February 6 2026 (updated 6 May 2026): The CAHP Codes Acceleration Fund report: Unlocking the Value of Existing Buildings
August 2022: The CAHP Green Paper: Building on the Past to Sustain the Future
Unlocking the Value of Existing Buildings
As a national organization that advocates for the principles and practice of good heritage management and fosters heritage policy development based on the application of best practices, CAHP applied for a grant through Natural Resource Canada’s Codes Acceleration Fund in 2023. After a successful application supported by our Advocacy Committee, CAHP received our largest-ever grant and today we are excited to share the result of this three-year effort with you through releasing our report Unlocking the Value of Existing Buildings.
This report examines how retrofit, adaptive reuse, and conservation-centric design can advance Canada’s climate, housing, and affordability objectives. The report’s three real-world case studies in Halifax, Montréal, and Vancouver compare whole-life carbon and cost analysis across retrofit, addition, and replacement scenarios. Download the report and lean about the key findings and recommendations.
These briefing notes have been created to accompany the report and serve as a resource geared towards the following audiences:
- Briefing Note 01 Faster Housing, Lower Carbon, Better Value: For federal and provincial governments
- Briefing Note 02 Code Pathways for Existing Buildings: For authorities having jurisdiction and code consultants
- Briefing Note 03 Building Value Through Reuse: For developers and construction industry
- Briefing Note 04 Heritage Homes are the Greenest Homes: For homeowners
- Briefing Note 05 Early Design Strategies for Existing Buildings: For architects and designers
- Briefing Note 06 Building Structures are a Carbon Bank: For structural engineers
- Briefing Note 07 Retrofits, Refrigerants, and Carbon Performance: For mechanical engineers
- Briefing Note 08 Envelope Performance Pathways for Retrofits: For building envelope and energy code professionals
Building on the past to sustain the future
Report summarizes the recommendations from CAHP’s Workroom series on Building Reuse for Climate Action
A series of workrooms were organized last fall as a forum to discuss the challenges and possibilities for the reuse of existing buildings and to advocate for building reuse as positive climate action. The Green Paper summarizes the discussions from those events and provides a number of useful resources and tools to support the work of our members in this regard.
CAHPSTONE Podcast
CAHP Governing Heritage Series
Governing Heritage Series: Alberta
Governing Heritage Series: Ontario
Governing Heritage Series: Yukon
CAHP Workroom Series
Equity & Diversity in Heritage
This CAHP Workroom explores equity, diversity and inclusion within the field of heritage conservation. Panelists Cody Groat, Stephanie Mah, Maryssa Barras and moderator Elijah Sabadlan discuss how various aspects of the field of heritage conservation are approaching equity, diversity and inclusion.
Housing and Heritage in Ontario
During a Lunch and Learn event, CAHP partnered with its Ontario chapter OAHP to host a discussion on the Report of the Ontario Housing Affordability Task Force Recommendations, the More Homes for Everyone Plan, and their potential impact on Heritage Planning.
Adaption and Reuse of Buildings
Carleton’s School of Architecture speaks on their SSHRC-funded program to investigate case studies of adaption and rehabilitation of existing buildings across Canada. CAHP is a partner with the SSHRC-funded initiative on quality in our built environment.
ERA Architects has advanced research on this important early 20th century firm. CAHP invited David Winterton to give an update on the Frank Darling Book Project genesis and methods, how our narrative on Darling & Pearson’s work and stature is evolving to include its sociopolitical and patronage context. He discusses previously unshared bank architecture materials that have recently come to light and posit that architectural output within the greater story of the perfection of the Canadian Banking system.
Academic Collaboration with Consultants
This workroom introduces to you an engineering consultant’s view on collaborating with academic institutions, asking why it is so important for our industry, and presenting to you best practices. This presentation features Tom Morrison, with students, Lucy Davis, Alex Carpenter, Anushka Mukerjee .
Workroom coming soon…
Coming Soon…
Workroom coming soon…
Coming Soon…
Coming soon…
Climate Action Through Building Reuse (2021)
In CAHP’s 2021 workrooms, heritage professionals explored how they could participate and provide solutions for climate action. This five-part series explored important industry topics from different viewpoints including planning, architecture, engineering, and trades, and culminated in a session at the 2021 CAHP-National Trust Conference.
1. Planners and the Planet
2. Designing the Future
3. Engineering an Equalizer
4. Trades and Climate
5. Heritage Reset
TEDxCAHP Countdown (2020)
In this partnership with Ted Talks, CAHP worked with a number of heritage organizations to draw attention to climate change and heritage conservation at a virtual TEDx Countdown event in 2020. Speakers urged viewers to rethink how our world approaches existing buildings and consider how these buildings can be part of the solution to address our climate crisis.
Conservation of energy & existing heritage values (Larissa Ide)
Save buildings, fight climate change (Jennifer O’Connor)
Existing buildings make good business (Kevin Bates)
Building Reuse = Climate Action (Mark Thompson Brandt)
