s darkest hour. Reuse of the Flak towers began decades after the end of WWII. Because their thick walls keep interior temperatures constant and the reinforced floors are able to support great loads, the towers make ideal structures for aquaria and vivaria, which require environmental controls and huge water tanks. In Vienna the communication tower in Esterha´zypark has been successfully converted into the fascinating House of the Sea (Haus des Meeres, in German) and now houses many aquatic species; besides an elaborate climbing-wall has been installed on one of the exterior walls of the Esterha´zypark tower. The history and reuse of Flak towers is described in detail in Smith (2005). A WWII Flak tower in Hamburg, Germany had remained vacant for over 60 years. After the end of the war this 42-m-high concrete giant could not be blown up without endangering the close-by housings, so the Allies could only dismantle parts of the interior. From then on, the ruined building stood in the middle of the residential district, virtually unused and at risk of collapsing. The structure was converted in 2014 into a renewable energy plant and amenity center. It is circled by a balcony open to visitors, above which four cylindrical

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superstructures at each corner are connected by the protruding ledge. A cafe connected to the balcony through a glass wall and an event space were also installed on the upper level. To stabilize the structure, concrete was sprayed onto the crumbling facade and the cafe was thermally insulated. Inside the structure, the damaged floors were changed; the renovated structure was completed by an elevator and stairways. A 2000-m3 water reservoir, serving as large thermal buffer, is installed at the center of the building. The reservoir is fed by heat from a biomass thermal power plant, a wood burning unit, solar panels installed on the roof and waste heat from a close industrial factory. The heat is redistributed to the neighborhood. PV panels installed on the south side and a thermal power station feed the electrical network (Dezeen, 2014a).

6.7

Others

This chapter is about mutually unrelated facilities and site features that need specific conversion modes.

6.7.1 Naval installations An extensive database of nuclear ships (aircraft carriers, cargo ships, icebreakers) and submarines and their operating experience is given in WNA (2017). Factors leading to decommissioning are also given. The following is a brief summary of conversion projects for some of these installations.

6.7.1.1 Mutsu nuclear ship, Japan (Mutsu, 1996) Mutsu was Japan’s only nuclear-powered ship. It was built as a nuclear merchant ship, but never carried commercial cargo. The ship left Japan in August 1974, and the reactor reached criticality in the open ocean on 28 August. A few days later a minor shielding problem appeared, which let a stream of radiation out of the reactor shielding. There was no significant staff exposure, but the incident became a political issue, with local fisherman blocking return of the ship to port for more than 50 days. Eventually the ship returned to another Japanese port. In 1978–82 various modifications were made to the reactor shield. Through a thorough examination and repair of machinery, the Mutsu was completely refurbished by February 1991. She then completed her original testing goal of travelling 82,000 km, and was decommissioned in 1992. The reactor was taken away in 1995. After decontamination, the Mutsu was reborn as the oceanographic vessel Mirai. Built in the shape of the original vessel the Mutsu Science and Technology Museum opened in 1996. The main feature of the museum is the view of the upper portion of the actual reactor. Through leaded-glass windows visitors can view the reactor, surrounded by thick concrete walls, as well as control rod mechanisms and other equipment.

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6.7.1.2 Nuclear Ship Savannah, US (Maritime Park Association, 2013) (Lange, 1990) Savannah was constructed as a co-project of the former Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Maritime Administration (MARAD). She operated from 1962 to 1965 in experimental service, at which time the AEC issued her operating license as a nuclear facility. Savannah operated in demonstration service as a cargo ship until 1971 when she was removed from service. The ship was visually beautiful, in fact she resembled more a cruise ship than a cargo vessel (Fig. 6.41). She had 30 air-conditioned private cabins, a restaurant for 100 passengers, a lounge adaptable to cinema, a swimming pool and a library (all these features having been relatively unused during the ship’s lifetime). Moreover, Savannah performed well as a cargo ship. However, Savannah’ cargo space was limited in comparison with her nonnuclear competitors. Her crew was much larger than comparable traditional ships. There were expenses for a separate land organization in charge of negotiating port visits and a dedicated shipyard had to be kept available for repairs. Due to her design constraints, training demands, and the high staff numbers, Savannah was much more expensive than a similarly sized, oil-fueled ship. Therefore, MARAD permanently discontinued Savannah’s operation in 1971. It should be considered that at that time oil was indeed a very inexpensive fuel.

Fig. 6.41 Savannah Nuclear Ship. Courtesy of NRC.

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The ship was defueled soon after and her reactor made irreversibly inoperable in 1975–76. The reactor remains in place. The radioactive primary coolant loop water was removed shortly after final shutdown, as were some radioactive components within the reactor system. According to various estimates, residual radioactivity in 1976 ranged between 6200 and 2200 TBq, mostly the short-lived 55Fe and 60Co. By 2005, the remaining radioactivity was estimated some 180 TBq. These radioactive substances are located in a few, well-monitored places. About 95% of the power plant is intact and remains onboard ship. Savannah is still licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC is the successor to the AEC), and will remain so until nuclear decommissioning is completed. Savannah was listed to the National Register of Historic Places in 1981. She was named a Mechanical Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 1983. She was named a Nuclear Engineering Landmark by the American Nuclear Society (ANS) in 1991. And finally declared a National Historic Landmark by the US National Park Service in 1991. Savannah is currently lay-berthed in the Port of Baltimore, MD. The US Maritime Administration (MARAD) manages the activities onboard the ship, with a focus on licensed operations and predecommissioning planning. MARAD intends to maintain Savannah under safe enclosure for a few more years; however, under current NRC regulations the decommissioning process must be completed and Savannah’s license terminated by 2031 (60 years after final shutdown). Normally the NRC regulations would entail full dismantling of the reactor. However, the historic ship community would like to see an exception made in this case to allow for preservation of Savannah’s reactor. Although not open to visitors on a regular schedule, the Savannah Technical Staff schedule periodic tours provided that these can be managed without interfering with normal ship’s management. While MARAD aims at converting Savannah into a museum, financial supporters of this option have not shown up yet.

