Waste Archive

Please visit the waste archive to find out more about our previous projects including Built Environment Sustainability Training, Design for Deconstruction (D4D), Industry Interventions and our work on Recycled Aggregates for Minor Schemes (RAMS)

Built Environment Sustainability Training (BEST)

About

The Built Environment Sustainability Training (BEST) programme, funded through Cardiff University by the European Social Fund (ESF), was designed to develop a long term educational strategy for Wales.

The BEST programme was set up to develop and pilot strategic training to support people working within the sustainable energy and built environment sector e.g. architects, engineers, crafts people and skilled workers enabling the delivery of the Welsh Government’s aspirations towards sustainable development.

What we did

Constructing Excellence in Wales led the waste theme of the BEST project. The waste theme commenced in October 2012 with the skills needs analysis of the built environment sector in Wales and the gathering of the necessary data from experts in the field.

The key areas of the waste theme included:

Waste minimisation and prevention including promoting the design to minimise waste; and,
Deconstruction skills including design skills for the promotion of reclamation and reuse of materials.

Constructing Excellence in Wales also contributed to the themes on-site & off-site construction within the BEST programme.

The training programme is now complete with on-going monitoring of the training and evaluation until 2015.

Design 4 Deconstruction

Design for Deconstruction (D4D) was an overarching action in the Welsh Government Construction and Demolition Sector Plan.

The Welsh Government wants to encourage the construction industry to design for the end-of-life of the building. This will ensure that the materials used in the construction of the development contain a high percentage of recycled content (helping to create a market for recycled materials and products) and that throughout the life of the building the materials can be either reused or recycled.

CEW works to raise awareness of the importance of designing for end of life and recommend that all designers/architects and construction companies utilise existing systems to assist in meeting these objectives. These systems include: BREEAM, CEEQUAL, D4D, SCRIPT, LEED and LEAN.

The aim of the D4D is to manage end of life building materials to minimise waste in the construction and maximise the potential of the building to become a resource of great value at the end of its life, mitigating current trends in energy efficient - Design for Deconstruction

Interventions

We work with private and public sector clients and construction companies to overcome barriers to the use of recycled and secondary materials.

Here are some examples of the work that we have completed:

Support for Bron Afon Housing Association:

Increasing use of recycled aggregates and minimising waste at Ffordd Amazon, Swansea:

Diversion of demolition waste from St Athan Primary School:

Use of recycled materials to develop a new road at Church Village:

Minimisation of construction and demolition waste at Swansea City Centre strategic project:

Site regeneration and landscaping using reclaimed materials:

The use of recycled aggregates in utilities construction projects:

Recycled Aggregate for Minor Schemes

The RAMS project was initiated in 2009 with the intention of closely examining the mechanical and physical properties of recycled aggregate derived from builders skip waste. CEW had estimated that some 500,000 tonnes of inert recyclate was needlessly being landfilled each year in Wales and there was an opportunity to divert this material into minor engineering schemes. This opportunity could only be realised if we could clearly demonstrate that the material was fit for purpose. The RAMS consultation took place over the summer of 2012.

The specification for Recycled Aggregate for use in Minor Schemes outlines the minimum requirement for recyclers to produce a recycled material fit for minor schemes enabling material providers and users to incorporate inert recycled materials as unbound aggregates in the sub-base and or capping materials of highway schemes.

“The development of this specification for recycled aggregate originated for the recognition that high quality virgin aggregates were and are being specified as the unbound sub-base materials for minor schemes such as car parks, cycle paths, estate roads, footpaths, etc. where very low traffic load is imposed”

Paul Jennings, Director of the Construction and Demolition Waste Programme

Background Documentation

Please see below the documents produced to support the specification: