The Reuse Dividend
A shopping list for regeneration
Last week at Westminster, Don’t Waste Buildings launched a landmark study on unlocking our existing assets. Now, we just need the government to stay in the room.
On April 14th, I attended a breakfast reception in the Palace of Westminster on behalf of the Circular Do Tank. The occasion was the launch of The Reuse Dividend, a major international study that looks at a problem many have been shouting about for years - why is Britain so bad at unlocking the potential of its empty buildings?
Proven Ideas, Not Just Good Intentions
What I really liked about this report is that it moves us past the vague “we should do something” stage. It provides a practical shopping list of proven financial incentives from eight other developed economies.
Instead of starting from scratch, we can now point to specific examples - from tax credits in the US to VAT reforms in Europe - that have already successfully fuelled urban revitalisation. It’s a menu of “what works” and I believe it is a great starting point to take the UK from ambition to implementation.
Speculate to Accumulate: The State’s Business Case
To me, the largest hurdle we face is the way the Treasury views incentives. If you look at a tax break or a grant purely as an isolated cost, it looks like a cost or a loss. That is understandable, but narrow and short-term thinking.
We need there to be a better understanding and acknowledgment of our argument that there are far greater savings for the state here if they are willing to speculate to accumulate. When we reuse a building, we aren’t just saving carbon… we are avoiding the massive, long-term costs of social decline, “broken window” policing and the eventual public bailouts for derelict sites.
If the government sees the wider benefits (job creation, local economic growth and the avoided cost of doing nothing) then incentivising reuse becomes a net benefit and a total no-brainer. It’s an investment in our own resilience.
The Ask: Beyond the 5-Minute Meeting
There was a bit of irony at the event. Rachel Blake MP gave a supportive speech about the importance of the work but, in typical parliamentary fashion, had to dash off before the actual presentation of the report’s findings. It really highlighted the biggest challenge the movement faces - sustained attention.
The clear ask from the founders and presenters (Will Hurst, Leanne Tritton, Richard Nelson and Matt Bullivant) was that for this to work, we need more than just a supportive nod or a five-minute briefing. To get the momentum required to fix a tax framework that currently penalises building reuse over new build, we need real, sit-down time with the Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up.