The perceptions of tenants in the refurbishment of tower blocks

Purpose – Refurbishment has been suggested as a means towards sustainable development. The paper seeks to examine the tenants' perception on the benefits, effectiveness and overall satisfaction with the refurbishment process of the tower blocks.Design/methodology/approach – Literature review is used to identify the perceived problems, benefits and overall process of refurbishment. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data from 67 tenants living in three tower blocks (high‐rise flats) in West London. The sample data are analysed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies including ranking analysis.Findings – The findings suggest that refurbishment as opposed to demolition was a viable option for achieving sustainability. The majority of the tenants agreed that their surroundings and way of life improved after refurbishment. Other notable benefits from refurbishment were improved security, improved social behaviour and social harmony. However, the respondents failed to either identify or suggest...

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