Event shares London 2012 demolition lessons

24.11.11

On Thursday December 1st in Portsmouth, BioRegional and other experts are holding a free training event to help construction and demolition companies find out how by taking a sustainable approach they can deliver the best projects. The presenters will use the example of the London 2012 Olympic Park to illustrate proven successes.

Come to the Achieving Sustainable Demolition workshop and hear how London 2012 took a sustainability-led approach to demolition, from ground water clean-up and soil washing through to reusing 2.5 miles of kerbstones and whole portal frame buildings. Early involvement was crucial in London 2012 exceeding its target of 90% reuse and recycling on site. This event will also share how this approach has saved money while improving the sustainability of demolition on other sites.

Jonathan Essex, Sustainable Construction Manager at BioRegional said:
“London 2012 was one of the first projects to use the new Demolition Protocol of the Institution of Civil Engineers. Through carrying out pre-demolition audits the Games identified exactly what could be reclaimed and reused as well as recycled across the whole site. This led to a heritage building being reclaimed and large portal frame steel sheds being dismantled and re-used elsewhere. This approach has now delivered large-scale deconstruction and reuse of bricks and timber across large sites right down to the careful refurbishment of individual properties.”

Ross Pollock of WSP said:
“‘The Definition of Waste Code of Practice offers those attempting to develop contaminated land a clear and less burdensome option for managing and reusing excavated materials that would otherwise be considered waste. Running this option in tandem with a suitably robust strategy for characterising the development site will maximise the potential for cost savings and significantly increase the sustainability of a project. In this event we are providing an introduction to the Code of Practice, identifying how it can be used to realise maximum economic, environmental and social benefits. We will also look at a case study where the Code’s adoption allowed for on-site recycling of over 2,500 m3 of hazardous and non-hazardous classified soil to reduce project costs by over 50 per cent.” 

This event shares how two voluntary codes of practice can transform demolition projects. Remediation and reclamation specialists will present how by starting with audits and diagnostics, tackling sites on a site specific basis can result in massive benefits.

•    Find out what enabled the reuse of bricks, tiles and other items to be maximised on one of the UK’s three largest demolition contracts in London, and how timber beams and studwork were used across another major site.

•    Meanwhile, in Oxfordshire real sustainability and cost benefits resulted from using the CL:AIRE code of practice. Find out how this allowed a large road scheme to go beyond environmental permitting requirements to allow the use of otherwise hazardous material, delivering real sustainability and cost benefits.

Jonathan and Ross will be joined by presenters from the Environment Agency to share how sustainability best practice can improve the value of demolition projects. This event will draw on the BioRegional/Atkins/London 2012 report summarising lessons learned through reuse and recycling at the regeneration phase of the Olympic Park as well as lessons learnt from key regeneration successes. 

Thursday 1st December 2011, 9 – 4pm at the Bear Hotel, Havant (near Portsmouth), Hampshire, PO9 1AA.
More details at: www.bioregional.com/news-views/events/achieving-sustainable-demolition-workshop.
To register contact ben.j.gill@bioregional.com t. 020 8404 4897.

..................................................................................................................

This event is part of the ZeroWISE Sustainable Construction Project which has been part funded by the South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) and European Regional Development Funding (ERDF) as part of the South East ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13.