6.7.1.3 Otto Hahn nuclear ship, Germany (Brenk, 2010) The cargo vessel “Otto Hahn” was the only nuclear-powered ship built in Germany. The ship was launched in 1964, but the nuclear propulsion system was installed only in 1968. Otto Hahn was run as a research vessel until 1979, gathering useful information about nuclear propulsion while being also used as a commercial ore carrier. One the main factor for terminating nuclear operation was that foreign harbors and major shipping routes such as Suez and Panama Canal were not readily available or open for nuclear vessels. The nuclear propulsion of the ship was shut down in 1979 and the removed nuclear parts were stored at the research Center Geesthacht. The ship was fully decontaminated and converted into a container carrier with conventional Diesel propulsion in 1982. Since then, she changed names many times until she was eventually scrapped in 2009.

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6.7.1.4 Submarine bases The Nautilus Submarine serves as a model of nuclear preservation. The first nuclearpowered submarine in the world, Nautilus was manufactured at Electric Boat Shipyard in 1951–54 (this shipyard still produces submarines for the US Navy) and entered service in 1955. It was the first vessel to cross the North Pole in 1958. Following decommissioning in 1980, the Nautilus was towed to Groton, Connecticut and opened as a floating display in 1986. Stairs and glass walls were added to allow visitors to explore this historic vessel. The Nautilus is part of the US Navy’s Submarine Force Museum, situated on the Thames River in Groton, Ct. The submarine provides a historic link to the operating Navy base and Electric Boat Shipyard that are also situated along the Thames River. In this way, the Nautilus is a “living” example of the continuity of nuclear power. The Nautilus also highlights that the public has a concern in nuclear sites (Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d.). The U-boat base in Saint Nazaire is an enormous reinforced concrete structure. It was constructed in 1940 and 1941 by the Germans in occupied France. The German troops defending the base surrendered at the very end of the war in 1945. The structure housed two flotillas of submarines and contained 14 cells, each cell allowing two submarines to dock. Five of the cells were also dry docks where the water could be drained out to inspect and repair the bottom of the boats. In total the building used 500,000 m3 of concrete, with foundations 12 m deep, walls 3.5 m wide and a roof slab 4 m thick. In all the structure measures 300 m long
130 m wide
18 m high. The building also included: 62 workshops for torpedoes, engines, welding steel, periscope repairs, etc., 97 warehouses for spare parts, 150 offices for supplies, 92 dormitories and rooms for crew along with kitchens, bakeries, hospitals, toilets, shower rooms, etc. After the war, initial plans were made to demolish the structure but the costs were far too high. Instead the French submarine fleet was based at the bunker for a while. The base lay abandoned for a long time until 1994 when the local authorities launched its restoration. There are now several museums inside the massive structure. One of the museums is a replica of the transatlantic passenger liner Escal’Atlantic, which once transported passengers from Saint Nazaire to Central America and the Caribbean. A section of the building houses a submarine museum, another section is a tourist information office, while the remainder, including the huge panoramic terrace, is for tourists to stroll around and enjoy the beautiful vista (The Helpful Engineer, 2011). Conserving the derelict historic Submarine Mining Depot at Sydney Harbor’s Chowder Bay and in parallel accommodating new uses compatible with its heritage values was a real challenge for the Sydney Harbor Federation Trust. Chowder Bay was established in 1892 to maintain a defensive, electrically triggered minefield within the harbor. The Trust took over in 1999 and began to redevelop the historic Building 7. Modifications had hidden the building’s past uses and layout, and water in-leakage had damaged its timber, stone, paint, and banisters. Previous renovations had replaced original fabric and the site facilities were unsuitable for public use. The adaptive reuse

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repaired and stabilized the building, took away renovations that blurred the understanding of its heritage values and introduced state-of-the-art facilities to render several reuses possible. As the actual reuse had not been defined, the building was given flexible services and fittings. Separate metering of each floor allows for a number of tenants or uses. Renovation methods were selected to cause minimum environmental impact on the harbor (Australian Government, 2004). With its canals and maritime atmosphere Holmen, the former Royal Naval Dockyards, Copenhagen, Denmark is an area of natural beauty and architectural significance. The abandoned 17th-century red brick warehouses, barracks and foundries now host the Royal Academy schools (drama, film, design, architecture, music, theaters, galleries, restaurants, offices, and shops). The 155-m-long Torpedo Hall, constructed in 1954, served initially as a maintenance hall for torpedo boats. But over time there was no longer need for torpedo boats, so the raw concrete plant was converted into light and airy luxury flats. To conserve the industrial atmosphere, the original concrete pillars have been kept, and the inner dockyard basin has been converted into a docking area for the residents’ yachts. The old roof was removed, leaving the original trusses exposed, to let daylight into the interior street on the second floor above the garage. Footbridges running across and along the street create a sequence of movement. (Arcspace, 2012) (Fig. 6.42).

6.7.2 Pools and tanks Many nuclear installations have pools in different sizes and for a variety of purposes, typically to house the reactor core (at pool-type research reactors) or to store spent fuel. As an example, Fig. 6.43 shows the Chapelcross NPP pond, UK after drainage. A comprehensive discussion on decommissioning of nuclear pools is given in IAEA (2015b). One example of reuse in the nuclear field is the Pool Test Reactor in Canada. Following decommissioning, the former reactor will be returned to a different use. The facility will be transformed into a high bay laboratory utilizing the former pool for additional height to install loop systems or test sections for future R&D work (IAEA, 2011). Long ago, a proposal was made for reusing of the K-East reactor at Hanford and is reported here for sake of completeness. The “sister reactors” K East and K West reac tors were built in the early 1950s and went into operation in 1955. They are situated < 400 m from the Columbia River and were finally shut down in the early 1970s. The K East Reactor operated until 1971. A spent fuel basin attached to the reactor was reactivated and stored irradiated fuel from Cold War operations from another Hanford reactor through 2004. Removal of the irradiated fuel, associated radioactive sludge and debris, and then the basin itself, took place between 2004 and 2009. Currently (2018) this reactor is being prepared for interim stabilization (cocooning in DOE terminology). Fig. 6.44 is an image of K reactor basin. When the K reactors were in operation, the reactor cooling water made a one-way pass: from the river to the water treatment pools (flocculation to remove sediments),

