The Strong Foundations of Waste

The construction industry is the largest consumer of resources, in the UK, requiring more than 400 million tonnes of material a year whilst 13% of products delivered to construction sites are sent directly to landfill without ever being used. In order to address these issues a number of organisations are working on ways to design out waste and use recycled materials instead of virgin materials. These measures have also been proposed for the Bristol Local Plan which is currently in review and would inform the conditions for planning permission and housebuilding.

An example of successful reuse is the waste house in Brighton, which was made from “over 85% ‘waste’ material drawn from household and construction sites”.  Bristol-based architect and designers Stride Treglown demonstrated the potential for using recycled materials with the Faculty of Environment and Technology at UWE (main article image). “The main cladding material is a Rainscreen tile which is made from 93% recycled slate and clay dust, a waste byproduct reclaimed from the manufacturing process and the steel frame uses 80% recycled content” explained Robert Delius, Head of Sustainable Design.

The Waste House in Brighton built with 80% waste materials. Photo Credit: BBM Sustainable Design Limited

To encourage these practices more widely; Jenny Ford proposes that local government need to enforce “minimum recycled content (beyond the levels generally achieved) particularly within public buildings”. A proposal which she made to the Bristol Local Plan review, a plan which sets out how to “deliver new homes and jobs whilst safeguard the environment”.

Best practice for waste avoidance also includes avoiding demolition as demonstrated by Stride Treglown’s remodel of a very tired 1970’s office in Bath– 20 Manvers Street, into a top-of-the-market new workplace, with a refurbished interior and exterior and a new rooftop extension. Paul Younger, Associate at Bath’s Hewitt Studios LLP, points out that “its often financially better to refurb than rebuild.”

20 Manvers Street in Bath before….

…and after the refurbishment by Stride Treglown

Designing buildings to the size of raw materials and with end-of-life in mind are principles Hewitt Studios advocate. They designed a straw bale cafe for the Holme Lacy campus of the Herefordshire College of Technology that was made to the size of the straw bales, could be constructed and dismantled by a semi-skilled team and the materials could all be reused or recycled.

The straw bale cafe made to the dimensions of the straw bales and with materials that can be reused and recycled at the end-of-life.

In regards to house building, HAB Housing, Stride Treglown and Hewitt Studios, all advocate pre-fabricating parts of buildings in factories, Robert Delius highlighted that “off-site construction reduces waste significantly because components are built efficiently in factory conditions and any waste can be more easily captured and recycled.” Prefabrication isn’t a new concept; pre-fab houses were developed in the 1950’s to deal with the post-war housing crisis and examples can still be seen in parts of Bristol, including Southmead. Mike Roberts Consultant, at HAB Housing (Kevin McCloud’s ‘Happiness Architecture Beauty’) company suggested that “the current innovations in pre-fabrication are of interest to the Government because it can speed up construction and provide consistent quality” which can address the current housing crisis where new house-building targets are far higher than the industry’s current capacity, and there is a shortage of skilled workers.

For those considering self-builds in Bristol, there is prefabricated modular inspiration from SNUG homes and the We Can Make housing initiative which was developed by Knowle West Media Centre and White Design. This innovative design is focused on tackling the housing issues, facing communities like Knowle West, including: families where children can’t afford to move out, people with mobility issues, those who need to downsize but don’t want to leave the area.

The We Can Make prototype house is available for viewing on Thursdays from 2-6pm, on the corner of Barnstaple Road in Knowle West

We Can Make provides a blueprint for a ‘neighbourhood housing factory’ to make affordable modular housing which can fit into micro-plots between houses and in back gardens. The buildings main material is straw, that Craig White, Founding Director of White Designs highlights “is a by-product of wheat grown for bread”. Even the plasterboard was replaced by ‘compressed strawboard’ that was made on a farm three miles from Knowle West. The project recently won a Nesta/Observer New Radical 2018 award.

The walls of the We Can Make home are mostly straw and compressed straw board.

The Bristol Local Plan is currently in review so it remains to be seen if targets for reuse, recycled materials and pre-fabrication will be included to help meet the demands for building homes in Bristol. However, considering the possibilities for refurbishments, recycled or bi-product materials are possible for commercial and domestic building projects including people looking to utilise space in their backyard.

Read More: Out of the Rubble of Construction Waste 

This article is part of a six month series on waste, investigating what is happening at a local and national level and where Bristol businesses and residents can get involved to make a change.