The default option for any project should be to adapt and reuse an existing building – it is one of the key demands of the AJ’s RetroFirst campaign. AdvertisementThe Cake Shop is a low embodied carbon and natural material-led retrofit of a former cake shop and bakery (once called Slatters) to deliver a future-proofed and low operational carbon rental development of seven apartments. What were the challenges of the existing cake shop? The existing building presents a number of challenges, from being located in a conservation area and on a high street, to being incrementally built across three different periods and three different ways. We’ve been working closely with Left Ear – a specialist in natural material acoustic performance – to test the existing fabric, calculate the performance, and then test the compliance of natural material build-ups.