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Fig. 6.42 Torpedohallen, Holmen, Copenhagen. Credit to SEIER+ SEIER.

through the reactor, and then back to the river. Each water treatment pool is huge: 106 m long, 39 m wide with a nominal water depth of 5 m. In the 1990s, it was suggested that the K area water treatment facilities could be used for the rearing of fish. A marketing effort was undertaken to match the facility with potential users. Fish-rearing projects for the K area are described in Anderson and Herborn (1994). The project implementation is a long-term task. As of June 2018 workers had successfully transferred the first batch of highly radioactive sludge out of underwater storage in the K West Reactor Basin: the DOE is required by law to have all the sludge removed by 2019 (Exchange Monitor, 2018). As indicated in SRS (1995) four large, open basins were built at SRS to collect water pumped from the Savannah River to provide cooling water for the site reactors.

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Fig. 6.43 Chapelcross pond, empty, UK. Copyright Magnox Ltd.

Preliminary reuse evaluations determined there was potential reuse in forms of aquaculture. Obviously, an aboveground storage tank can be repurposed to store a different liquid than previously. Before filling the tank with a new liquid, however, several steps are needed to ensure a safe reuse. These include conducting an inspection to verify tank integrity, determining whether an internal coating is needed, and assessing whether regulations require the tank to have secondary containment (Heartland Tank Services, 2015). Used steel tanks can also be re-purposed for a wide variety of new uses, limited only by imagination, including, among many others: l

l

l

l

l

Shed and Storage Shelters Storm and Weather Shelters Secure Storage Bunkers Solar Flare Protection for Valuable Electronics and Generators Covered Foot Bridges e.g. for small rivers

Guidance on reuse of wastewater tanks for the collection of storm-water is given in Hornsby (n.d.). In the nonnuclear sector, an interesting case of reuse is offered by the Brauhaus, Wuppertal, Germany. The former swimming pool was opened to the public in 1882. It operated as such until 1993 under Germany’s Monument Protection law. Closed on financial grounds, the structure reopened as a successful restaurant in 1997 (Brauhaus, n.d.) (Fig. 6.45).

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Fig. 6.44 The K Reactor Basin, Hanford, WA, USA. Credit to DOE.

The conversion into homes of two disused, adjacent water reservoir tanks situated on an elevated site in Barnacre-with-bonds, near Garstang, Lancashire, UK is presented in Suzi Darbyshire (2011). The project addresses a large former water tank converted to a modern revisit of the country home with six bedrooms, while the smaller tank is converted into a twobedroom holiday cottage. Daylight enters the main building through roof lights and new glazed areas which frame attractive vistas toward the sea and adjacent pastures. The project includes also a vast green roof, supporting native vegetation, with the objective of augmenting biodiversity and harmonizing the building with the local landscape. The building’s environmental features also include full thermal insulation and low-energy systems; heat pumps, and PV panels provide renewable energy. The main tank originally held 4500 m3 of water and was built of high-grade concrete. Borehole and lab testing concluded that the tank was “as new,” even after 40 operational years. The project retained major parts of the concrete structure, so considerably reducing the impact of additional construction. More examples of water tanks converted into homes are given in Daily Mail (2014) and ABC (2015). In the 1960s, six steel lined concrete tanks at UKAEA Harwell site that held radioactively contaminated liquors reached the decommissioning stage. The tanks were located within a concrete embankment at the Liquid Effluent Treatment Plant. As usual in those years, the steel liners were removed, the concrete tanks were collapsed and buried into the embankment, and a car park was installed on top.

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Fig. 6.45 Brauhaus, Wuppertal, Germany. From swimming pool to restaurant. Photo by M. Laraia.

In following years, a contract was given to remediate the contaminated embankment by excavating the contents and either removing the embankment or decontaminating and providing a weatherproof cover depending on the results of a structural survey. Working within a 40 m
40 m
7 m high containment, the site was characterized and the solid radioactive waste was taken away. Liquid waste was collected in a settling tank, sampled, and transferred to the site low active effluent system. A structural survey showed that total removal of the embankment would compromise the stability of nearby facilities. So an alternative end state was established. This involved decontamination of the embankment by scabbling, its partial removal to form a new entrance, and installation of storm drains. This approach avoided the costs of maintaining a weatherproof cover and brought back the car park. The work generated no contamination spread, regardless of extreme weather. Industrial hazards were also present, including heavy excavation machinery in confined spaces. This case study proves that definition of a site end state (and redevelopment objective) is subject to many constraints (VHE Construction, n.d.).

6.7.3 Docks, piers, wharves Many nuclear and other industrial facilities are located next to water courses, lakes, rivers, or the sea (Fig. 6.46). Water is needed for cooling or other purposes and cargoes are regularly loaded/unloaded on the waterfront to ensure the functions of the site. Therefore, it is not uncommon that docks, piers, or wharves are part of the site infrastructure. Following closure of the industrial site, new functions should be assigned to this infrastructure.

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Fig. 6.46 Clinton NPP, IL, USA see waterfront structures. Courtesy of NRC.

