The conservation of old buildings, otherwise known as refurbishment, retrofit or adaptive reuse, has come to the forefront of architectural thinking in recent years in view of their embodied energy and their significance in the life of the community. Old buildings, unlike new buildings, embody history, memory and the texture of age, and redesigning them for a viable future and for public benefit is therefore an architectural challenge. In this book Richard Griffiths describes his 25 years of experience in repairing and revealing the beauty of old buildings and in adding a new layer of architecture to all those already present, so as to give them new life and a sustainable future. The book is illustrated by examples of the redesign of nationally famous buildings such as St Pancras Hotel, Southwark and St Albans Cathedrals, Lambeth Palace, Burghley House, Stamford and the Tudor Sutton House, Hackney. Individual chapters describe the challenges of different building types, historic houses, churches, schools and civic buildings, as well as the regeneration of historic areas, including the Kings Cross Regent Quarter, the Lancaster Canal corridor and Oxford Castle. The book is richly illustrated with examples of contextual new design in historic sites, where old and new design enhance each other.