Construction Waste

Waste from unwanted materials is an almost inevitable bi-product of a fit-out project. A fit-out project could generate more than 5 tonnes of waste for every 100 sq m of floor space. This comes from strip-out, demolition and construction waste, as well as from packaging and damaged and unused materials. In addition to the adverse environmental impacts from resource depletion and waste disposal, there are significant financial costs associated with construction waste, which can be limited through efficient fit-out design and management.

Benefits:

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Principles for Reducing & Managing Construction Waste

1. Design for Re-use & Recovery

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The re-use and recover of material will minimise new resources used and reduce strip-out waste. A pre-strip out audit is integral to this process to assess the potential for reusing elements of any existing fit-out. It is key that all reused materials will be of suitable quality and durable when considering the life cycle of the lease. Also see Materials & Furniture.

Note that for this step to be feasible, the owner and previous occupier will need to have agreed that the existing fit-out will not be (fully) stripped out.

2. Design for Off-site Construction

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Off-site construction can reduce waste arising from over-ordering, damage and through less efficient methods of working on-site. Further benefits include reducing number of vehicle movements – helping to reduce traffic, noise, pollution and risks to cyclists and pedestrians at a local level. Prefabrication of components off site can also reduce the extent of on-site activities and so enable time savings.

3. Design for Materials Optimisation

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Adopting a design approach that focuses on materials resource efficiency so that less material is used in the design i.e. Creating simple, coordinated and standardised designs that reduce excess off-cuts.

4. Design for Deconstruction & Flexibility

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Ensure that components and materials support long-term adaptability, and are easily disassembled and recycled at the end of their lifecycle.

5. Set Waste Management Targets

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Assess the option for contractual targets around waste. These should be established early in the design process, and ideally include a specialist contractor to advice on maximising resource efficiency opportunities.

Targets could include:

% waste reused or recycled
% waste diverted from landfill
Tonnes of waste per 100³
Tonnes of waste per £100k

6. Use a Site Waste Management Plan

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A Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP) should be prepared the design team before construction begins and will set the basis for the waste management requirements by the contractor. It should describe how materials will be managed efficiently and disposed of legally during the construction of the works, explaining how the re-use and recycling of materials will be maximised.

This involves estimating how much of each type of waste is likely to be produced and the proportion of this that will be re-used or recycled on site, or removed from the site for re-use, recycling, recovery or disposal.

The contractor should then:

Ensure that the requirements of the site waste management plan are included in sub-contracts.
Arrange suitable site induction, information and training of personnel to ensure that the plan is implemented.
Take all reasonable steps to prevent unauthorised disposal of the waste.
Update the plan as the works progress to reflect the actual handling of waste.

7. Embed Requirements in Contractor Scope of Works

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All waste management requirements, including targets and use of a Site Waste Management Plan should be must be included within the contractors scope of works.

See Construction for further detail.

Industry Monitoring Tools

BRE's SmartWaste is an environmental site monitoring and reporting software for construction projects covering waste, water, energy, transport, materials, biodiversity and incident & complaints. It allows input from a project's entire supply chain to provide 'live' reporting for the whole project team.

WRAP's Designing out Waste Tool for Buildings (DoWT-B) is a freely accessible resource that will help projects to:

identify opportunities to design out waste.
Record design solutions pursued to reduce material consumption or wastage.
Calculate the impact of these solutions, including savings in project costs, waste to landfill and embodied carbon.
Compare the performance of different projects / alternative designs.
Provide an indicative waste forecast for a Site Waste Management Plan (SWMP).

FURTHER INFORMATION

BRE SmartWaste
Ciria Fit-out environmental good practice on site guide (C757).
CIRIA, Resource Efficiency Knowledgebase: contains a wealth or CIRIA and WRAP resources on construction best-practice.
WRAP, Designing Out Waste
BBP Stripout Waste Guidance

RATING REFERENCES

Solutions Scrapbook

Re-using Materials

As part of the fit-out of 25 Cabot Square, Canary Wharf, the design team worked closely with the contractor to achieve 98% of all fit-out waste being diverted from landfill by directing it for either reuse in the fit-out or storage for future reuse or recycling. This formed part of the contractor’s contractual requirements and sustainability plan.

Waste Strategy

GVA took a lifecycle approach to materials, in their London HQ fit-out, so that their thinking included not only how best to dispose of materials deemed as waste but how to reduce the amount of waste via re-use, factoring environmental impact into their procurement decisions, and designing elements for re-use. A strict waste strategy was implemented during the fit-out, resulting in a 98% recycling rate, which kept 150 tonnes out of landfills.

Designing Out Waste

Carpet tile manufacturer Interface has used product design to reduce site waste. It has created a ‘Random Design’ carpet tile that allows the tiles to be laid in any direction. This reduces waste from cutting tiles as well as making installation quicker and easier.

Embodied Carbon

In the fit-out of 100 Liverpool Street, British Land, in collaboration with Faithful+Gould and AKTII worked closely with a specialist manufacturer to reduce the amount of steel used in the new beams and the recycled content of the concrete encasement for the existing columns was installed as part of the fit-out. This initiative resulted in the superstructure embodied carbon reducing by approximately 20%.

Re-using Materials

Hammerson’s fit-out at King’s Place, Project Arthur (SKA Gold), implemented the following initiatives with regards to material re-use in order ot reduce construction waste:

95% of the original ceiling was reused avoiding the creation of waste;
Flooring, glass partitions, luminaires and fan coil units were reused wherever appropriate and possible.

Demounting & Donating

By refurbishing an existing building for their headquarters, Landsec reduced embodied carbon intensity by 50% compared to comparable projects, according to British Standards Institution's BS EN 15978 protocol.

When the previous occupier’s office fit-out was stripped-out at 80-100 Victoria Street, Landsec worked closely with their delivery partner to manage the waste in a way which would retain and make use of valuable materials and fittings. This was a careful exercise which involved demounting of electrical equipment and plant, packaging, then advertising to community groups. In total, six tonnes of high value equipment were donated to community groups including:

North London Scouts who collected a stainless-steel kitchen, Zip-Taps, benches and seating, and towel and soap dispensers.
The Chickenshed Theatre (a registered charity) who collected valuable auditorium lights which were reused for a stage installation, LED office lighting and lighting control panels.
The University of the Arts London, who collected projector screens, benches, kitchen units and sinks, downlighting equipment, Exit signage, commando sockets and venetian blinds.

On leaving their previous headquarters at 5 Strand the office was not stripped out by the incoming occupier. All furniture was reused in situ, except for old IT equipment which was donated to Green Machine, a social enterprise who sell computers to people on low income at an affordable price. Many items of furniture were also kept and taken to the new space where they were included in the furniture design scheme.

In recognition of the project’s efforts on diverting valuable resources to community groups the project was awarded a CCS Gold Award in the Considerate Constructors Scheme National Project Site Awards 2017.

Fit-Out Waste Guidelines

In 2008, British Land and managing agent Broadgate Estates, worked in partnership with occupiers during the fit-out of 201 Bishopsgate and The Broadgate Tower, with all parties agreeing to use a single waste contractor. Following this successful pilot, British Land published guidance on managing fit-out waste and occupiers on all five major fit-out projects across British Land’s managed office portfolio applied this Guide in their areas. This enabled British Land achieved 97% recycling of fit-out waste in common parts. The company now encourages occupiers and building management teams to apply this approach on all major fit-out projects. Actions included waste materials were removed from occupiers’ areas each day, providing a well-organised working environment, and unused materials and packaging were sent back to manufacturers for re-use or recycling, via returning delivery vehicles, reducing vehicle movements and cutting transport costs.