Albert Dock is a huge scheme of docks and storehouses located at Liverpool, UK. It was inaugurated in 1846. Its warehouses were non-flammable and secure. But Albert Dock changed the dock operations forever: its hydraulic hoists could load and unload the ships directly to/from the warehouses. In this way the ship loading/unloading time was halved. Albert Dock was widely used to store valuable commodities. However, the fast development of shipping technology in late 1800s called for larger, more open docks, although Albert Dock still remained a good store for cargo. During WWII the Albert Dock was taken over by the British Navy as a naval station for the Atlantic Fleet. The complex was damaged during air raids. After the war, financial problems sealed the fate of the dock. Several proposals were advanced for the reuse of the buildings but none materialized and in 1972 the dock was closed. After years of abandonment, the regeneration of Albert dock began in 1981 and was completed in 1984. Currently the dock is the most frequented multipurpose place of tourist interest in the United Kingdom with over four million visitors per year. In 2004, UNESCO’s Wold Heritage Committee inscribed Liverpool—Maritime Mercantile City on the World Heritage List. Amongst the dock’s attractions one should quote the Merseyside Maritime Museum, the Beatles Story and the Tate Liverpool. There are also two hotels. All the five warehouses are Grade I listed buildings. Other dock buildings are listed Grade II (Fig. 6.47).

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Soon after the dock’s regeneration, a policy had been adopted to attract retailers into the newly created spaces. However, after many years of hard competition with other major shopping areas in Liverpool, the Albert Dock Company Ltd. announced in 2007 a shift into attracting more bars and restaurants (Albert Dock, n.d.). The Master plan for the redevelopment of Pier 70, Port of San Francisco, USA is described in San Francisco Port (2010). Pier 70, a 27-ha historic shipyard property located along San Francisco’s Central Waterfront represent a significant part of the maritime history of the San Francisco Bay. The site played an important role in the industrialization of the USA, where supplies were manufactured for the California Gold Rush, Nevada’s mining, and the Transcontinental Railway. Ships built at Pier 70 supported the US military initiatives from the Spanish American War through the two World Wars and into more recent times. The area is characterized by sharp contrasts: shipyard cranes hanging over cruise vessels in dry dock; fenced-off industrial buildings; and the relics and the ruins of many decades of industrial use. Pier 70’s shipyard includes historic buildings that are not only valuable architecturally, but also capture the public interest by recalling past shipbuilding, steel manufacturing, and maritime activities. The sense of historical continuity is kept alive because ship repair continues at Pier 70. In 1997, the San Francisco Port Commission identified the preservation of Pier 70’s ship repair industry and history as key priorities in the Waterfront Land Use Plan. Since then, no efforts have been spared to achieve planned objectives. The vision merges rehabilitation of historic buildings, the ongoing functions of the existing shipyard,

Fig. 6.47 Albert Dock. Photo by M. Laraia, 2009.

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and sustainable and viable new developments. It promotes the installation of waterfront open spaces and shoreline access areas, and a network of buildings, pedestrian streets, and courtyards that reflect and maintain Pier 70’s historic identity. The Plan consists of the following goals: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Rehabilitate the historic structures. Sustain the viability of the ship repair industry. Install a major new shoreline open space through Pier 70. Promote mixed-use infill development and economic sustainability that includes climate adaptations suitable to a waterfront location. Provide spaces for offices, research, innovative technologies, light industry, commercial, cultural, and recreational uses to stimulate the city’s economics, and generate revenues. Promote development that is either pedestrian-oriented or based on sustainable transportation modes. Enhance public access to/from the Pier 70 area and integrate new developments with other parts of the city. Remediate environmental contamination to fully enable public use of Pier 70 and its waterfront.

6.7.4 Cranes and crane ways In Copenhagen’s Nordhavn harbor, Denmark a former coal crane has been turned into a retreat, meeting space, and spa. The project actually includes four sections, each rentable separately. At the base of the crane is a container reception area. Moving up, the second floor has a glass-walled meeting room; the third floor features a spa and terrace with a sea view. On top a 50-m2 “Krane Room” for two is loaded with custom furniture (all in black to remind the coal originally handled here) (Dezeen, 2017b). Another case to be mentioned here is the Amsterdam crane way (Kranspoor in Dutch). A glass (see the spectacular view when lit by night), three-story office building was built on top of a gigantic concrete crane way on the grounds of a former shipyard, a relic of Amsterdam’s harbor industry. The 1952 crane way has a length of 270 m, a height of 13.5 m and a width of 8.7 m. The office building on top, the same 270 m long, with a width of 13.8 m, accentuates the length of Kraanspoor and the fantastic view of the river the structure sits on. The building is lifted by steel columns 3 m above the crane way, appearing to float above the concrete giant, which is fully visible. The challenge of the design was to utilize the maximum allowable load of the existing crane way, which works as a foundation for the building on top; the building has also an eccentric protrusion toward the waterside, due to the heavier load-bearing function for the former revolving cranes that cantilevered to this side. The lightweight building of steel construction was then a real necessity. The piping and wiring are embedded in the floor allowing for a maximum clear height. The existing structures have been utilized to the maximum extent in other ways. The former four old stairwells still remain as entrance to the building. The two gangways/walkways alongside the concrete craneway are now used as fire-escape routes (Arch Daily, 2008).

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6.7.5 Roads, railroads, viaducts, parking lots, garages All nuclear and other industrial sites are equipped with railways, roads, and tracks, which were used during the site’s operating history to transfer equipment, spare parts, portable instruments, or simply foodstuffs and drinks to and within the site; and waste and discarded materials from the site. Onsite connections for pedestrians, cars, and trucks also served to ensure the regular movements of people between working places, canteens, or social gatherings. When a site ceases to operate as initially planned, these connections may remain to service new functions of the site (e.g., a nonnuclear technological park), and may be altered accordingly; or else they may be converted to entirely new applications. A range of conversion cases are given below (several from the nonnuclear sector, but readily applicable to nuclear sites).

6.7.5.1 Railroads A brief description of the T Building at Mound Site, OH, USA has been given in Section 6.3. Mound was a nuclear weapons production center. A rail spur is shown in Fig. 6.48. Initially, this spur carried irradiated targets from DOE reactors for extraction of Po210 at the Mound Lab. Then it carried batches of Po210/Beryllium initiators Fig. 6.48 DOE Mound Lab Railroad Spur. Credit to DOE.

