Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Design for Materials Optimisation;
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Design for Waste Efficient Procurement; and
Design for Deconstruction and Flexibility.
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A good starting point is to look at WRAP, which is a UK
organisation working with the construction industry to help
design out waste, and their website is a useful resource (http://
www.wrap.org.uk). Through responsible specification and
careful design, structural engineers can minimise the disposal
of waste to landfill, and thus demonstrate that, through their
involvement, project costs can be reduced. On its website
WRAP reports that 'WRAP's work with the design team for
the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School, a Building Schools
for the Future project in Islington, identified opportunities to
reduce waste to landfill by 18 000 tonnes, make cost savings
of £303 500, and make embodied carbon savings of more than
2000 tonnes of CO
2
equivalent' (WRAP, 2010).
Further steps can be taken by the use of contracts, speci-
fications, local procurement, monitoring and reviewing site
logistics. For more information on site waste management see
Structural Engineer Briefing Note (4 November 2008).
Figure 4.5 Visualisation Image of the WISE project at CAT. Courtesy
of the Centre of Alternative Technology
4.5.1.2
Significant sustainable wins
1. Appoint 'Considerate Constructors' where there is a
commitment to comply as a minimum with best practice
site management principles.
2. Measure construction site impacts which involves the
monitoring, reporting and setting targets to reduce carbon
emissions from site activities such as transport to and
from site, water consumption, air pollution, surface water
run-off, responsible sourcing of materials and operating an
environmental management system.
3. Develop the Site Waste Management Plan in conjunction
with the design team.
4. Use of recycled aggregates and secondary use of
aggregates in concrete specifications.
5. Reuse of land, contaminated land, ecological survey and
biodiversity plans
materials at the conceptual design stage will already have influ-
enced the embodied carbon in the construction of the build we
will restrict ourselves here to discussing only additional deci-
sions which can be made in order to make the construction
process a sustainable one. These include employing local site
workers, using local resources and materials, and methods to
reduce carbon emissions from transport to and from site. Not
only can these choices reduce the carbon footprint of the build
but they also boost the local economy. How a building is to be
constructed on site should be built into the structural design.
For example, ensuring that the building components will fit
on a lorry will mean that the lorry's capacity is maximised to
reduce logistics and carbon emissions. In addition, sustainable
construction ought to take it a step further and consider how
the building can be restored and dismantled to be reused or
recycled.
4.5.1.3
Case study: G Park Blue Planet
The G Park Blue Planet development was one of the first in
the UK to achieve BREEAM Outstanding and it has been pre-
dicted that it will save £300 000 a year in running costs. There
are many contributing factors in achieving a carbon positive
site but the most innovative feature of G Park Blue Planet is
the use of electro-kinetic road plates set within internal roads
to generate electricity from vehicles entering or leaving the
site. The project achieved its target of zero waste to landfill
through the use of composite panels for the wall construction
on a timber frame, using off-site fabrication and using sup-
pliers committed to reducing their own waste. Responsible
resourcing has been applied through the use of FSC timber,
environmental management system and low volatile paints and
4.5.1.1
Focus 4: Waste
The UK construction industry uses 400 million tonnes of mate-
rials every year. Currently only 90 million tonnes are recycled,
of which 45 million tonnes become recycled aggregates. It
is the UK Government's objective by 2012 to have reduced
the waste from construction, demolition and excavation that
goes to landfill by 50%. Landfill taxes continue to rise, reach-
ing approximately £48/tonne in 2010. Waste reduction can be
achieved through WRAP's five principles of:
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Design for Reuse and Recovery;
Design for Off Site Construction;
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