Extract

The adaptive reuse of historical buildings is currently trending as a practical approach to urban and seismic resilience, relying on expertise from different professional backgrounds ranging from conservation, planning, architecture, engineering, to interior design. This paper explores the applicability of a performance-based Multiple Criteria Decision Assessment (MCDA) framework to prioritise underutilised historical buildings for adaptive reuse in Auckland, New Zealand, while balancing the diverse interest of all relevant stakeholders. Findings from this study revealed the significant potentials of the performance-based framework, both as an evidence-based measurement tool to prioritise underutilised earthquake-prone historical buildings in Auckland’s central business district and as an effective decision-making strategy. Also, the framework allowed the inclusion of diverse stakeholders’ through the integration of collaborative rationality, hence, ensuring consistency and transparency in the decision-making process. The performance-based methodology has exciting implications for local councils, heritage agencies, architects, urban planners, policymakers, building owners and developers in New Zealand, as a guide to advance their understandings of (i) the intangible values of optimal historical buildings perceived by the community as worthy of protection through adaptive reuse; and (ii) the targeted needs of communities in the new functions of an optimal alternative from a group of representative historical building alternatives.

Keywords: Adaptive reuse; performance-based framework; prioritise; historical buildings

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