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and electronics for fission devices to the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore labs and later Sandia Lab and Pantex assembly plants. Later on it carried tritiumcontaminated scrap from other DOE labs for decontamination. It also carried Pu238 RTGs that were made up at Mound. Finally, the spur carried the contaminated rubble and soil that was excavated during the Mound’s decommissioning period. To give one example, there are in Italy some 5700 km of unused railways. One could consider these landscaping elements to enhance the touristic appeal of their territories (Fig. 6.49). In some cases, old railways—originally intended for freight and passenger service—have been refitted to serve touristic purposes. One example is the Val (Valley) Venosta Train, Italy. It was inaugurated in 1906. In 1990 after many interruptions there was the last train running throughout the valley. In 1999 under public ownership the track was redeveloped as a tourist line and in May 2005, the new train made its first voyage. Today the track is 60 km long; it runs along the Adige River across the valley. The stations along the track date back to the early 1900s and are part of the cultural heritage of the region. The stations have been renovated in cooperation with the Provincial Antiquities and Monuments Office, striving for preserving their original charm. Modern techniques have been employed in the restoration, including the achievement of excellent accessibility for the disabled (Val Venosta Train, n.d.). The simplest railway conversion approach appears to be the one into cycle paths. The 1980s saw the birth of cycle route projects in Denmark and in the Netherlands. Following the “bicycle boom” of the early 1980s, German towns also began moving in

Fig. 6.49 Old railway converted into a nature trail, Basilicata Region, Italy. Photo by M. Laraia, 2013.

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that direction. The use of segregated cycle facilities is promoted by a large portion of the cycling community, for example, lane and path cyclists, and also by many environmental associations. The “Green” movements in the 1990s were fervent promoters of the construction of cycle networks in many countries. This has led to various highprofile cycle network projects in many cities. This underlying enthusiasm is the basis for the conversion of redundant railways into cycle paths. Fig. 6.50 shows an old railway near Wuppertal, Germany converted to cycling and jogging path. The conversion of redundant railway buildings can give rise to specific issues regarding their location, especially if they are adjacent to still working lines or existing public footpaths and cycle-ways. Due consideration may be required to ensure that an appropriate enclosure is designed to ensure a private amenity area. The US rail-banking mechanism is worth a mention. According to Rail to Trails (n.d.) “rail-banking is a method by which corridors that would otherwise be abandoned can be preserved for future rail use through temporary conversion to a trail. Established in 1983, the rail-banking statute allows a railway (railroad in American English) to remove all of its equipment, with the exception of bridges, tunnels, and culverts, from a corridor, and to turn the corridor over to any qualified private organization or public agency that has agreed to maintain it for future rail use. This property transfer precludes abandonment.” Fig. 6.50 Old railway near Wuppertal, Germany, converted into a cycling and jogging path. Photo by M. Laraia, 2015.

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One US case of railway converted to trail is given in American Trail (n.d.). The Blackwater Heritage State Trail, Florida, follows the route of an historic railroad. Built in the early 1900s, the original rail line was decommissioned in the 1970s. In 1993, the US Department of the Interior, Federal Lands donated the property to the State of Florida. This multiuse trail was opened to public fruition in October 1998. The 18 km corridor offers accessible hiking, cycling, horseback riding, and other outdoor recreational experiences. The trail also provides the opportunity of observing a number of animal species including the American alligator, snakes, river otter, bobcat, redheaded woodpecker, as well as native plants. It was estimated that the trail contributed $3 million a year to the local economy. A different concept of railway conversion is exemplified by New York City’s (NYC) High Line. The High Line was formerly a freight rail track, which was discontinued in 1980. The 2.3-km-long path re-emerged to general use as one of the best NYC Parks, which runs from Hudson Yards to the northern rim of Chelsea. Today it’s an urban playground showing wildflowers, greenery, and outdoor art, while offering visitors the best views in NYC. Converting the railway into an urban park began in 2006 with the first tract opening to the public in 2009, the second in 2011, and the third in 2014. Under the direction of the landscape architecture firm of James Corner Field Oper ations, the dismissed rail track was redesigned as a “living system” with the contribution of such disciplines as landscaping, urban design, and ecology. Since 2009, the High Line has become a symbol of contemporary landscape architecture. The conception of the High Line was inspired by the 4.8-km-long “Promenade plant
ee” (treelined walkway), which was completed in Paris in 1993 (see below). The High Line is owned by the City of New York, and maintained and operated by Friends of the High Line. Founded in 1999 by community residents, Friends of the High Line fought for the High Line’s preservation and conversion at a time when demolition of the structure was a concrete threat. In addition to supervising maintenance, activities, and public events, Friends of the High Line raises the maintenance and operations funding from both private and public sources (High Line, n.d.). There is now a High Line Network connecting 18 similar projects in North America, identified under the common name of “rail-to-rail”, and sharing experience and guidance on installing and managing parks in disused spaces (Dezeen, 2017d). A specific objective of this network is to ensure that other projects of this kind avoid the gentrification and inequality that occurred in the High Line neighborhood as a consequence of the redevelopment. Actually as the project created a “prestigious” environment, it also spurred a cascade of luxury developments, which caused rents to rise and local businesses to move away. As stated by the High Line creator “When we opened, we realized the local community [New York City Housing Authority] wasn’t coming to the park, and the three main reasons were: they felt it wasn’t built for them, they didn’t see people like them there, and they didn’t like the programming.” To partly correct the trend, the organization included job training and school trips into the park’s programming. And Washington DC’s 11th Street Bridge Park will have job-training workshops to allow those living in a nearby low-employment area to draw a direct benefit from the redevelopment (Fig. 6.51).

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Fig. 6.51 Manhattan High Line. Copyright Queen’s Printer for Ontario, photo source: Ontario Growth Secretariat, Ministry of Municipal Affairs.

Similar to the High Line is London’s Parkland Walk, UK. A railway line was opened in 1867. In the 1930s London Underground had made plans for the linking of this line with the Northern Line, but WWII stopped the ongoing work. After WWII rail development was abandoned but passenger trains continued until 1954, when Brit ish Railways ended the service. However, tracts of the line serviced cargo traffic until mid 1960s. Later the line was still being used to transport some materials. But in 1970 the conditions of a few bridges had deteriorated to the extent that no further use of the line remained possible. Then most platforms and station buildings were demolished. A 4-km section of the line, after major re-surfacing and facilitation of access, became the Parkland Walk in 1984. The walk was proclaimed a conservation area in 1990. It supports a wide range of habitats. Two hundred species of wild flower have been recorded; hedgehogs, foxes, butterflies and birds are spotted on a daily basis and the rare barking deer is occasionally seen (Haringey, 2017).

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HaTachana, Hebrew for “the station,” refers to the old Tel Aviv railway station, Israel. From the standpoint of industrial heritage, it serves as a model of urban site redevelopment. From 1892 until the establishment of the State of Israel, the railway station was the final stop on the Jaffa-Jerusalem line. The site decayed after the railway closed; then in 2000 the Tel Aviv municipality took it over and began to renovate. The shops and caf
es that embellish the complex’s 16 different buildings today were installed so as to fund the project. In 2010, HaTachana was officially re-opened as a stylish pedestrian-only area that successfully blends the rich history of the site and the dynamic character of the modern city. HaTachana complex is a place where history, modernity and commercialism smoothly merge, complete with excellent caf
es, unique boutiques and 2 weekly markets. The transformation into one of the city’s trendiest spots has not neglected its historic past and the complex includes a jumble of refurbished rail cars, freight terminals, and train tracks to nowhere. There’s even a disused cement factory, from around 1905, which has been repurposed as retail space. Street performances are not to be missed (HaTachana, n.d.). Budapest Nyugati (West), Hungary train station was built in 1874–77 by Gustave Eiffel, who also built the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. It is a great architectural and engineering achievement featuring a huge entrance hall (146
25 m). The roof of the three-story sections situated on the right and left of the entrance ends with two towers. Over the entrance hall stands a saddle roof made up of steel beams and glass, which provides a transparent and relieving space. Today the hall houses a Mc Donald’s restaurant, which is in harmony with the well-lit, green, colorful, and crowded environment (Erdogan and Erdogan, 2013). La Halle Pajol, Paris was initially a 9600 m2 depot of the French national railway company. It was constructed in 1926. The redevelopment project is dated 2013. The reuse of La Halle Pajol is based on a strategy of changeability. The facades of the building were completely removed, so the large steel structure with its shed roof became visible. This construction was regarded as a shelter, under which new functions could be established. The original steel structure was deprived of concrete fillings, brick and tiles and the steel parts were renovated: cleaned of lead paint (a toxic material), sanded, repainted and the corroded parts were reinforced or replaced. With this broad renovation, the construction was given a clean image. The huge steel structure remains and the dimensions are unchanged, but the atmosphere induced by the redevelopment project is different from the one before. How acceptable this is in terms of the preservation principle is up to all parties involved to judge. Finally, new cross bracings were added to ensure the stability of the structure, so old and new are completely self-contained. The new construction is mostly wooden. This is not only for sustainability purposes but also for future options to eventuate: flexibility, convertibility, or even another future redevelopment phase. The wooden construction could readily be disassembled to allow the old shelter host new uses. The sustainable nature of this project stays also in the reuse of the area and shape of the shed roof as a water collector for the garden and as a solar power station. The half-covered public garden is a public interior space, being partly enclosed by the old building and the new wooden building. This green intermediate zone provides

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high quality urban space. The project includes also a youth hostel, library, business space, and auditorium (Van Gendthallen Amsterdam, 2015).

6.7.5.2 Roads Internal roads at a nuclear site serve either onsite transport of goods or the movement of people (Fig. 6.52). At a decommissioned site, roads can either serve unchanged the purposes of new installations or be redeveloped for new purposes. The range of possible modifications to existing roads is open to imagination. Here it will suffice to mention a few typical cases (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unused_ highway). One common reuse of redundant roads is their transformation into trails. However, each route should be evaluated on its own merits and after carefully considering advantages and drawbacks. Converting a road to a trail should not solve one problem only to create another. Recreational opportunities include typically: camping; walking/hiking; mountain and cross-country biking; walking dogs; running/jogging; bird watching; photography, etc. However, specific attention should be given to the financial resources (current and future) to maintain the trails, to environmental impacts (e.g., vehicle erosion), and to the needed repair. Design and construction guidance for road-to-trail conversion is detailed in California State Parks (2003). A case study of general interest can be found in East Bay (n.d.). A slightly different approach is the conversion of roads to parks. Building a highway in a city is often regarded as a solution to traffic congestion. In fact, experience has shown that more routes attract more traffic: the converse seems also true. Consequently, some cities have chosen to remove spaces dedicated to cars and convert

Fig. 6.52 Road on Zion NPP site, IL, USA. Courtesy of NRC.

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highways into urban parks. One remarkable example is offered by the City of Yarra. Yarra (near Melbourne, Australia) started in 2009 a Converting Roads to Parks program in which gardens are generated by using existing traffic infrastructure, such as council-owned parking lots and sections of roads. Open spaces are designed for flexible use, such as to accommodate mini events and gatherings. Details of the project are given in Landscape Architecture Australia (2015). More cases are summarized below (Arch Daily, 2016). One of the first highways in the US to be converted into a park was Portland’s Harbor. In 1974, the conversion gave rise to Tom McCall Park. The Hawthorne Bridge, which was originally part of the freeway, became a bridge for cyclists and pedestrians, connecting First Avenue with the park. The Cheonggyecheon elevated highway in Seoul, South Korea was built on a canal of the same name. To reduce environmental pollution and the noise generated by more than 160,000 vehicles using the highway daily, the city launched a plan to demolish the highway and replace it by a park. The project cleaned up the canal and returned the site to a meeting place. The recovery of this public space has reduced noise and temperature in the surroundings. In the early 1980s in San Francisco, CA, a plan began to demolish the Pier Freeway with the goal of building a park. However, it took until 1991 for the two-story motorway to be demolished—after being damaged by the 1989 earthquake. Studies concluded that rebuilding the freeway was much more expensive than making a park. In 2000, the Madrid Rı´o project, Madrid, Spain, was started, which aimed to restore the banks of the Manzares River. This was a difficult task due to the stretches of the M-30 highway that crossed it. As there were several historic structures involved, like the Puente de Segovia, the oldest bridge in the city, the Ermita Virgen del Puerto and Puente del Rey, the project performed the restoration while preserving these tokens of the city’s history. An addition benefit was that the Puerta del Rey, a building dating back to the early 1800s, could return to its original location, from where it had been displaced by the motorway. The park opened in 2011; in addition to sports and walks, the park offers opportunities to learn about the city’s history. The motorway was not completely demolished, but traffic was diverted by underground tunnels. In the 1960s, a construction project at Milwaukee, WI would make the downtown area surrounded by the Park East Freeway. However, local residents began to oppose it, arguing that the project would cause too much noise. For this reason, the highway was never completed and certain sections were demolished in 1999–2002 for the creation of the Park East Corridor. Once finished, this project allows free access from the city center to the river. The new park is 60 ha, 24 of which were allocated to new buildings to regenerate the area. In 2001, an earthquake damaged the overpass of the Alaska Freeway in Seattle, WA. The initial plan was to rebuild the viaduct, however, it was later decided to make a four lane underground tunnel in order to allow the surface areas along Elliot Bay join with the rest of the city through a new pedestrian space. The eastern section of Interstate 70, Baltimore, MD and the section of Interstate 95 inside the Washington D.C. Beltway are two road stubs resulting from the missing connections with downtown roads. Both stubs are currently employed as incentive

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parking facilities. Staying in the USA, an interchange was constructed to link Interstate 90 near Albany, NY, and the not-likely-to-happen Insterstate 687; the interchange now is an exit to a local avenue. The A47 near Wardley, UK was re-routed in 1987, which left behind an idle section of roadway: this tract services only a broadcasting station. In 2009 the A2 in Kent, UK was partly reoriented, which left aimless a considerable section of the initial route. Part of this section has been turned into parkland. In the Italian Alps tunnels were built to replace a few dangerous road sections: vehicles are not allowed to pass through the vacant sections, which are commonly used as footpaths. A highway may have unused lanes, which are reused in other ways. In Canada, the 1000 Islands Parkway contains two “ghost lanes” for its full 40 km length. This road is four-lane divided, as it was part of Highway 401, during the construction of that highway. At the completion of the 401 works, the last 1000 Islands bypass took an inland route. Two lanes of the initial four-lane coastal road were kept for the charming highway, the others being used as foot or bike paths installed in the otherwise-unused highway. A quite unique case is described as follows. “Le Gallerie” are two former road tunnels used until October 2007 for traffic in the Trento Region, Italy (Fig. 6.53). Their area surface is more than 6000 m2 and are 300 m long. Purposely one tunnel was painted white and the other black: the meaning was to associate them with historic photos and documents. “Le Gallerie” are mostly devoted to illustrating the memories of the Trento Region, but include other subjects as well. “Le Gallerie” are not a typical museum, rather an interactive workshop and media center: since their onset, they have been managed by the Fondazione Museo Storico del Trentino (Historic Museum Foundation for Trento Region). See more detail under (Trentino, n.d.).

Fig. 6.53 Motorway tunnels converted to museum, Trento Region, Italy. Photo by M. Laraia.

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A recent project reshaped a tunnel extending 750 m through the Kiyotsu Gorge, one of Japan’s most impressive landscapes. The project consists of five different immersive artworks, each representing a natural element, namely water, wood, earth, metal and fire. The five installations include a lake framed by mirrors; a foot bath in a wooden dome; a room filled with distorting mirrors; a public toilet imagined as a reflective capsule; and a series of color-changing lights. Construction details of these installations are given in Dezeen (2018f ).

6.7.5.3 Viaduct arches The spaces underneath elevated road and rail viaducts, often disregarded in environmental planning, can be put to a wide range of productive uses with some imagination and architectural skills. A viaduct can be seen as a road but also as a roof. As a simple case, an elevated railway can be used to hang lighting and signage for a covered bike trail. As a consequence of the growing densification of the urban spaces, the need of using land more efficiently is more acute than ever. The (re)use of viaduct arches is a remarkable example of this continuing trend. There are numerous international examples of viaduct vaults that have been successfully mobilized to create places of social, environmental, and economic value, for example, coffee bars or nightclubs, offices, or art, play or sports facilities. Unfortunately, such diverse solutions are not so common. Frequently, these spaces are left unused and filthy. At worst, they attract vandalism and crime. A survey conducted across many world’s cities explores the potential and actual solutions for better utilization of viaduct spaces and offers international guidance (ARUP, n.d.). Some examples follow. A simple approach to railway viaduct redevelopment can be figured out from Fig. 6.54, Vienna, Austria. These arches have been occupied by shops, restaurants, workshops, etc. An in-depth discussion about the archaeological and cultural values of the railway viaduct in Pedley Street, London, illustrating the reuse of the arches as workshops, warehouses, etc., is given in Industrial Archaeology (2010). With a wealth of colorful murals, Pedley Street, and surroundings have become an icon of contemporary art. Reportedly, the businesses installed under the arches served also to stop uncontrolled traffic under the railway structure. Another example of redevelopment is the Viaduc des Arts, Paris. After many years of neglect, the Paris Municipality restructured the bridge arches inviting handicrafts to move there; on top a park replaced the old rails (“Promenade Plant
ee”). The rehabilitation project mainly consisted on closing the vaults with a glass walls on both sides. This project enabled the reuse of the 64 vaults (between 150 and 460 m2 each) and the installation of a row of art galleries and caf
es (Benghida and Benghida, 2017). At Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, a similar rehabilitation project was accomplished and the railway arches are now occupied by the studios of young artists (Les Arches, 2012). The Vienna G€ urtel (Beltway) highway dates from the late 19th century, when Vienna was becoming a metropolis. The Vienna city railway line along the G€urtel

