Economic Considerations of Adaptive Reuse

     Many things must be considered in determining the economic feasibility of adaptive reuse at a specific site.  Factors such as the reuse of materials and resources as well as a lesser need to expend energy, both labor and machine powered, can effectively decrease the monetary funds needed for adaptation and reuse of sites.  However, there can be hidden costs in reusing existing structures such as; the possible unknown contamination of older sites, decay of parts of the structure desired to be reused and the possible need to bring the building being modified into compliance with current building codes. 

     As with all projects, a cost--benefit analysis must be conducted.  For adaptive reuse projects the analysis necessarily requires the comparison of the cost of modification / adaptation of a structure to the cost of constructing a new building on the desired site.  The analysis must also include the additional step of evalauting the intangible value to the project and community of site adaptation, which may include the preservation of historical value, economic revitalization or  maintaining a communal identity.