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Contractors are leading the field when it comes to reducing waste
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Carbon efficiency targets, whole life costing, sustainable sourcing and energy efficiency mean that construction project teams are already subject to considerable ‘green’ pressures. As a result, clients and contractors are embracing the quick wins on offer through an emphasis on waste reduction in order to deliver clear, tangible environmental and cost benefits.
Clients and contractors are leading the field when it comes to reducing waste. Of almost 200 signatories to WRAP’s (Waste & Resources Action Programme) Construction Commitments: Halving Waste to Landfill, over 80 are contractors and represent 70% of the value of new work won over 2008/9 by the top 50 contractors. Clients are also prioritising this issue, with over 50 signatories ranging from the Olympic Delivery Authority, Defra, the Scottish Government, M&S, Crossrail, Manchester University and British Land.
Over the next twelve months, a key focus for WRAP will be encouraging collaboration from all parts of the supply chain to prioritise a reduction in construction waste. Only through engagement at all project stages, from all supply chain partners, can a real difference be made to improving the construction industry’s current waste burdens.
One important sector for action in this context will be designers, currently relatively under-represented when it comes to waste but who hold a unique position of influence at the outset of a project. Prioritising waste reduction during the design stage has been identified as a significant opportunity to prevent waste from occurring on site, improving the efficiency of material usage and delivering subsequent cost savings.
The launch of WRAP’s Designing out Waste: a design team guide for buildings projects earlier this year has helped to raise awareness of the issue of waste among architects in particular, and the upcoming launch of Designing out Waste: a design team guide for civils projects will similarly ensure that civil engineers and consultants are able to maximise the benefits associated with efficient material use.
Since the launch of the Designing out Waste guide, and testament to the growing resonance of the issue among architects, Aedas Architects has signed up to halve waste to landfill. Yasser el Gabry, regional director at Aedas, explains the motivation for signing up: “Through the application of WRAP’s Designing Out Waste principles, we were able to quantify the benefits of our design decisions in reducing waste. As architects we are constantly trying to balance often conflicting criteria through the design process. WRAP’s process allowed us to also consider the implications of design on waste production and assesses them in an objective, measurable and comparable way. It can lend weight to an already strong argument or indeed be justifiable cause to review a decision.”
The guide enables design teams to identify and implement the most suitable opportunities to use resources efficiently and reduce waste at the earliest stages of a construction project where the greatest impact can be made and the greatest benefits secured. The guide provides advice on how to achieve good practice resource efficiency and cost the associated benefits, and gives an overview of the five basic principles of reducing waste through design. It has been approved by RIBA as CPD Assessed Material and been placed in the core curriculum under sustainable architecture and architectural design.
Mike Watson, head of construction at WRAP, says: “Developed in close consultation with architects, Designing Out Waste addresses the real concerns that design teams may have about their role in minimising construction waste. It is the first comprehensive guide that architects and design teams can use to help them understand and quantify the benefits.”
Case studies
Developed to complement the guide, and in recognition of the need for practical evidence of the benefits, WRAP has developed a series of exemplar case studies that demonstrate the cost and environmental savings achieved on live projects with design teams on the ground. Available to download from www.wrap.org.uk/construction, these case studies cover all sectors of the industry and quantify the savings on offer through the application of WRAP’s five key principles of design.
Also making up its wider offer to design teams, WRAP is working with Atkins to produce a series of data sheets of construction design details which can provide better materials resource efficiency compared to standard design details. The data sheets will include technical information and quantified benefits in aspects such as carbon reduction and waste reduction, as well as provide information on relevant standards and certification; they will be supported by technical drawings and sketches. In the next few months, WRAP will be holding a series of workshops to engage directly with design teams and provide first hand advice and guidance on the use of the DoW resources.
The financial, reputational and environmental benefits on offer, combined with the growing number of clients and contractors now more focused on the delivery of resource efficient projects, represent a strong business case for more design teams to provide the technical input to design out waste. Awareness of the case for change is growing, and the ongoing launch of Designing out Waste resources means that decisive action shouldn’t be too far behind.
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