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Fig. 6.54 Viaduct arches redeveloped as shops, offices, workshops, etc., Vienna, Austria. Photo by M. Laraia, 2015.

was built between 1893 and 1898, almost entirely as an elevated railway. It was planned and executed by the Imperial and Royal State Railways, which opted for a massive masonry viaduct for the G€ urtel: the famous architect Otto Wagner was responsible for the esthetics of the city railway. From the very beginning, the planners wanted the arches below the line to be used for multiple functions and referred to in legal documents as the “lease of viaduct arches “. Otto Wagner designed facades to close the arch openings and make up space for small businesses. Due to the varied topography of Vienna ground, the height of the arches ranges between one and three levels. Thus, Wagner’s facades were flexible. All facades featured a good deal of visual transparency, for example, a lot of windows and a minimum of structural supports. After WW II, however, many of the original facades had been destroyed and were walled. The change from transparent to closed frontages had far-reaching impacts: a visual and physical barrier had been installed between the two districts on the right and the left side of the railway. The situation was made worse by the lack of activities in the arches. The G€ urtel area started to decay. The increase in car traffic led to further decay, with green spaces bordering the viaducts being reduced by the street widening. The buildings fell in disrepair and most of the area became a red-light district. In the early 1990s, the urbanist Silja Tillner was commissioned by the Vienna planning department to develop a G€ urtel urban design. In 1995, EU grants for the community initiative were approved. The City of Vienna presented an improvement concept named URBION, which complied with the principles of “sustainability” and “private-public partnership”: it included 60 projects to improve the buildings and infrastructure, attract new businesses, and promote cultural initiatives and social

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centers. At the core of Silja Tillner’s concept was not only how to deal with the heritage of Otto Wagner but also how to deal with the coexistence of public space and heavy traffic. While the general concept incorporates many different aspects, what follows is specific to the redevelopment of the viaduct arches. To oppose the marginalized nature of the G€ urtel, the new open-space design of the arches aimed to increase utilization and populate the area, a form of social control. The G€urtel’s arches were transformed into spaces of culture and entertainment; the city’s youth could enjoy music clubs and a lively nightlife, while residential districts were relieved from noise and other inconveniences. The arch tenants both appreciated the unique atmosphere of the old brick vaults of the viaduct and took part in the creation of the new image. When the reconstruction of the railway viaduct was completed in the early 2000s, the arches below the elevated train line were left open. Over time when the city expanded to engulf the G€ urtel, the arches were incorporated into the underground network and new office spaces were created (Fig. 6.55). The arches were closed off behind transparent facades and leased to entrepreneurs (Fig. 6.56). A complete historical overview and project details of the G€urtel redevelopment are given in (Tillner 2011). A disused railway viaduct near Scilla, Italy was recently the focus of a redevelopment contest: one pretty unique proposal consisted of creating a spaceship-like residential settlement, dubbed an “inverted high-rise”. While the concept of homes in the sky, accessible only from the road above, may appear somehow weird, elevated promenades and roof parking have been a common redevelopment strategy worldwide in the last few decades (see the New York High Line in Section 6.7.5.1). The architects

Fig. 6.55 Building on top of dismissed railway bridge, Spittelau, Vienna, Austria. Photo by M. Laraia, 2013.

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Fig. 6.56 Vienna G€urtel. A McDonald’s restaurant located under the arches of the Vienna railway. Photo by M. Laraia, 2018.

considered how the structure could support a self-sufficient community and make use of renewable energy sources as well as enhance the visual appeal. The viaduct’s proximity to the Etna volcano allowed the architects to incorporate a geothermal energy system—producing steam on hot rock to power generators. The viaduct would also have rainwater tanks, water treatment facilities, and crops growing in the surrounding area. The proposal featured balconies and gardens protruding off the viaduct pillars, alongside apartments which magnificent views. Shops and communal areas have been incorporated into the design. To reduce costs, the plan is to maintain the original structure. Extra support could be put into the new building to make it safe, but the viaduct was constructed to manage heavy rail traffic, so it should provide a sturdy enough base (Urban Ghosts Media, 2014).

6.7.5.4 Parking lots and garages There are uncountable examples of how to make better use of parking lots than temporary car storage: (Strongtowns, 2017) provides four specific strategies for converting unused parking into more productive developments. 1. Housing is a much more economically productive use of space, especially in cities with increasing housing costs and shortages. One example of turning a parking garage into housing comes from Redding, CA. There it was proposed to demolish an underutilized parking garage and replacing it with a mixed use structure, mostly affordable housing, together with retail and some market rate apartments.

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2. Unused parking lots are suitable for farming. Once you remove the asphalt and get the soil in order, parking lots are flat land that can readily be converted into farmland. One example is the Farmers Assisting Returning Military (F.A.R.M.) organization in Dallas, TX. One of the advantages of converting parking lots into farmland is that, unlike housing, which may require a larger amount of space, a farm can take just a fraction of a parking lot, while the remaining space remains in use for car parking. 3. Recently, there have been several cities choosing to convert parking into parks. As with farmland, parks only need flat, empty land. On a smaller scale, street parking spaces are often turned into mini parks offering outdoor seating and cafe spaces. 4. As a minimum, you can make better use of a parking lot by turning a portion of the space into a food truck area or just chairs and tables for guests to sit and eat their snacks.

Converting existing garages is a serious challenge. These large buildings are difficult to readapt to residential purposes because they are deep structures mostly lacking exposure to natural light. They are also costly to transform because the high ceilings required for a parking garage means less space for offices or residential spaces. Further, many parking garages were built on a slope to allow water drain easily from the building; large ramps throughout the building are another problem for residential reuse. Currently more attention is being given to future-proof garages for easy transition to residential and other uses, as it is expected that autonomous and shared vehicles will in future demand less parking space (Curbed, 2017b; Dreamit, 2018).

Disclaimer Websites accessed on 29 December 2018.

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